#精品长文创作季#
Since the beginning of the 21st century, countries have built high-speed rail lines in China to break down barriers to inter-regional exchanges and facilitate people's passage. As the world's most populous country, India has a strong pursuit of high-speed rail and strives to build a modern high-speed rail country. And chose to carry out in-depth cooperation with Japan, but did not want to backfire and be "deceived" by Japan!
At the beginning of Japan-India cooperation, the US media hyped it up, and even ridiculed China's high-speed rail for being dusty, and the words were full of arrogance. Looking back at what the American media said today, it has become a joke. So why did India choose to cooperate with Japan, and why was it "deceived" by Japan? How did China's high-speed rail slap the US media in the face?
1. Japan and India have reached in-depth cooperation
India is one of the most populous countries in the world, but the infrastructure of transportation in India is not complete. The main reason why a large number of Indians may not have left the city in their entire lives is that India does not have a complete high-speed rail and rail network.
The inconvenience of transportation has also made it impossible for India to strengthen trade between cities, thereby promoting the economic growth of its own manufacturing and industrial industries. In order to promote economic development and facilitate people's travel. India has allocated 10 billion yuan to build a complete high-speed rail network in the country.
However, India's own high-speed rail manufacturing technology is not up to standard, so it can only bid for projects from all over the world. China and Japan simultaneously launched a tender competition for India's high-speed rail project, and Japan eventually won India's favor.
India's choice of Japan over China was also expected by the mainland. There are two main reasons for this, one of which is that as early as 2011, India and Japan began to develop close economic and trade ties and establish a "Japan-India Special Bilateral Strategy and Global Partnership".
The establishment of in-depth cooperation between Japan and India is a kind of struggle against China's Silk Road. Japan and India are both major economic powers in Asia, and with the continuous take-off of China's economy, there is fierce competition.
If the Silk Road on the mainland is allowed to develop, the Asian cooperation chain will be monopolized by the Silk Road. At that time, the rights and interests of India and Japan would be damaged, so Japan chose to huddle with India for warmth.
Moreover, China-India relations have not been friendly. Due to problems left over from history, India has always had fierce contradictions with Pakistan, and has even launched armed struggles from time to time.
The mainland, on the other hand, is a solid partner of Pakistan and has a deep friendship with Pakistan. India, with the attitude that "a friend of an enemy is an enemy," naturally does not have a good face toward China.
In addition, China and India have also had differences over the Tibet issue, and there have been conflicts between the borders, and Sino-Indian relations are not friendly.
After Japan and India announced the establishment of a cooperative relationship, the leaders of the two sides, Modi and Abe, also met in person to take a group photo. Modi even publicly declared that "Japan's Shinkansen is the most advanced high-speed rail system in the world, resulting in traffic accidents", and his words are full of ridicule of China's high-speed rail.
Not only are India and Japan capable of making a big deal of ridicule, but the US media is even more afraid that the world will not be chaotic. Published an article titled "Japan pushes India into the era of high-speed rail, China is left behind", ridiculing China!
It's just that what the United States didn't expect was that the Japan-India cooperation high-speed railway project was perfectly planned, but there were many obstacles in the implementation process. In the end, it even became an international joke, and it was even a slap in the face for the American media. So what kind of accidents did the construction of the Japan-India railway encounter?
2. The construction of the Japan-India railway encountered an accident
For its part, Japan and India plan to deepen cooperation to build a 508-kilometer high-speed rail line connecting Mumbai, India's largest city, and Ahmedabad, the hometown of Indian President Narendra Modi.
The Bangladesh Bahn railway is India's first high-speed rail line and is also considered by Indian President Narendra Modi as the first step in the construction of India's high-speed rail network. The planned maximum operating speed is 320 km/h, including more than 7 km of undersea tunnels, which shows the high standard of construction of the high-speed railway.
The construction of the Bangladesh Railway, a milestone in India's modernization, was originally scheduled to be completed on August 15, 2023. In order to show his political contribution and canvass for re-election. Modi mandated the completion of the project on August 15, 2022, as it was the 75th anniversary of India's independence.
In terms of investment, the cost of the high-speed rail line is as high as 17 billion US dollars, which is completely the investment of the world-class high-speed rail line. Ironically, India's finances are tight. Unable to come up with the necessary financial funds, the Japanese side will bear 80% of the construction costs.
The construction of the Meng-Ai high-speed railway is financed by Japan to India, and the repayment time limit is as long as 50 years, and the annual interest rate is 0.1%, which can be called the price of cabbage. Japan's righteous squandering of money is also an important reason for it to finally obtain India's high-speed rail order.
