Laos-China railway to launch as debt to Beijing mounts

A $5.9 billion railway connecting the Laotian capital of Vientiane to the Chinese city of Kunming is set to open on Friday.

The line is one of hundreds of projects under Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative to expand trade by building ports, railways and other facilities across Asia, Africa and the Pacific. State broadcaster CCTV said tickets went on sale beginning from Thursday for the section of the train between Kunming station to Mohan station on the Chinese side, near the border between China and Laos.

The Kunming-Vientiane railway is a link in a possible future network to connect China with Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia and Singapore. That would give southern China more access to ports and export markets. Laotian leaders hope the railway will energize their isolated economy by linking it to China and markets as far away as Europe.