Landlocked at the crossroads of China, Southeast Asia and South Asia, Kunming first gained international attention as the terminus of an ambitious French rail project connecting French Indochina with Yunnan.

Back then it might not have been difficult to imagine a pan-Asian rail network centered upon the city, but the turbulence of the 20th Century fragmented the continent, impeding the flow of people and goods across borders.

In recent decades relations among Asian countries have experienced a general thawing and once again, rail transport is bringing Kunming's crossroads status into international focus. But this time around it is high-speed rail rather than the locomotive that will drive Kunming's resurgence as a transport hub.

Within a decade, Kunming will be at the center of a high-speed rail network that extends westward across India and Pakistan to Iran, southward to Singapore on the South China Sea, eastward to Xiamen and Shanghai on the Chinese coast and northward to Chengdu – if Beijing has its way.

After India's decision last year to pull out of the plan to rebuild the Stilwell Road connecting northeast India with Kunming, it may be surprising to learn that Beijing and New Delhi are discussing a Chinese-built high-speed rail line crossing. The Hindu reports:


It appears that the long-planned rail network connecting Kunming with Singapore via cities in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia will also be a high-speed rail network, according to Chinese media.

Since beginning to develop its domestic high-speed rail network, China has begun to market its growing prowess in the industry to other countries. State-owned Chinese companies are already involved in projects in Venezuela and Turkey and Chinese companies plan on bidding for upcoming high-speed rail project tenders in the United States.

China recently announced its intention to build a high-speed rail link between Beijing and London. Chinese officials are predicting the completion of a China-built Eurasian high-speed rail network by as early as 2025.

On the domestic front, a new dedicated high-speed passenger line from Kunming to Shanghai is under construction and expected to be completed by 2015. The new route, which will run through provincial capitals Guiyang, Changsha, Nanchang and Hangzhou, will cut travel time from about 37 hours to around 10 hours.

Plans also exist to upgrade existing tracks between Kunming and Chengdu and build a new direct line to Chongqing that will deliver passengers from Kunming in about three hours instead of the current 19-plus hours.

Finally, construction commenced on a high-speed line from Kunming to Nanning last December. There has been some recent speculation that this line will eventually extend to Xiamen, and even Taiwan via tunnel.

China plans on having 42 high-speed rail lines by 2012, covering 13,000 kilometers, which would make it the world's largest rail network of its kind. The new lines will use China's homegrown high-speed rail system, which is a mix of foreign locomotive and carriage technology and domestically designed switching and control systems that is capable of speeds up to 350 km/hour (217 mph).

For the last decade, the elephant in the living room of China's relationships with the countries through which the Mekong River flows has been the growing number of dams built on and planned for the Lancang River – as the Mekong's headwaters in Yunnan are known.

The river - which in February was at half its normal level for that month - is a source of food and livelihood for the 65 million people living in its basin in Yunnan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia.

On Monday, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva met with Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue, telling Hu that residents of the lower Mekong region were concerned about the river's recent low water levels and were uneasy regarding the lack of clear information about China's dams on the Lancang, according to a Nation report.

Despite Abhisit's polite request for better information, Thai officials came to China's defense, saying that the recent low levels in the lower Mekong basin – the lowest in half a century – were primarily due to a drought in Laos. Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya said that rain in Laos normally accounts for 35 percent of the Mekong's water supply and that only four percent of the river's total water was held behind Chinese dams.

China currently has three dams operating on the Lancang, with a fourth at Xiaowan scheduled to commence operation in 2012. If completed, the Xiaowan hydropower station will be the world's tallest dam, rising almost 300 meters and capable of retaining 15 billion cubic meters of water.

Plans for a protest outside the Chinese embassy in Bangkok next month by residents of the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai suggest that residents of China's neighbors downstream may become increasingly vocal about the impact they feel Chinese dams are having on the river.

The Bangkok protest will be timed to coincide with the first Mekong River Summit, organized by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and scheduled to be held in the Thai beach town of Hua Hin from April 2 to April 5.

The conference's theme, "Transboundary water resources management in a changing world" is slightly undermined by the fact that the MRC's membership only includes Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, with Myanmar and China only participating as "dialogue partners".