The reason why Japan is showing favor to India is essentially because of the development potential of India's future high-speed rail market. It is believed that with the deepening of Japan-India cooperation in the future, Japan can obtain the right to build more high-speed rail lines in India, so as to seek more long-term economic benefits.
Although the oath was made before the construction, it was actually in the process of construction. However, the two sides have their own considerations, which has led to the continuous extension of the construction period of the Mengai railway.
For India, the quality of its workers is really uneven. And there is no professional construction skills, which leads to frequent delays.
In the case of Japan, financial subsidies were promised before the contract was signed. But with the turmoil in Japanese politics, Abe has gradually lost ground in Japanese politics. Many of its previous promises have not been fulfilled, and India has cried out that it has been "deceived".
Under the situation of internal and external troubles, by 2022, the planned 508 kilometers of the Bangladesh and Ai Railway in India will only be built for more than a dozen kilometers. The dream of completing the Mengai railway on the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China has become a pipe dream, and Indian politics has tacitly avoided talking about it.
Even until 2023, the construction of the Bangladesh railway in India is still far away. In stark contrast to the period when the development of the Mengai railway was stagnant, China's railways continued to advance.
3. China's high-speed rail overseas projects have been successful
Indian President Narendra Modi once said in a high-profile manner that the reason for choosing Japan's Shinkansen is that it has been in operation for 100 years. As a result, there have been traffic accidents, and stability is one of the important reasons why India chose the Shinkansen.
But just in 2021, a high-speed rail traffic accident occurred in Taiwan Province of China. A train named Taroko derailed, resulting in a tragic cost of 49 deaths and 309 injuries.
The train used on this trunk line is the 885 series train from Japan's Shinkansen, nicknamed Hakull. The accident shattered the image of Japan's Shinkansen as a stabilis. Passengers are suspicious of the safety of Japan's Shinkansen.
Although India did not choose China's high-speed rail as a partner, Laos has the foresight to reach an agreement with the mainland for the construction of the high-speed rail project.
As a country that has actively cooperated with China's Belt and Road Initiative, the mainland has strengthened economic and trade exchanges with Laos. It is also invested by the Chinese side to build a complete high-speed rail network from China to Laos, to Thailand, Singapore and even the whole of Southeast Asia.
The construction of the China-Laos Railway is estimated to be 1,035 kilometers long, passing through a large number of mountains and lakes, which shows China's infrastructure capabilities. The Canglan EMU built by China for Laos was officially handed over in 2021, which attracted the envy of India.
In addition to the completion of the China-Laos railway, China is also cooperating with Indonesia to build the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway.
The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway is the first high-speed railway connecting Indonesia and Southeast Asia, connecting the famous Indonesian city of Bandung and the capital Jakarta. It is also a landmark building in the Belt and Road Initiative between China and Indonesia, demonstrating the power of China's base station.
The roadbed, bridges, culverts, tunnels and other work of the project were all helped by Chinese workers. It has a total length of 142 kilometers and a top speed of 350 kilometers per hour. The commute between the two places has been reduced from 3 hours to 40 minutes.
Not only that, China and Thailand have established close cooperation ties to jointly build the Manlang high-speed railway. The Manlong high-speed rail project is one of the development projects of Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor, which shows the deep friendship between China and Thailand.
As a tourist city, Thailand's transportation convenience plays an important role in the promotion of its tourism industry. The completion of the Manrong high-speed rail will also connect the three airports in Bangkok. After getting off the plane, tourists can take the high-speed train straight to the scenic spots, and experience the customs of Bangkok along the way.
Construction of the high-speed rail project has already started and is expected to be officially operational in 2029. China's high-speed rail cooperation projects are thriving and growing. On the other hand, the cooperation between Japan and India has the implication of the collapse of the middle way, which is very emotional.
If India had chosen China as its partner in the first place, the Bangladesh-Ai railway would have been completed today, and there would be no need to avoid talking about it in the celebration of the founding of the People's Republic of China in the 75th year.
And the American media, which once ridiculed China's high-speed rail, has now become a complete joke and has no place to embarrass itself.
epilogue
India plans to build a modern high-speed rail network in its own country, and has chosen to cooperate with Japan to build the Meng-Ai railway. Due to historical factors, it has turned a blind eye to China's overtures, and instead ridiculed China's high-speed rail technology.
India's arrogance has hampered its cooperation with Japan, and the Mengai railway, which was due to be completed in 2022, is still mired in construction. On the other hand, China's high-speed rail construction is thriving, which is really embarrassing! The ridicule of the US media can now be said to be slapped in the face, which makes people applaud.
What do you have to say about India's choice to cooperate with Japan in high-speed rail construction? Do you think India's current high-speed rail construction dilemma is to blame? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area for discussion.