Why China plans to run trains from Kunming all the way to Singapore

News Snapshot:

During his visit to Malaysia last week, Chinese Premier Li Qiang said China was willing to study a plan to connect its railway projects in the Southeast Asian countries of Malaysia, Laos, and Thailand for “enhancing regional connectivity”. Li attended the groundbreaking ceremony for Malaysia’s East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) Gombak Integrated Terminal Station with Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. The nearly $10 billion ECRL project is sometimes linked to a China-led “pan-Asian” railway network that would connect the southern Chinese city and transportation hub of Kunming with Singapore at the tip of the Malaysian peninsula by lines running across...