China’s Links to Southeast Asia

China is continuing to invest billions of dollars into infrastructure that links it more tightly to its southern neighbors.

Connecting by expressway: Highway construction projects are taking place throughout the region, with many headed up by China’s Road and Bridge Corp. (crbc).

• Since October 1, the $2 billion crbc-funded Phnom Penh Sihanoukville Expressway has connected Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, to its largest deep-sea port.
• The crbc signed a contract on November 10 to begin laying the groundwork for another $1.6 billion highway, connecting Phnom Penh to Bavet, Cambodia’s border city to Vietnam.
• A state- and private sector-funded expressway is being planned within Vietnam to link its capital, Ho Chi Minh, to the Cambodian border.

These new expressways are planned to link to Cambodia’s National Highway 1, which would allow faster trade and passenger travel from Vietnam through Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar, all the way up to China.

A railway: On September 15, Laos Deputy Prime Minister Men Sam An announced plans for a high-speed railway linking Cambodia and Laos.

• The rail line could reduce 10- to 15-day shipments by waterway to only four or five days.
• Laos’s railway already reaches down to Singapore and up to China.
• The goal of the railway is to boost trade with China.

The real benefactor: These infrastructure projects are designed to benefit China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Each connection Southeast Asian countries can make to China will expand their economies, all while giving China greater influence over the region. In February 2019 we wrote:

Many analysts are seeing the alarming implications of this seismic shift toward China. But there is something far more momentous about China’s moves toward dominating global trade that few recognize: It was prophesied in Bible scriptures written thousands of years ago. And now these prophecies are being fulfilled.

Learn more: China’s Belt and Road Initiative was prophesied in the Bible. Read “Brave New World (Made in China).”