Between Laos and China, a thriving border (4/4) • FRANCE 24 English

How dare China create opportunities for prosperity in land-locked Laos.

With BBC style filter, everything in this video looks grey and dark!

What's with the background music and filter 🤣🤣

China for peace and prosperity ✨️ 🙏 win win for all

Please let Laos be Laos and have some Laos side

I want to see laos

Time to sanction China for building a rail line to LAOS!!

China will always try to work with other countries ECONOMICALLY!! While the u.s………. Go to countries for " regime change", sanctions, blowing countries to smithering, issues on ( sickening to hear) human rights, democracy!! 😫 GOSH!!!

Congratulate to Laos and the people , may prosperity follows soon !❤❤❤❤

See a lot of economic improvement, but the main concern is the Chinese citizens will dominant everything in the cities. Soon or later everywhere will turn to China town and driving the Laotian to the country side, absolutely this will happened soon.

This railway is roughly half in Lao and half in China. China paid 100% of the Chinese section, which runs 200 km/h train (more expensive than Lao section) and China financed 20% of the Lao section which runs 160 km/h train (about the same speed as Amtrak). Think this is how this video stated China financed 70%. The payment term is by live stock and goods instead of money. Lao is landlocked but it is actually located in the center of south east Asia. The model Lao is gearing toward is the role similar to Chicago being a logistic center for trade exchange between China and south east Asia. The next phase is extending the railway to Thailand and hope eventually all the way to Singapore. Lao has 1.7% increase in GDP after the railway in operation, and we hope the country continues to prosper. Currently only freight train can cross the border, no passenger train yet due to Covid.

Laos will be closely studied to see how infrastructure create viable economies. I look forward to a more equal, prosperous and peaceful world with the BRI.

Me: "What the, a positive headline about China?"
Video: "As China tries to dominate global trade…"
Me: Oh.

You know, what many regions Really need is to supercharge their Regional economic ties (i.e. trading with their neighbors). This is how they can form economic superblocks with stronger negotiating powers against super-sized economies like China. But for that, they need infrastructure. I understood after coming to Europe that you can't have economic integration if you don't even have the roads and rails to back it up. For example, it's easier for South Africa to trade with China than with land-locked African countries because of a lack of roads on the African continent.

For this, BRI is an opportunity. If I were a developed country, I would 1. join the BRI, 2. use it to set up the infrastructure framework within the region, 3. get as much tech transfer from China as possible in the meantime and 4. kick out China and do the rest myself once I have the capacity to do so. I mean, that's what China did: it allowed multinational corps in, learned how to do things themselves and kicked the multinational corps out. Fair's fair.

After BRI, Laos will go from an isolated landlocked country to one connected to not only its neighboring countries but to Southeast Asia as well. By then, it will no longer matter if China decides to have a fall-out with Laos: the railway will remain in Laos' territory and it will be able to set its own terms of trade.

Very rare for a neutral report. Wish the editor will not be dismissed because of this.

Thanks

bravo

Laos is landlocked and hilly and very poor. An access to the 'outside' world would be great.