It is difficult to imagine China making concessions to protestors, governments or anyone else for the time being. The Bangkok Post is reporting that a letter sent last month to Yunnan Governor Qin Guangrong by the Chiang Rai provincial government demanding the release of water from Lancang River dams was rebuked by Qin, who said the water was needed in Yunnan for agriculture during the dry season.

In addition to the protest related to the Mekong's current low levels, some Thai villagers will also attempt to deliver a petition to China seeking compensation for flooding in 2008:


In May 2009, the United Nations said China's plans to eventually build eight dams on the Lancang "may pose the single greatest threat to the river". China, however, is not the only country building dams on the river. Laos has plans for 23 dams on Mekong tributaries and the Mekong itself to be finished in the coming year, with Vietnam and Cambodia also planning dams of their own.

Lancang River image: news.china.com.cn

Airport "mafia" ring broken
Local media are reporting that police arrested five men yesterday who have been terrorizing vendors, tourist agents, and other solicitors since 2008 at the Kunming Airport in a mafia-style shakedown scheme.

Police stated that the gang's boss, surnamed Liu, and its other members were all from either Shandong province or northeast China. Their alleged criminal activities consisted primarily of threatening people offering services at the airport with physical violence if those people did not pay the gang a fee.

Police reportedly launched the investigation that led to Tuesday's arrests in late 2009 after receiving reports of "fierce thugs" roaming the airport. Police say that so far they know of at least 100,000 yuan in coerced payments that the gang collected last year.

Drought may affect electricity supply
In addition to threatening access to drinking water and damaging crops, Yunnan's record drought is now endangering the province's ability to generate sufficient levels of electricity.

According to a Xinhua Net report, Yunnan Power Grid Corporation president Liao Zelong predicts that low hydroelectric dam reservoirs will cause a 20 percent shortfall in the province's power generation capacity through the end of May, when the rainy season is expected to begin.

The problem has been compounded by breakdowns and coal shortages at coal-fired power plants.

It remains unclear whether electricity can be imported from surrounding provinces, or if any other measures can be taken to meet demand.

Pipelines to move oil and gas through Kunming
Reuters is reporting that two pipelines will be built to carry oil and gas from Myanmar into China through the Kunming area.

The first will be completed within the next two years and will carry up to 12 million metric tons of crude oil every year from the Myanmar port city of Kyauk Phyu, helping to streamline shipment of crude oil to China from Africa and the Middle East by going overland and avoiding the narrow Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia.

A refinery with a capacity of 200 thousand barrels per day is being built in Kunming to process oil from this pipeline.

The other pipeline, with an unknown completion date, will carry up to 12 billion cubic meters of Myanmar natural gas into China every year. Spurs of both pipelines could eventually extend as far as Nanning and Chongqing.

While these projects would seem to strengthen Yunnan's position as an economic gateway to Southeast Asia, China and Myanmar's rocky relationship and Myanmar's history of political canniness signal that they are not without risks.

Photo: Kunming Information Hub

Last Friday while much of the world was nursing the hangover of a decade of war and terrorism, economic turmoil and environmental degradation, China and its Southeast Asian neighbors took a big step toward regional integration with the launch of a new free trade area (FTA). The long term implications for Yunnan are massive.

China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have now entered the first phase of an FTA, eliminating tariffs on around 7,000 items including fruits, vegetables, textiles and machinery. These goods represent roughly 90 percent of trade in the new economic bloc, which is the world's largest in terms of population and third-largest after the EU and NAFTA in terms of GDP.

The first phase includes China and the more developed ASEAN members: Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. On Friday these countries also launched the first phase of an FTA within ASEAN itself. The remaining members – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam – will join the ASEAN China FTA in 2015.

Although it does not directly border any of the first phase countries, Yunnan has much to gain from the FTA's launch. It has water, air and highway connections to Thailand plus air links to Malaysia and Singapore, all of which are expected to become even busier trade routes. The launch of the FTA has long been viewed as a major milepost in the rise of Yunnan as China's gateway to Southeast Asia.

As some observers note, the FTA is more than just a step toward trade integration, it is also a major strategic achievement for China, whose political power in Southeast Asia already greatly surpasses that of regional rival India and is also seriously challenging American influence in the region.

