China announces high-speed rail link to Singapore via Vietnam

China announces high-speed rail link to Singapore via Vietnam

Construction of a section of railway linking Nanning to Vietnam will begin later this year

Leaders from Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia and Laos join hands at a recent ASEAN summit.

China has announced plans to build a high-speed railway linking the southern Chinese Guangxi Zhaung autonomous region with Singapore via Vietnam, according to China Daily.

The first stage of construction will link the Chinese city of Nanning with Pingxiang, a city near China's border with Vietnam. Work on this section will commence in the second half of 2011, China Daily reported, citing the regional government's development and reform commission.

The construction of the high-speed rail will be the Nanning government’s main priority in the next five years.

The line is meant to increase commerce and various trade between China and ASEAN nations.

"We will invest 15.6 billion yuan (US$3.05 billion) to build the railway linking Nanning and Singapore via Vietnam," said Long Li, director of the region's transportation department. "This is extremely important for the construction of the Nanning-Singapore Economic Corridor."

The corridor refers to the economic link between China and ASEAN nations, starting at Nanning in Guangxi and passing through Hanoi in Vietnam, Vientiane in Laos, Cambodia’s Phnom Penh, Thailand’s Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia on its way to Singapore. China Daily referred to Guangxi as the country’s main foreign-trade center, with ASEAN being its largest bloc trading partner.