3 minutes ago, mrfill said:

Tibet is part of China

Tibet was an independent nation which was invaded by China.

6 hours ago, mahtin said:

Lots of investment opportunities here.

I think many Thai are very busy looking for opportunities to funnel off some of those investments into their own pockets....

How a Chinese-Funded Costa Rican Soccer Stadium Explains the World - Pacific Standard (psmag.com)

 

I was running an AirBnB and running sportfishing charters 60nm off Los Suenos on my 32' Regulator 'pocket rocket' to some of the best bill-fishing on the planet at the time. Well the story doesn't go into the fact that Costa Rica granted the Chinese exclusive fishing along its' entire coastline. The day the stadium opened China parked two huge net fishing ships and an even bigger processing ship just inside international waters. They rain 24/7/365 killing everything that came near. Within a month fishing for Tuna and Mahi-mahi went to s**t followed by the Bill-fish. Now that golden stadium is in total disrepair because the Tico Government is broke from corruption. Not to fear LOS, you've pretty much wrecked your sea life on your own.

The foundation for the takeover by China seems to have been put in place already.

 

Thailand has monopolies that are held by Thai-Chinese families.  All it would take is for CP to stop all import / selling for 1-2 weeks and Thailand would be in a real hurt.  Are all the top families (wealth wise) Thai-Chinese?  Even a lot of the Thai military are Thai-Chinese families.

First flood Thailand with even more cheap imports.

Second flood Thailand with troops when the populace show any degree of dissent.

 

Thailand's screwed as it's military government aligns to China, as the USA has recently shown it's no longer prepared to be the 'global policeman's, (not that they've been much good at that)!

6 hours ago, ThomasThBKK said:

Looking at china, their crackdowns on everything, how they not want any money to leave the country, i am not even sure chinese will be allowed to come here in the future...

In the future China will own Thailand so the money will still be in China 

6 hours ago, djayz said:

I think the concept/project is a great development for the region. It should also help to reduce the number of lorries on the roads, many of which are not roadworthy and/or belch out thick, black fumes, not to mention just how recklessly some of those vehicles are driven. 

It should cut down on delivery times, road accidents and be a little more environmentally friendly. 

I'd love to take the train one day from here up to Kunming (I know passenger services are not planned until much later). 

 

The China to Europe n China to Russia trains have been running for a few years now, be really nice to take those when covid ends ...

1 hour ago, Deli said:

And now going to be built by Chinese forced labour. Makes me sick.,

I sure hope you get well soon. Watch the Som Tam intake! 

In a few years Thailand  will be  -in essence- a Chinese province, just like Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

4 hours ago, fvw53 said:

Suppose one train carries 2000 passengers

How hours will be needed to pass the Lao passport and customs and then the Chinese border....all the time reduction of high speed may be lost

I prefer an airplane

yes, Chiangmai to Kunming only a 40 min. flight

47 minutes ago, HaoleBoy said:

But but but Thailand has a Space Program.  Surely they can do a high speed railway ...

One has to use a vast amount of imagination to envision Thailand with a nationwide  high speed rail network, a space program, nuclear power, anything resembling a democracy, or a progressive and forward looking leader. 

When was the decade started????!!!

Does Thailand really has a need for a Chinese strategical rail connection to China, built by Chinese, owned and exploited by China and competing with the existing Thai rail system?

Chances are very high this connection to China will never be profitable, but only strategic.

For China.

2 hours ago, sawadee1947 said:

Why make it so difficult....?

Why not declare Thailand as a Chinese province?

The dictatorship is already established and the Great Leader is elected for life time......and if not....laws will be changed. ????

 

Actually, its the US who had turned a blind eye to allow feudalism n massive corruption to prevail in  regimes that it fostered n backed in Asia  (including those in  the ASEAN countries) .
Ultimately,  many of these regimes fell apart one after another (eg the South Vietnamese govt in VN, KMT in China) following local discontent at the massive inequality that engendered .
They now have the chance to do right by sending troops to Burma n to support feeble protestors who r being blatantly bullied n taken down by unfair local laws in other countries ( including in those that we r truly familiar with) but have chosen not to pursue the righteous path  ..

Welcome to the country that has inflicted a deadly virus to the entire world. Good on you Thailand, you must be desperate for cash.

1 hour ago, BobinBKK said:

I use sign language when dealing with Chinese people. Can you guess what that sign is?

Have you left me any shrimps sign? 

16 minutes ago, Moo 2 said:

Welcome to the country that has inflicted a deadly virus to the entire world. Good on you Thailand, you must be desperate for cash.

