#精品长文创作季#
Although to this day, many netizens question the country's decision to go all out to aid African countries, in fact, the mainland's aid to Africa began as early as the sixties and seventies. In the history of continental aid to Africa, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway is definitely a major project that can be called a "milestone". The railway, built 52 years ago, continues to serve the people of Africa today.
However, what is incomprehensible is that the key projects built on the mainland, which cost countless manpower and material resources, have been destroyed by local residents. So, why do the African people dig up the cables of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway and sell them, are our efforts in vain?
1. Railways to break the deadlock
According to public information, in 1965, Chinese engineers began to survey the entire line of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway. In other words, before 1965, the mainland's top brass made a decision on the plan to aid the construction of the Tanzania-Zambia railway. As we all know, the mainland experienced an extremely difficult "three-year difficult period" between 1959 and 1961.
It all started with the deterioration of Sino-Soviet relations. After Khrushchev came to power, he gradually began to overturn some of Stalin's decisions, among which the most important thing to do with the mainland was to re-examine Sino-Soviet relations. Because the mainland sternly rejected Khrushchev's unreasonable demands for "jointly building a navy" and "sharing a radio station," the Soviet hegemon chose to join hands with Laos and the United States to suppress the mainland, which was in the "cradle period."
Living behind closed doors is certainly not the ideal state of the rise of great powers, and the leaders of the older generation decisively decided to seek a breakthrough in the Third World. At a time when the two hegemons of the United States and the Soviet Union were busy engaging in confrontation, the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, which had just freed themselves from Western control, wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to seek economic development. This group of countries that do not belong to the hegemony of the Soviet Union and have a historical hatred with the United States are our united "third world brothers."
Among the third world countries in Africa, Zambia is undoubtedly the continent's best joint partner. Zambia, which is deep in the interior of the African continent, has rich copper resources, but because the Western colonizers are unwilling to develop transportation infrastructure for Zambia, Zambia has become a "chicken rib" in the eyes of the West. Zambia, which had just gained independence in 1964, originally wanted to take out its own loan to build a railway to a Tanzanian port, but was rejected by the World Bank and then the Soviet Union.
The mainland, which knows that sending charcoal in the snow can only be exchanged for sincere friendship, decisively decided to help build the Tanzania-Zambia Railway. Although many people were worried that the Tanzania-Zambia railway would drag down China's economy, Zhou Gong firmly said that we should not only settle economic accounts, but also that the Tanzania-Zambia railway would be of greater military and political significance.
As it turned out, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway did give the mainland a major victory in diplomatic history. Under Tanzania's leadership, 26 of the 42 African countries that voted on UN Resolution 2758 in 1971 voted in favour. Without the China-Africa friendship forged by the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, the mainland would not have been able to return to the United Nations.
2. The arduous course of the "Friendship Railway".
It's not hard to decide on something, it's how to get the job done. If it is handed over to the current "infrastructure maniac", the Tanzania-Zambia railway, with a total length of only 4,300 kilometers, may be successfully completed in less than a year. However, it took six years for the construction team to build the railway, and 68 mainland compatriots are buried in Africa.
The reason why the Tanzan railway project is so difficult is mainly related to three factors.
First, the poor natural environment. The Tanzania-Zambia Railway passes through Tanzania, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Angola, and there are complex environments such as primeval forests, canyons and rivers along the railway. In order to ensure the safety of rail transportation, Continental's engineering team designed 320 bridges and 22 tunnels.
As we all know, the mainland only had some simple machinery that copied the Soviet Union, and the Chinese engineering team, which lacked large construction machinery, could only rely on their hands and shoulders to work in a complex environment. The temperature in Tanzania is maintained at the level of 20 or 30 degrees all year round, and there will be a scorching heat of 30 or 40 degrees in some months, and many workers from the northern part of the mainland are unable to adapt to the local living environment.
Second, backward industrial conditions. Friends who do engineering know that general infrastructure projects need to purchase some building materials such as cement and sand from the local area. This can not only drive the local economic development, but also effectively improve the efficiency of the project.
In the 70s, Zambia had some simple industrial equipment left over from Western countries, but they did not have the ability to engage in industrial production at all. In order to ensure the smooth development of the railway project, the mainland has transported more than 1 million tons of rails, sand and gravel and other materials to Zambia.
In particular, it is important to note that at that time, we did not have the means to transport sea cargo directly into Zambia, and the high cost of transshipment made the project even more difficult.
