appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Ralph Jennings

China has moved early to help Laos plan its longest highway, the latest project in Beijing’s push to expand transport connectivity in Southeast Asia.
The initiative underscores Beijing’s broader effort to strengthen its economic footprint in the region through roads and railway infrastructure, as it seeks alternative trade routes amid a fractious relationship with the United States.
Laos is conducting route surveys for an expressway linking the capital Vientiane to its northeastern border with Vietnam, the Laotian Times reported.
From Vientiane, a chain of sections is expected to eventually reach the Chinese border, with a Chinese firm responsible for part of that work.
Henan ZhongGong Design and Research Group, a 62-year-old state-owned firm, would conduct a feasibility study and a preliminary design survey for the expressway, which is expected to extend 186km to 207km (116 to 129 miles), according to the report published on Thursday.
The highway would support Laos’ ambition to “expand regional connectivity and develop the country into a land-linked transport hub” connecting China, Thailand, Vietnam and other parts of the Mekong River region in Southeast Asia, the media outlet reported.
The impoverished, landlocked country of about 8 million people needed new roads to transport agricultural produce, especially during the rainy season when dirt tracks were impassable, said Jayant Menon, a visiting senior fellow at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
China viewed highways in Laos as a means of accessing the Mekong region, Menon said. In recent years, it has pushed for transport links in neighbouring countries to ease cross-border trade and investment at a time of economic friction with the United States.
“For China, this is all part of a grand plan to promote connectivity and stimulate transport of goods through the Mekong region, and eventually Central Asia and Europe,” Menon added.
A Lao business conglomerate presented three possible expressway routes to public works and transport officials on Wednesday, the Laotian Times reported.
The conglomerate is set to help design the expressway as a build-operate-transfer project, a type of partnership in which a private entity is typically granted a concession to finance, develop and run an infrastructure project before transferring it to public ownership.
A separate 440km (273 mile) chain of expressways would connect Vientiane to the Chinese border by 2030.
Lao officials and the Chinese infrastructure conglomerate Hunan Banying Industrial Group signed a memorandum of understanding in April for that project, called the Vientiane-Boten Expressway.
The agreement covered a feasibility study and the design of two segments, said the Lao Investment Promotion and Management Committee, the country’s main authority for overseeing investment projects.
China also built a US$6 billion, 414km (257 mile) Lao railway that opened in 2021, along with a power grid and several Mekong River hydropower stations.


US trade chief pressed Brazil to review Anglo American nickel sale to China

China, US may unveil measures to boost military ties when Xi visits Washington

Von der Leyen’s ‘China shock’ speech aimed to send Beijing a message: analysts

China pushes back against US sanctions bill targeting Russia’s top energy buyers

China trade

How a China-backed highway may turn landlocked Laos into a trade gateway

An aerial drone photo taken on April 13 shows a train of the China-Laos Railway, departing from Kunming in southwest China’s Yunnan province, arriving in Vientiane, Laos. Photo: Xinhua

Durian Express? New Southeast Asia rail service cuts fruit prices in China

A shopper browses a mound of durians at a market in Hong Kong. Photo: Eugene Lee

China, Indonesia launch cross-border QR payments – a boost for the global yuan?

Alipay QR code in Jakarta, Indonesia, after the launch of the China-Indonesia cross-border payment system. Photo: Xinhua


Southeast Asia’s Mekong River being poisoned by rare earth mining

A man sits in a fishing boat on the Mekong River in northeastern Thailand, with Laos seen on the left, in 2019. Photo: AFP

A general view of the facility of Australian mining firm Lynas in eastern Malaysia’s Gebeng. Photo: AFP

Sawat Kaewdam retrieves an empty fishing net in Thailand in November on the Mekong River. Locals rarely eat river fish now due to fears of contamination, amid increased rare earth and gold mining. Photo: Reuters

Lahu hilltribe women in Myanmar’s Shan state, near the border with Thailand, in 2000. Photo: AP

Many fish are being affected due to mining, with common problems including tumour-like growths and discoloured scales. Photo: Handout/SCMP

An employee in eastern Malaysia works in a laboratory of Australian mining firm Lynas on April 8. Photo: AFP

US President Donald Trump is among those pushing to secure more rare earths. Demand is growing, partly as they are used in fighter jets, submarines and missiles. Photo: AP

Chips, oil and Iran: why US is raising pressure on China before Xi-Trump talks

The US chip industry is a major backer of greater restrictions on China. Others bills that have advanced in Washington recently include the Stop Stealing Our Chips Act, which would establish a programme to reward whistle-blowers who report export control violations. Photo: Shutterstock

China-backed solar project powers up in Laos amid Iran war energy shock

China General Nuclear Power Group’s solar project in Laos. Photo: CCTV

Economy

Global Economy

News

The project is part of wider efforts to build overland trade corridors linking southern China with the Mekong region


The project is part of wider efforts to build overland trade corridors linking southern China with the Mekong region.


How a China-backed highway may turn landlocked Laos into a trade gateway

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The project is part of wider efforts to build overland trade corridors linking southern China with the Mekong region

The project is part of wider efforts to build overland trade corridors linking southern China with the Mekong region