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For a long time, the mainland has been known as the "infrastructure madman" in the world by virtue of its high-level infrastructure capacity.
However, in 2011, a project with a mainland investment of 2.2 billion yuan became an "unfinished project", and even today it has not been completed.
What is going on, and what is the reason for the final "failure" of this project?
The China-North Korea cross-border bridge that was forced to be unfinished
This "unfinished" infrastructure project is actually a Sino-North Korean cross-border bridge project jointly built by the mainland and North Korea. The bridge was originally intended to be built by China and North Korea to become a transportation hub between the two countries.
For our country's strong infrastructure capacity, the construction of such a cross-border bridge is not a problem at all. It's just that what the mainland never expected was that after we completed the construction task, North Korea suddenly gave up.
This China-North Korea transnational bridge is actually the Yalu River Bridge located in Dandong City, Liaoning Province, China. Since the bridge spans the Yalu River, the boundary river between China and North Korea, it is also regarded as a bridge of friendship between China and North Korea.
However, because the old Yalu River Bridge was once devastated by the war, it has not been well maintained. Therefore, in May 2010, China and North Korea reached a preliminary cooperation agreement and decided to jointly build a new Yalu River bridge.
According to the provisions of the cooperation agreement, the mainland will be responsible for the construction of part of the bridge section and will bear all the sources of funds for the construction of the bridge. The reason why this cooperation agreement seems so "unfair" is mainly due to the consideration of the actual national conditions of the DPRK.
As a country that has been isolated from the outside world for a long time, North Korea still maintains a policy of "self-sufficiency", which has also led to the lag of North Korea's economic development.
According to relevant data, even in 2022, North Korea's total national economy will only be 175.5 billion yuan. From the point of view of the development of the economic level, it is roughly equivalent to the economic level of the mainland in the 80s.
The construction of this China-North Korea cross-border bridge is expected to require at least more than 2 billion yuan, and North Korea's economic level naturally cannot afford such a high cost.
Out of consideration for the friendship between China and North Korea, the mainland finally decided to lend a helping hand and bear all the costs of rebuilding the China-North Korea cross-border bridge, and finally invested a total of 2.2 billion yuan in this project.
In 2011, the construction of the China-North Korea cross-border bridge project officially started, and the mainland completed the construction task in only three years with its strong infrastructure capacity.
However, just when everything was going in a good direction, North Korea suddenly gave up, and the construction of the bridge section originally planned to be built by North Korea was delayed, and the North Korean side did not give any explanation for this.
Because of this, although nearly 70% of the main construction of this China-North Korea cross-border bridge has been completed, it has not been put into use until today.
If we really want to investigate the reasons for North Korea's delay in starting construction, it is most likely because of the state of the domestic economy.
However, since the mainland has long known about the economic situation of the DPRK, it is very likely that the construction of the bridge will change, why should it build this bridge without hesitation?
China and the DPRK have a deep friendship in history
In fact, the reason why the mainland is doing this is because China and North Korea have always maintained a very deep friendship.
In the 50s of last century, after the outbreak of the Korean War, at the request of the North Korean government, the mainland formed a Chinese People's Volunteer Army to go to Korea to resist US aggression and aid Korea.
The Chinese People's Volunteers first secretly went to the Korean battlefield through the old China-North Korea cross-border bridge. In the process of resisting US aggression and aiding Korea, the Chinese and DPRK military and civilians fought hand in hand to resist the aggressors and forged a deep friendship.
After the end of the war, China and the DPRK carried out extensive cooperation in the political, economic, and cultural fields.
China has provided a large amount of economic aid and technical support to the DPRK to help it recover and develop its economy. At the same time, trade between the two countries has become increasingly frequent, which has promoted the common development of the economies of both countries.
In 2023 alone, the bilateral import and export volume of goods between the mainland and North Korea will reach 2,295,384,000 US dollars, an increase of nearly 1.38 times compared with the previous year.
It is not difficult to see that the trade exchanges between China and the DPRK can drive the economic development of both sides at the same time and achieve real win-win cooperation.
The reason for the rebuilding of the China-North Korea cross-border bridge is not only that the bridge symbolizes the friendship between China and North Korea, but also because the cross-border bridge has the potential to serve as a trade hub between China and North Korea.
Once the bridge is completed and officially put into use, the trade between China and the DPRK is bound to increase greatly, and at the same time, it can also promote the economic development of the DPRK and help the DPRK achieve economic take-off as soon as possible.
So why can the China-North Korea cross-border bridge help North Korea solve the problem of economic development?
The China-North Korea Bridge may become the key to North Korea's economic development
Although the DPRK is rich in natural resources and labor resources, its economic development has always been at a low level due to various reasons.
North Korea's economy is largely dependent on agriculture and light industry, which are often affected by natural disasters, resource shortages and technological backwardness.
In agriculture, food production has been unable to meet domestic demand, let alone commercialization, due to fertilizer shortages, limited arable area and successive natural disasters.
In light industry, the quality and output of North Korean products are difficult to meet market demand due to aging equipment, slow technological updating, and shortages of raw materials.
In addition, North Korea has been isolated from the outside world for a long time, which makes it difficult for North Korea to attract foreign investment and technology, and there is a lack of external driving force for economic development.
Once the China-North Korea cross-border bridge is officially put into use, trade between China and North Korea will become more frequent and closer, which will also bring more investment and enterprise cooperation opportunities for the two countries, and promote mutual benefit and win-win results in the economic field between the two sides.
At the same time, with the improvement of traffic conditions, it will also attract more Chinese enterprises and tourists to invest and tourism in the DPRK, and further promote the diversified development of the DPRK economy.
From this point of view, the completion and use of the China-DPRK cross-border bridge will be beneficial to China and North Korea, especially to the DPRK.
As the old saying goes, "to get rich, you must first build roads", and only when the China-DPRK cross-border bridge is truly put into use can it bring new opportunities for the economic development of the DPRK.
As for the China-North Korea cross-border bridge, although it is currently in a shutdown because of North Korea, it is actually only a step away from being fully completed.
As the world's second largest economy, the mainland naturally has the ability to undertake the construction of the entire bridge. But what is more important for this matter is the attitude of the North Korean side.
Therefore, what we need to do now is to let the DPRK understand that the construction of the China-DPRK cross-border bridge is a win-win situation for both sides.
As long as this can be achieved, then after the completion of the China-North Korea cross-border bridge in the future, it is bound to write a new chapter in China-North Korea friendship!
Resources:
"The opening day of the China-North Korea New Yalu River Bridge has not yet started, and the North Korean side has not yet started construction" - Global Network