Third, poor sanitation. To this day, Africa is home to a high incidence of infectious diseases of high concern to WHO, such as Zambia, which has a malaria incidence of 7,000 per 1 million population. Before the invention of artemisinin by mainland researchers, the cure rate for malaria was frighteningly low. For Chinese workers who need to work outdoors for long periods of time, Africa is simply a forbidden area for life.
In order to protect the lives and health of mainland workers, the mainland has also built a large number of local medical and health institutions in the process of aiding the construction of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway. However, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, which the mainland painstakingly built for its African brothers, did not last long.
3. The loneliness of the Tanzan Railway
According to media reports, as early as 2017, the Tanzan Railway encountered operational difficulties caused by the decline in transportation volumes. Mwannika is a veteran train driver who has worked for the Tanzan Railway for more than 40 years, and according to him, the annual freight volume of the Tanzan Railway is only 130,000 tons, which is only about 10% of the historical peak.
Not only does the management of the Tanzan Railway, which has a dismal business, not only have no money to pay the pensions of retired workers, but even the thieves who steal cables are not able to catch them.
According to public information, Zambia achieved a GDP of about 22.1 billion US dollars last year, an increase of more than 10 times compared to 52 years ago when the Tanzania-Zambia railway was first built. It stands to reason that Zambia, which has a new economic outlook, should be more dependent on the Tanzania-Zambia railway, but why is this "friendship project" doing so badly?
First of all, South Africa's escape from Western control was an important reason for the decline of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway. Zambia and South Africa are both southern African countries, and after the complete abolition of apartheid in South Africa in the 90s, Zambia no longer had to worry about being harassed by the "white South African elite". Zambia has since entrusted most of its freight trade to South Africa.
Since South Africa's maritime trade is far more developed than Tanzania's, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway has become a "cow lady" who is neglected.
In addition, the rise of road infrastructure in Africa has also put pressure on the Tanzania-Zambia railway. As we all know, road transport has always been a "competitor" of rail transport, for example, many freight railway lines in the mainland have become deserted because of the construction of highways next to them.
As the mainland's infrastructure strength continues to grow, many African countries have joined the mainland-led Belt and Road Development Initiative. These African countries have received strong assistance from the mainland in terms of infrastructure, such as the Caprivi Highway in Namibia, which is a key project built by the mainland. Compared to the Tanzan Railway, which has been in operation for more than half a century, the Kaprivi Expressway is clearly a better transportation option.
The glorious era of the Tanzan Railway has come to an end, do we have to watch this "Friendship Railway" completely scrapped?
Fourth, the way to break the situation of the Tanzan Railway
The non-electrified Tanzania-Zambia railway, which uses outdated "meter-gauge" technical standards, should obviously be eliminated by history, but it is obviously not a rational choice to completely scrap this railway, which symbolizes China-Africa friendship. For the Tanzania-Zambia Railway to continue to serve Africa's economic development, we must carry out three reforms.
First, upgrade the engineering technology of the Tanzania-Zambia railway. We already have the world's leading high-speed rail technology, and we are fully qualified to upgrade the Tanzan railway to an electrified passenger and freight railway. This will not only make up for the impact of the lack of freight traffic on the development of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, but also allow more Africans to choose to travel by the Tanzania-Zambia Railway.
With the engineering foundation left over from the sixties and seventies, the mainland only needs to invest a small amount of new investment to rejuvenate the Tanzania-Zambia railway.
Second, increase the layout of production capacity in Africa. No railway is inseparable from a booming real economy, and if Africa has the same new production capacity as Vietnam and India, the Tanzania-Zambia railway will not have to worry about the reduction in traffic at all.
For flower growers who are worried about how to deal with the crisis of negative population growth, encouraging enterprises to build factories in Africa can not only solve the problem of insufficient demographic dividend, but also accelerate the development of overseas markets.
Thirdly, we need to enhance security cooperation with African countries. The direct cause of the theft of cables on the Tanzania-Zambia Railway is the poor security environment in Africa.
If those unscrupulous people are allowed to sabotage the Tanzania-Zambia railway, it will be difficult for the continent to protect its interests in Africa. The "P4" of the P5 countries have already established military bases in many African countries, and the mainland can strengthen security cooperation with the countries along the Tanzania-Zambia railway.
epilogue
In the 60s of the 20th century, when the continent was extremely difficult, the leaders of the older generation decisively decided to help African countries build the Tanzania-Zambia Railway. This major strategy not only laid the foundation for Sino-African friendship, but also created a breakthrough for the mainland to break through the hegemonic encirclement of the United States and the Soviet Union. Today, we must not sit idly by and let the Tanzania-Zambia Railway become scrap metal.
So, do you think the Tanzan Railway can restore its former prosperity? Welcome to leave a message in the comment area to discuss.