Southern Thailand Land Bridge Project: Strategic Choices and Risk Assessment under International Attention
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Abstract
Recently, the Southern Thailand Land Bridge Project, a proposed alternative to the Kra Canal, has drawn significant attention. This project aims to optimize regional logistics through a "land + port" composite model. Its advancement has sparked widespread domestic and international reactions, and it also faces multiple domestic and international risks. Research reveals that the project faces multiple challenges, including domestic political instability, high investment costs and long payback periods, impacts on residents' lives and ecological damage, as well as the threat of separatism and terrorism in the southern region. Internationally, the intensification of the strategic competition between China and the United States has complicated the investment environment, compounded by the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the Red Sea crisis on the global energy, trade, and transportation systems. Despite the numerous risks and challenges, The Thai government still advocates for the continued advancement of this project, which is currently in the market research phase. For China, investing in this project will face multiple challenges in terms of politics, economy, and security. This article aims to comprehensively analyze the reactions of Thailand and abroad to the Southern Thailand Land Bridge Project, clarify Thailand’s strategic choice of the project, and further explore the current domestic and foreign risks of China’s investment in the Southern Thailand Land Bridge Project, so as to avoid suffering major losses in the process of investing in the land bridge project and affecting the implementation progress of the “Belt and Road” initiative and other interests related to China.
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