China's soft power in Southeast Asia will undoubtedly grow in step with trade within the FTA, and much of this influence will be projected from Yunnan.

In the coming decade, China and Southeast Asia will become increasingly connected by a vast network of highways and rail which will provide cities in Yunnan with cheap overland access to markets in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Seated at the northern end of this transport web, Yunnan is poised to become an increasingly important international trade hub.

The initiation of the ASEAN China FTA is a modern revival of the ancient tea and horse caravan routes from centuries ago known as the South Silk Road, which linked China with Southeast Asian markets as well as Tibet and India.

Total trade between China and Southeast Asia was US$100 billion in 2004 and US$231 billion in 2008, but this is just the beginning. Bilateral trade – much of which will be passing through Yunnan – is expected to double over the next decade.

Difficult as it may be to imagine, Yunnan's days as an economic and political backwater are officially over.

Southwest China rail network to be upgraded
Rail lines linking Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Chongqing will be upgraded "at an early date" according to Yan Hexiang, deputy director of the Ministry of Railways' development planning department.

The ministry plans on adding more than 50,000 kilometers of new rail lines to China's less-developed west by 2020. Lines slated for improvement include the Kunming-Nanning, Chengdu-Guiyang, and Chongqing-Guiyang lines. China's west consists of more than 70 percent of the country's land area and is home to 370 million people.

Myanmar to build rail link to Yunnan
Myanmar will build a railroad connecting the border town of Muse with Yunnan's Jieguo, located near Ruili, according to Chinese media reports. The rail line is expected to boost the already flourishing trade between Myanmar and Yunnan, which is currently conducted with cars and trucks.

Since 1998, Myanmar has established five border trade areas with China, including Muse, Lwejei, Laizar, Chinshwehaw and Kambaiti. The country is planning on adding a sixth in the Kokang region, where in August of this year the Myanmar army overran an ethnic Chinese militia, sending thousands of refugees into Yunnan.

The border trade area at Muse primarily sends agricultural products, seafood, timber and gems into Yunnan, with steel, construction materials, computers, farm machinery and other finished products flowing in from China.

Carbon credits helping Yunnan build wind power infrastructure
Yunnan is using the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) to rapidly build up its wind power network with foreign investment, according to an AFP report. The CDM allows industrialized nations to fulfill some greenhouse gas reduction requirements by investing in clean energy technologies in developing nations.

The Zhemoshan wind farm in Dali – located at an altitude of 3,000 meters – is the highest wind farm in China. Carbon credits produced by the project, which has been funded by a US$45 million loan from the French Development Agency, will be purchased by Dutch bank Rabobank, according to a representative from Sinohydro, the Chinese company which manages the farm.

It is hoped that the Dali wind farm and others in Yunnan will make up for the winter dropoff in hydroelectric power generation by the province's extensive network of dams.

China has gone from little installed wind generation capacity five years ago to 12.2 gigawatts of installed capacity last year, making it the world's fourth-largest wind power producer, behind only the US, Germany and Spain.

'Yunnan Naked Girl' trying to marry dwarf entertainer
It may be true love, or it may be shallow opportunism, but the internet phenomenon known as 'Yunnan Naked Girl' (云南裸女) is courting 1.2 meter tall entertainer Qiu Yupei (邱宇培), who works at a karaoke bar in Hefei, Anhui province.

On October 11, Qiu, who performs under the name Beibei, posted an online ad for a wife. His conditions: she must be 40 centimeters taller than him, less than 28 years old and a university graduate. In return for marriage, Qiu offered his wit, stable income and private estate.

Chuxiong native Peng Chunping (彭春平), better known as 'Yunnan Naked Girl' responded to the ad with a marriage proposal of her own. Peng is 1.6 meters tall and 21 years old but does not have a university degree.

"I truly love Beibei. Ever since I saw the advertisement, I've decided to live with him ever after," Peng told the Chinese-language Information Times.

Peng first gained notoriety in China in July by posting naked photos of herself online in what she said was an attempt to find her mother, who she says left her after a failed suicide attempt by Peng. She has yet to find her mother.

Qiu's agent has reportedly expressed interest in Peng's marriage proposal.

