AFP, Hunchun :
At China’s very farthest limits, a town sandwiched between North Korea and Russia stands at the heart of Beijing’s plan to revitalise its bleak, frigid northeastern rustbelt.
Beijing has a vision of turning the nondescript outpost of Hunchun into a regional Asian trading hub, and is spending tens of billions of dollars to turn it into reality.
Less than 70 kilometres away in North Korea, the port of Rason offers access to the sea and a shorter trade route to Japan, one of China’s biggest trading partners, than almost any of its own harbours.
But the ambitious plan relies on Russian and North Korean co-operation and implementation, making it a monumental gamble.
“Hunchun is the effective tip of the commercial spear for China as it tries to get more reliable access to the sea,” said Adam Cathcart, a professor at Leeds University in Britain who also runs SinoNK.com, a website on China-North Korea relations.
“China is more broadly trying to make its frontiers more prosperous and open in terms of trade and less restive and more easily controlled,” he added.
Hunchun has a population of only 225,000 but received investments totalling more than 100 billion yuan ($16 billion) last year from government and private sources, according to the commerce ministry.
At China’s very farthest limits, a town sandwiched between North Korea and Russia stands at the heart of Beijing’s plan to revitalise its bleak, frigid northeastern rustbelt.
Beijing has a vision of turning the nondescript outpost of Hunchun into a regional Asian trading hub, and is spending tens of billions of dollars to turn it into reality.
Less than 70 kilometres away in North Korea, the port of Rason offers access to the sea and a shorter trade route to Japan, one of China’s biggest trading partners, than almost any of its own harbours.
But the ambitious plan relies on Russian and North Korean co-operation and implementation, making it a monumental gamble.
“Hunchun is the effective tip of the commercial spear for China as it tries to get more reliable access to the sea,” said Adam Cathcart, a professor at Leeds University in Britain who also runs SinoNK.com, a website on China-North Korea relations.
“China is more broadly trying to make its frontiers more prosperous and open in terms of trade and less restive and more easily controlled,” he added.
Hunchun has a population of only 225,000 but received investments totalling more than 100 billion yuan ($16 billion) last year from government and private sources, according to the commerce ministry.
