For China, high-speed railways of great strategic value
7 Feb 2014 6:04 AM IST
China’s high-speed rail lines are becoming a major transport force for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), allowing the rapid movement of military forces throughout the country, a recent state-run news report said.
‘While bringing convenience to the lives of the masses, high-speed rail also plays a military role that is growing more prominent by the day,’ the article states. ‘A lightly equipped division could be moved on the Wuhan-to-Guangzhou line about 600 miles (965 kms) in five hours, a fairly rapid mobilisation in military terms,’ the China Youth Daily said outlining military benefits of the country’s six high-speed rail lines.
The report says that China’s high-speed rail network will provide ‘immense strategic military value’. ‘And the Second Artillery (missile forces) could use the high-speed rail network to quickly deploy short-range missiles ