Comments by "Peter Jacobsen" (@pjacobsen1000) on "China-Laos railway set to open in latest advance for Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative" video.

"From land-locked to land-linked". Laos will always be a land-locked country, unless the sea levels rise so much the coast reaches its border. Land-linked? It's been linked to all neighboring countries for decades by road. Will the new railway improve Laos' economy? I hope so, and I would certainly like to ride the train.
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@张恒-b3i 老挝当然近，但是离中国东海岸很远。从北京坐火车到老挝要20多小时。
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n ll But how many people from China's great cities on the coast will spend a whole day, maybe two days on a train, when they can fly much faster for the same price? Shanghai to Kunming is 12 hours, daytime train only, then you have to spend a night in Kunming before boarding another train to Laos. Most tourists will probably be from Yunnan or Sichuan. Tourist arrivals from China have levelled off in recent years. Could this train persuade more to visit Laos? Maybe, but I'm not so sure.
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n ll I don't have a golden solution to make Laos develop faster, but we don't yet know if this railway line will make a big difference to economic growth. Tourism is important to Laos, of course, including tourists from China. However, it should be mentioned that Yunnan, with a population about the same as Thailand, only sends 1/3 the amount of tourists to Laos. Then there's hydro-power, which China and Thailand have also helped to develop, and forestry/timber, which both Vietnam and China are very interested in. Generally, Laos should try to get into labor intensive manufacturing like all Asian countries have done in the early days. But those manufacturing bases require flat land which is mostly in the south, where the train doesn't go.
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n ll You seem to be contradicting yourself. If Laos is not suitable for manufacturing because products have to go through other countries, why is it so necessary to have a railway? Just for tourism? Or do you mean the railway can facilitate industry in Laos? I'm not against this railway, as I wrote in my first comment, but considering the high cost, I fear it could actually hold Laos' development back.
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@turtlesoup8134 I like your optimism. Let's see how it goes. If it doesn't go well, perhaps China will forgive part of the loan it gave Laos to build this line. After all, the main beneficiary of this line will be China who gets a link to South East Asia. China has been very generous in the past, and maybe it will again.
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