February 2, 2008 (LPAC)--In comments earlier this week, Lyndon LaRouche characterized China's government, in effect, as the only government which is paying attention to business in the midst of the present existential crisis.
Now, China has associated its own development plan with LaRouche's decades-long criticism of the US's insane overdependence on gas-guzzling auto, truck and air transport, to the neglect of railroads, especially high-speed and maglev. LaRouche repeated this criticism as recently as his January 17 international webcast.
Railroads, not automobiles, best serve the transportation needs of China, wrote Lau Nai-keung, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, in a strategic commentary published in the China Daily yesterday. While China had begun building national superhighways 20 years ago, current developments are "a sure sign that the auto-economy is not going to work in China," Lau wrote. He is absolutely right -- a nation with the population size and concentration of China, cannot afford to repeat the policy followed by the United States since the 1950s. Lau makes several key points which LaRouche representatives had emphasized in discussions in China with economic planners. Lau also emphasized the importance of the Eurasian Landbridge.
"For a vast and populous developing country like China, it has finally found the logical solution to its transportation problems. Cars are too polluting and too inefficient for intra-city commuting; and they are too expensive and too slow for inter-city traveling. On the other hand, oil-guzzling airplanes are too small and much too expensive," Lau wrote. He added that air travel is actually very time and space-consuming, and "inter-city trains running at about half the cruising speed of airplanes can sometimes be faster, more convenient and much safer. Overall, rail is also a lot friendlier to the environment."
China has been on a big highway construction mobilization, and now has a 30,000 mile network second only to that of the United States. By 2030, the network should double. However, skyrocketting oil prices and total congestion of the cities show that an auto economy will not work.
Now, the 11th Five Year plan, which began in 2006, puts the emphasis on rail construction, and changing the emphasis from cars. Under the 11th plan, a total 125 billion yuan ($16.9 billion) will be used to build about 12,600 miles of new railways, half of it just for passengers. Speed is being increased all over the country, which will make the transport much more efficient. Rail travel is still much more used than automobiles for long-distance travel in China, which has "one of busiest railway networks in the world, moving 24% of global rail traffic with just 6% of the world's tracks. In many respects, it is by far one of the most efficient railway transportation systems in the world."
"Rail transportation development plans are rapidly unfolding, and people will soon find their perception of distance completely altered. This will lead to a lot of ramifications currently beyond imagination. The map is shrinking, people's mobility has been greatly enhanced, and regional barriers and differences are breaking down. All this will completely change how the Chinese people live and work." While US fast logistics systems rely on air, in China they will be rail-based. The great urban areas of north and south, will be unified into megacities -- but these will be efficient due to rail transport.
"There are also plans to revive the land-bridge linking the Asian and European continents by rail, thus reducing transportation time and costs, and boosting the economies of the Central Asian countries along the way." There is also the "southern route," to Southeast Asia. "Imagine the opportunities and challenges the development of the Chinese rail system will offer. It is mind-boggling," Lau concluded.
