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China and Peru agree to study feasibility of transcontinental railroad

Saturday, May 23rd 2015 - 10:27 UTC
Full article 2 comments
Premier Li Keqiang meets President Ollanta Humala after arriving in Lima Premier Li Keqiang meets President Ollanta Humala after arriving in Lima

China and Peru have agreed to study the feasibility of a controversial 5,300 km transcontinental railroad that will connect Peru's Pacific coast with Brazil's Atlantic coast, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.

 The agreement came as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrived on Friday in Peru, on the third leg of a Latin America visit. This week, Brazil and China agreed on a feasibility study for the rail link.

The proposed railway would span the Andes to the Pacific and reduce the cost of shipping grain and minerals to Asia. China and Latin America would each benefit from the project by upgrading infrastructure, while allowing China to export its “industrial capacity” and investment, the news agency said.

In January, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged $250 billion in investment in Latin America over the next 10 years as part of a drive to boost resource-hungry China's influence in a region long dominated by the United States.

Li oversaw a raft of agreements during his visit to Brazil this week, ranging from a $1 billion purchase of passenger jets made by Brazil's Embraer to the lifting of an export ban on Brazilian beef.

Li, who arrived in Peru on Friday, met with Peruvian President Ollanta Humala at the Executive Palace. He will later travel to Chile and on Monday is scheduled to make a keynote speech before ECLAC, UN's economic commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Top Comments

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  • Briton

    .
    Some are saying that china is getting to ambitious for our own good,
    She is moving into unknown territory claiming everything in its path,

    If it moves, buy it, if it don’t move, buy it anyway, put wheels on it and move it,

    Some say china is becoming a real danger in the south china seas, and this may well lead to conflict,

    She is expanding her military, that will soon encroach on to others interests, and is already challenging USAs might,

    Yet the west sits idly by and does nothing but watches.
    Apparently we will reap what they sow,
    Some say we are tied by one arm/human rights and lawyers waiting to pounce like a pack of baying hounds,

    Most don’t want us anymore,
    Most will regret those decisions in time.

    Just my opinion.

    May 23rd, 2015 - 07:32 pm 0
  • Bisley

    A railway could certainly be built, but the question is -- would it be practical and cost-effective? If there was enough freight to be moved over this route (at a reasonable rate) to make it pay, it's likely that it would have already have been built. If it has to be subsidized by the public to benefit the select few who will use it, it shouldn't be built.

    Anything that can be done, and turn a profit, will probably be done without any government interference, unless government taxes and regulates the profit out of it.

    May 23rd, 2015 - 08:58 pm 0
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