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| China-Japan-Koreas | ||||||
| East rolls out a new silken path to Europe | ||||||
| 2004-04-27 | ||||||
One of the world's most ambitious road maps was approved in Shanghai yesterday when China, Japan and South Korea agreed plans for an 87,500-mile network of motorways, bridges and ferry routes connecting Asia and Europe. Beginning with Asian Highway One, which will link Tokyo to Istanbul, it aims to create a modern version of the Silk Road, the camel route by which the occident and orient once traded with one another.
The plans were drawn up in 1959, but the divisions of the cold war made agreement and implementation impossible in the following 45 years. A draft proposal was finalised in November 2002. The 32 countries involved accepted the inter-governmental agreement in principle, but each still has to approve it. Yesterday 23 countries endorsed an expanded version of the plan at a meeting of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Under the Asian Highway agreement trunk routes and spur roads will cross China's vast plains, the mountains of the Himalayas and the jungles of south-east Asia. The system will connect South Korea with Turkey, Bhutan with Bulgaria, and Finland with Sri Lanka.
Kim Hak-su, executive secretary of the commission, said he believed the network would improve communication and understanding between peoples separated by mountains, deserts, water and disparate cultures and political traditions, "the same way it has happened in Europe, because of their road and rail links". Most of the roads are already built, but many will require extensive improvements to meet international standards in time for the scheduled completion of the network in 2010.
China plans to build almost 10,000 miles of new highways, in addition to the existing 7,000-mile stretch of road that is to be included in the system.
According to UN officials, the main beneficiaries are likely to be poor landlocked countries such as Bhutan, Laos, Mongolia and Nepal, which will get improved access to seaports.
The cost - as yet uncalculated - is expected to be vast. So far Japan has covered most of the preliminary costs, which it may be hoping to recoup with contracts for its vast construction industry.
Further funding is expected from wealthy countries and international organisations such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. "The | ||||||
| Posted by:Steve |
| #13 I have a better idea. |
| Posted by: Rafael 2004-04-27 10:04:57 PM |
| #12 I'm hoping these will make a comeback Sgt. Mom. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-04-27 8:23:15 PM |
| #11 Oh, what a wonderful road trip whis will be! Imagine the truck stops, and the camp grounds, and spotting all the exotic license plates. I can't wait! |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2004-04-27 4:26:16 PM |
| #10 Mitch H, it is in the interest of both Japan and Russia to ensure that China doesn't dominate Siberia. If Russia can be helped to develop and populate the area Japan may get inexpensive resources that they always need. If I were Putin I'd bush for the bullet train I mentioned in #5, and I'd push to make Vladivostok the new Hong Kong to promote immigration from Europe and Western Russia and really make Russia a trading nation in the East. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2004-04-27 3:24:05 PM |
| #9 What a fantastic boondoggle!And Japan's financing it!What a beautiful plan to finally ruin Japan's economy.Japanese companies will get much of non-China construction(they're financing),but they will have to hire local construction crews,so very few actual Japanese citizens will get any money from this.Japanese banks will tie up all their capital on this,and bonds will still have to be floated,which will fail,wiping out all who invested in them(much of Japan mid-class will invest savings in such bonds out of patriotism).There will be delays caused by Nature,changes of governments(the new guys will want their payoffs)local wars,etc.And government and business grafts will be chump change compared to "protection"money that will be demanded by every 2bit bandit from China to Turkey.(To get your share of the loot,round up some cousins in the village,mount your pony and go shoot up constrution site at night.Couple days later send a message that for a suitable fee,you will ensure safety along this stretch of project.) |
| Posted by: Stephen 2004-04-27 2:09:16 PM |
| #8 Wouldn't be nice to have a well built military road funneling Asia into the Mideast? |
| Posted by: DG 2004-04-27 11:34:31 AM |
| #7 East Asians don't have a political or economic interest in promoting Russian-Siberian integration. As the trends are running, they'll have de facto control of eastern Siberia in another fifty years. Although those trends look most like a footrace between a set of asthmatics where the Russian runner is the closest to dead, and the Chinese runner is just starting to wheeze a bit... |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2004-04-27 11:22:02 AM |
| #6 I'm thinking Canonball Memorial Sea-to-Shinning Sea Run What Ya Brung Race Redux. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-04-27 11:12:10 AM |
| #5 I have always thought the Japanese and Russians should work on upgrading the transsiberian railroad to become a bullet train. Japanese have the technology and need the work. Russia has resources in Siberia that need to be exploited and can return some contested islands to seal the deal. Vladivostok to Moscow by train in 8 hours or less would change Asia. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2004-04-27 11:10:25 AM |
| #4 Mmmmmmmmmmmm...and a McDonald's/Starbucks duplex every 15 kilometers... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2004-04-27 11:03:49 AM |
| #3 Any environmental groups planning on opposing this? I mean, all them cars and all that pollution..... |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-04-27 10:58:49 AM |
| #2 Three, if you count the Bosphorus. They sure as hell aren't going to be routing it through North Korea, unless one of the parties is speaking for the NorKs. Remind me again how much actual commercial traffic uses the crumbling remnants of the incomplete Pan American Highway? |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2004-04-27 10:45:07 AM |
| #1 Tokyo to Istanbul I count at least one -- and probably two -- big water crossings there. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2004-04-27 10:19:00 AM |