The History, Current Situation And Future Of The Construction Of Southeast Asian Section Of Trans - Asian Railway

The Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway is an important part of the construction of Sino-ASEAN unobstructed inter-connectivity, which provide basic guarantee for regional integration. In 2013, President Xi Jinping put forward "Belt and Road" initiative. The establishment of Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway will provide infrastructural support to "Belt and Road" initiative. Based on studying history, present and future of the Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway, the thesis analyzes the opportunities and challenges of Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway under the context of the "Belt and Road" initiative, and come up with effective response measures for the successful completion of the Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway.This thesis adopts related international relation theories to study and discuss the topic. First, this thesis specifically put forward connotation of the Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway. Namely, the Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway studied in the thesis contains not only the traditional ASEAN channel but also planned high-speed rail link between China and Southeast Asia in recent years. Secondly, through studying the history and current situation of Trans-Asian Railway, this thesis analyzes the problems of the Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway, and puts forward the methods of how to size the current opportunity to effectively promote the completion of the Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway in the future.The thesis concludes:firstly, the Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway has made certain progress under the current opportunity, mainly manifested in the started construction of Sino-Laos and Sino-Thai railways, which brought confidence to smooth advancement of the Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway. Secondly, China has obvious competitive advantage in the construction of Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway. Its competitive advantage embodies in Chinese leaders attach great importance and the relevant policy supports to the construction of Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway; China has complete sincerity in railway cooperation; China’s railway technology is constantly improved and the construction cost is low, which provide financial and technical support to the construction of Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway; China, Laos, and Thailand’s railways will become a network in the local area, and connecting with China’s vast rail network, which is neither Japan or other countries could achieve.Third, although China has made certain progress in the construction of Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway, with obvious competitive advantage, but it also face great challenges. The greatest challenge is huge funding gap. Meanwhile, the inconsistent railway gauge standard is the largest technical difficulty of the construction of Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway.What’s more, Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway also faces intense international competition. Fourth, the Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway still faces many challenges, but its future development is faced with many opportunities. In order to promote the successful completion of Southeast Asian section of Trans-Asian Railway, this thesis puts forward some countermeasures to deal with the problems of financing, market earnings, gauge, etc.