Train Crash Is Latest Indicator to Turn on China: William Pesek. You can tell a lot about a country from riding its trains. Germany’s rail system speaks to its engineering prowess. Japan’s vast Shinkansen network showcases its technological proficiency. Switzerland’s on-time trains demonstrate a nation’s precision, the U.K.’s chronically late system speaks to the patience of a people and Singapore’s spotless subway cars hint at the city-state’s orderliness. By contrast, India’s trains display the backward state of vast swaths of an otherwise modernizing economy. And the U.S.’s dilapidated Amtrak brand is emblematic of infrastructural neglect and a reluctance to invest that undermines growth. Until a deadly July 23 crash, China’s rail ambitions were zooming along in tandem with its economic boom. Here are five things Saturday’s tragedy says about China: Hypergrowth’s Risks One, hyper-growth has its risks.
Its economic model champions growth and generational jumps in technologies. Black Swans Two, beware the lightning strike. White Elephants. China Launches Plan to Extend High-Speed Rail Across Asia! Last year we reported on China’s plans to extend its high-speed rail network all the way to Europe, and today the country announced that the first step of this grand plan is underway with work in progress to stretch the nation’s rail system across Asia.
China stated that they will first begin to extend their tracks into northern Laos, with the eventual goal of expanding the high-speed rail into Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Of course there are some major obstacles standing in the way of a pan-Asian high-speed network. Firstly, China’s rail network has been accused of construction fraud, lack of users and severe safety issues, but there is also the problem that Laos is one of the poorest countries in Asia. Currently, the country has only two miles of rail lines, but the government is hoping that by extending China’s high-speed network they will see an increase in tourism, gambling and local construction jobs. + China Minstry Of Rail via WNYC. PETER HITCHENS: How China has created a new slave empire in Africa.
By PETER HITCHENS Updated: 11:00 GMT, 28 September 2008 Narrow escape: Peter Hitchens I think I am probably going to die any minute now. An inflamed, deceived mob of about 50 desperate men are crowding round the car, some trying to turn it over, others beating at it with large rocks, all yelling insults and curses. They have just started to smash the windows. Next, they will pull us out and, well, let's not think about that ... I am trying not to meet their eyes, but they are staring at me and my companions with rage and hatred such as I haven't seen in a human face before. Those companions, Barbara Jones and Richard van Ryneveld, are - like me - quite helpless in the back seats. If we get out, we will certainly be beaten to death. Our two African companions have - crazily in our view - got out of the car to try to reason with the crowd.
By the grace of God we did not slither into the ditch, roll over or burst a tyre. Why did they want to kill us? Livings? And what about China herself? Greece is tapping China's deep pockets to help rebuild its economy. China News, China Business News, Taiwan and Hong Kong News and Business. China steps up role in Europe By Antoaneta Becker LONDON - China's increasing financial involvement in debt-ridden European nations has divided observers, inviting comparisons on one side to a Chinese Marshall Plan for Europe, and to a Chinese communist takeover of the continent on the other. During his week-long tour of European capitals, Premier Wen Jiabao spearheaded an intensive Chinese diplomacy seeking to win skeptics and defuse fears of Beijing's growing international clout.
On his stops in Greece, Belgium, Italy and Turkey, he held talks about bolstering market access for Chinese companies into Europe, signed investment deals and talked long-term action plans for China presence in European countries. The message delivered was unequivocally that China is now an important player on the European financial and economic arena. Wen Jiabao offered to buy more Greek government bonds when Greece returns to borrowing on the international debt markets. (Inter Press Service) Special Report: China Storms Africa.