Why Does China Ignore Thailand’s Land Bridge Project?

The South China Morning Post reports that the Thai government's effort to sell the 'Land Bridge' investment project, valued at 1 trillion Baht, to China has not yielded the anticipated response. Despite China's exploration of new alternatives for transporting goods beyond the existing bottleneck of the Malacca Strait, the project has not achieved the desired level of acceptance.

The Malacca Strait

The Malacca Strait is considered one of the highly vulnerable points in China's economic transportation network as it is a crucial route for transporting essential commodities, such as crude oil and minerals. Consequently, China has been actively seeking alternative options for many years, including investments in gas pipelines in Central Asia, economic corridor development between China and Pakistan, connecting oil and gas pipelines between Myanmar and China (Yunnan), and establishing a freight railway network between China and Europe. BOI

Here are the comment from Chinese Academician :

David Zweig, a professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, stated that when compared to the cost savings of not navigating the narrow passage of the Malacca Strait, the expenses for transporting goods and rail transportation through the Land Bridge seem to be more expensive. Lu Xiang, a senior researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in Beijing, stated that China does not have high expectations for this project. According to Lu, China does not consider the Land Bridge as a prestigious or strategically significant project that the Chinese government would actively participate in. He assessed that it is unlikely to be a new viable option. Furthermore, if there is a need to transport goods between the ports of Ranong province and Chumphon province, it could be a complex matter due to the strategic importance of these goods. This could potentially result in this route being less cost-effective when compared to the necessity of circumventing the original path through the Malacca Strait.

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