China has outlined plans to build a massive road link snaking along the country’s land borders and coastlines – an ambitious project that could boost incomes in a string of remote regions, but also provoke geopolitical and ecological risks.
But Beijing will need to navigate some tricky geopolitical terrain to complete the road, which will run close to areas subject to territorial disputes, while also managing ecological hazards in rugged landscapes with fragile ecosystems.
The road project – dubbed the “golden border-coast loop” by Chinese state media – is due to be completed by 2030 and will be made up of three sections, according to a five-year blueprint issued by China’s Ministry of Transport in July.
The first section – the G219 highway – runs through China’s southwest and far west, from Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region through Yunnan province and Tibet autonomous region to the northernmost tip of Xinjiang.
Stretching 10,000km, the route will closely follow China’s borders with Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Russia.
China has outlined plans to build a massive road link snaking along the country’s land borders and coastlines – an ambitious project that could boost incomes in a string of remote regions, but also provoke geopolitical and ecological risks.
The project is framed as an effort to boost economic development, social stability and national unity, with the more than 25,000km (15,500-mile) route set to run through several regions with large ethnic-minority populations – including Tibet and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
But Beijing will need to navigate some tricky geopolitical terrain to complete the road, which will run close to areas subject to territorial disputes, while also managing ecological hazards in rugged landscapes with fragile ecosystems.
The road project – dubbed the “golden border-coast loop” by Chinese state media – is due to be completed by 2030 and will be made up of three sections, according to a five-year blueprint issued by China’s Ministry of Transport in July.
The first section – the G219 highway – runs through China’s southwest and far west, from Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region through Yunnan province and Tibet autonomous region to the northernmost tip of Xinjiang.
Stretching 10,000km, the route will closely follow China’s borders with Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, India, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Russia.