And a shrimp famine 55

30 minutes ago, hansnl said:

Does Thailand really has a need for a Chinese strategical rail connection to China, built by Chinese, owned and exploited by China and competing with the existing Thai rail system?

Chances are very high this connection to China will never be profitable, but only strategic.

For China.

Yep, they want their shrimps without needing a passport.

Fear Thailand is fast moving to be a Colony of China.

The Romans built a lot of roads across Europe.  Whatever benefits they had for the countries they were built in, their ultimate purpose was to facilitate fast troop movements.  They worked and the Roman Empire lasted a long time by anyone's standards.

 

Just saying.

1 hour ago, HaoleBoy said:

But but but Thailand has a Space Program.  Surely they can do a high speed railway ...

7 hours ago, djayz said:

I think you'll find that the average Somchai didn't have insider knowledge about this once in a lifetime opportunity to get rich quickly. If the truth be known, a very small, exclusive group of people just happened, by sheer coincidence, to buy that land before the project was announced.

Agree but the rise in land prices spreads well beyond the immediate vicinity of the line.  Since the new (as yet still unfinished) M6 Bangkok-Korat motorway was announced, land prices in my area have gone off the scale.  There's new houses, hotels and supermarkets going up all over the place.

 

I would expect that as the rail project completion date gets close, those prices will skyrocket - well out of the reach of locals (not that it isn't already).  Sitting in your car for 2 hours travelling to the office in Bangkok from the suburbs is common place -  when living in the countryside and travelling to the office by train in 55 minutes (from Pak Chong) becomes an alternative, it will be a no-brainer.

 

The sad part is that the 'countryside' they will be seeking is slowly being consumed by the very developments aimed at luring them.

5 hours ago, fvw53 said:

Suppose one train carries 2000 passengers

How hours will be needed to pass the Lao passport and customs and then the Chinese border....all the time reduction of high speed may be lost

I prefer an airplane

It will be done before you get on the train

3 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I'm puzzled by the idea that the west "rescued" Thailand ( or it would have been Siam back then ). Perhaps you can give an example of such.

If referring to WW2, the Americans defeated Japan and the Japanese troops in Siam left, but I know of no Allied invasion of Siam to "rescue" them. Far as I know, American military involvement in Siam consisted of bombing the railway.

During WW2 Thailand was an ally of Japan and administered one of the border States of Burma.  After the war they saw the light and loved the Americans so much. 

I understand the need for progress when it comes to roads and train even with the pandemic there seem to be plenty of money to go around. Yet there is no money for quality vaccines that one has to pay for the good stuff unless it is donated. Then you got those businesses and people haven't received one baht of help I guess there is no benefit to it or should I say a kickback.

 

It sure is looking more and more their leaders enjoy and smile when they take it to the bank now I understand " Land of Smile "????

1 hour ago, cormanr7 said:

In a few years Thailand  will be  -in essence- a Chinese province, just like Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

The West can outbid the Chinese if they want to do it. I'm pretty sure Hun Sen won't turn down any irresistible offer. The Japanese are doing very well in Cambodia and keep on investing.

 

The most notable Western "investments" I've seen in Sihanoukville were a bunch of tin sheds with prostitutes. Oh yeah and Heineken is doing quite well there.

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

One has to use a vast amount of imagination to envision Thailand with a nationwide  high speed rail network, a space program, nuclear power, anything resembling a democracy, or a progressive and forward looking leader. 

If that ever happens there will be zero hansum men to witness it. Would be purged to extinction by the cost of living.

2 hours ago, edwinchester said:

Just like the new Thai/Burma border crossing near Kanchanaburi. Years ago land in the sleepy village of Phu Nam Ron, which is right on the border, was worth 10k bht per rai. The locals couldn't understand why people from Bangkok were suddenly buying as much land as they could. Later the upgrade to International crossing was announced with all the subsequent development and the price of land rocketed x100's. Some very rich people got even richer.

Friends and family

8 hours ago, djayz said:

I think the concept/project is a great development for the region. It should also help to reduce the number of lorries on the roads, many of which are not roadworthy and/or belch out thick, black fumes, not to mention just how recklessly some of those vehicles are driven. 

It should cut down on delivery times, road accidents and be a little more environmentally friendly. 

I'd love to take the train one day from here up to Kunming (I know passenger services are not planned until much later). 

 

The train to Kunming via Laos will be great,  but inevitably some of Laos charm would be lost. When countries become more developed they do lose some of the old "wild frontier" charm.

Basically China out maneuvered the west to construct the belt and road as an alternative global transport linkage. The west only focus in maintaining and protecting the sea lanes and didn’t have the vision for a land trading route. Now the west has to respond by undermining the belt and road.