Report: 90% of Kunming's timber imports illegal
A new report by campaign group Global Witness states that although trade between Myanmar and China in illegal timber has declined significantly since 2005, there is still substantial traffic of illegal timber from Myanmar into Yunnan province.

The report, entitled 'A Disharmonious Trade', is based upon field research in Myanmar's Kachin State, Yunnan, and China's coastal region between 2005 and 2009. The report states that in 2008, Kunming customs processed 270,000 cubic meters of logs and 170,000 cubic meters of sawn timber, 90 percent of which was illegal.

According to the report, timber is often transported into Yunnan at night, "official checkpoints avoided and documentation routinely falsified. In some instances, local enforcement agencies have turned a blind eye to smuggling; sources claim that corruption and bribery are rife."

The report recommends that Yunnan strengthen awareness of and compliance with the May 2006 'Interim Measures to Manage Timber and Mineral Cooperation between Myanmar and Yunnan Province'. It also recommends that Myanmar's ruling junta work toward stopping illegal logging and timber trafficking.

Xishan district to target spitting, littering
Starting today, Kunming's Xishan district will begin a new campaign in which district hygiene department employees will patrol the streets looking for spitters, litterers and others who infringe upon general cleanliness.

People caught in the act of spitting, littering, dumping dirty water, painting graffiti, posting ads without authorization, walking on grass will be subject to fines ranging from 100 to 500 yuan.

Qiu Yupei/Peng Chunping image: aikanwo.cn

Yunnan's border with Myanmar was back in the news yesterday after officials from China and Myanmar agreed to work together on maintaining stability in the area. The agreement comes after fighting in August between the Myanmar army and an ethnic Chinese militia caused more than 10,000 refugees to spill into Yunnan.

Chinese Vice-Premier Li Keqiang met with Myanmar minister Tin Aung Myint Oo in Nanning yesterday, saying that the two countries should increase cross-border exchanges and cooperation to ensure stability in the area.

In August Myanmar's army took control of Kokong, which had previously been administered by a primarily ethnic Chinese militia outside of the control of the military junta that rules the country.

Many of the refugees who fled into Lincang prefecture on the Yunnan side of the border said that their businesses and homes had been looted by soldiers during the conflict. Fighting edged close to the border between the two countries and one Chinese soldier was killed on the Yunnan side.

In September relations between China and Myanmar had cooled noticeably, with Beijing taking the rare step of criticizing its strategic Southeast Asian ally for the violence and demanding that Chinese interests in the country be protected. Around the same time, a mass email calling upon Chinese volunteers to join the fight against the Myanmar army was circulating in China.

Yesterday's meeting in Nanning suggests that relations are back to normal between the two countries. For the ruling junta in Myanmar, China is a major source of revenue as well as political legitimacy and protection. China in turn benefits from access to Myanmar's vast energy resources and its Indian Ocean ports.

A nearly monthlong conflict between Myanmar's army and ethnic fighters has led to what may be more than 20,000 refugees in an information dead zone, with foreign journalists being ordered out of the area, according to a New York Times article.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that as many as 30,000 refugees have crossed the border into China since fighting between the Myanmar army and an alliance of four area ethnic groups known as the Myanmar Peace and Democracy Front (MPDF) broke out on August 8 in the Kokang region of northeastern Myanmar's Shan State.

China's Foreign Ministry said it was providing humanitarian assistance to the refugees, many of whom are Chinese businesspeople. At present, China's plans for dealing with the remaining refugees have yet to be made public. The government is also declining to comment on the current state of affairs in the several refugee camps in the towns of Nansan and Genma, located in Yunnan's Lincang prefecture.

China is one of the few Asian countries to have signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, which codified non-refoulement, or the principle of refusing to send refugees to places where they are likely to be under threat again.

It is estimated that approximately 4,000 refugees have returned to Myanmar since fighting ceased two days ago.

Media in Thailand are reporting that Myanmar's ruling junta has sent troop reinforcements into Shan State for the purpose of consolidating control over the region – a move that could provoke more violence between Myanmar soldiers and ethnic militias and worsen the refugee situation.

Nansan refugee camp image: Reuters via New York Times