When Beijing goes on the hunt for weak links in its economic chain, the Malacca Strait is a place Chinese officials and academics often cite as a point of exceptional vulnerability. Many essential materials – particularly crude oil and minerals, which carry vast strategic importance – are shipped through it.
For decades Chinese authorities have searched for alternatives, investing heavily in gas pipelines from Central Asia, the China-Pakistan economic corridor, a pipeline linking Myanmar’s ports in the Andaman Sea with Southwest China’s Yunnan province and a network of China-Europe freight trains.
The latest option to come across Beijing’s desk is the Land Bridge project in Thailand, which uses rail links to connect the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand and bypass Malacca entirely.
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The project, a replacement for the more controversial and expensive Kra Canal, was brought up by Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin when he attended the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in mid-October.
ผมลองวาดเส้นทางของ Landbridge ให้กับทางผู้ประกอบการรถไฟในประเทศจีนให้เข้าใจง่ายขึ้น ทำให้เห็นภาพของโครงการสองท่าเรือแต่นับรวมเป็นหนึ่ง โครงการจะลดปัญหาการจัดการซ้ำซ้อน (Double Handling) ได้ครับ
รีบวาดรีบคุยให้เข้าใจ แม้ภาพออกมาไม่ค่อยสวยเท่าไรแต่สื่อสารได้ผลดีเลยครับ
