Geopolitical space of China's high-speed railway diplomacy
Online published: 2017-12-20
Supported by
Major Research Plan of National Social Science Foundation of China, No.16ZDA041
Copyright
With its extremely strong transportation capability and tremendous cost of construction, high-speed railway not only brings rapid and significant effects on geo-economics and geopolitics, but also extends its trade pattern into the domains of international politics and diplomacy. China, Japan, Germany, and France are the major exporters of high-speed railway and all get involved in a keen competition in the international high-speed railway market. From the power and space perspectives of geopolitics and based on the national interests of security, development, and international influence, this article adopts an overlay analysis of the construction conditions, spatial interest pattern of exporting competitors, and China's competitive advantage, to demonstrate the geopolitical space and cooperation methods of China's high-speed railway diplomacy. The conclusions are as follows. First, the priority space of China's high-speed railway diplomacy includes Russia, Kazakhstan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, South Korea, the United States, and Brazil; Second, China can develop a multi-level cooperation with the United States, South Korea, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Australia. We also suggest that cooperation with other candidate countries should start with pre-engineering projects such as power generation and transmission. It is possible to cooperate with Brazil and Indonesia by pre-project engineering cooperation based on market demand. Third, in addition to cooperate with countries in the priority space, China can provide financial aid to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and other countries with careful consideration of the high-speed railway market demand and risk. Finally, considering only the economic interest, other countries with existing railway project cooperation may be the potential high-speed railway cooperators, such as Romania, Belarus, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, and Serbia.
HUANG Yu , GE Yuejing , MA Teng , LIU Xiaofeng . Geopolitical space of China's high-speed railway diplomacy[J]. PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY, 2017 , 36(12) : 1489 -1499 . DOI: 10.18306/dlkxjz.2017.12.004
Fig.1 Operation and construction of high-speed railway in countries of the world (by March 2017)图1 世界高铁运营和修建情况(截至2017年3月)①(资料来源:UIC.High Speed Lines in The World Updated 3rd July 2017. http://uic.org/highspeed。) |
Tab. 1 General situation of high-speed railway in exporting competitor countries表1 主要高铁出口竞争国高铁情况②(②资料来源:UIC.High Speed Lines in The World Updated 3rd July 2017. http://uic.org/highspeed。) |
高铁出口竞争国 | 发展历史 | 运营里程/km | 在建和计划里程/km |
---|---|---|---|
中国 | 2008年至今 | 23914 | 12255 |
日本 | 1964年至今 | 3041 | 596 |
法国 | 1981年至今 | 2696 | 1866 |
德国 | 1988年至今 | 1475 | 692 |
Fig. 2 Spatial distribution of China's high-speed railway interests图2 中国高铁利益攸关国空间分布③(③资料来源:根据文献和新闻网站资料整理。) |
Fig. 3 Spatial pattern of economy, population, and power conditions for high-speed railway development图3 世界高铁建设的经济、电力、人口基础条件空间格局④(④数据来源:世界银行世界发展指标。说明:以2016年国家人口密度100人/km2为界,分为高人口密度国家和低人口密度国家;以2016年国家人均国民总收入4036美元为界,分为高收入国家和低收入国家;以2014年国家电力供应3000 kW·h/人为界,分为电力供应充足国家和电力供应不足国家。) |
Fig. 4 Foreign trade distribution of Germany, France, Japan and China(2016)图4 德法日中对外贸易额分布(2016年)⑤(⑤数据来源:ITC calculations based on UN Comtrade statistics。) |
Fig. 5 China's high-speed railway diplomacy geopolitical space图5 中国“高铁外交”地缘空间⑥(⑥数据来源:ITC calculations based on UN Comtrade statistics。) |
The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
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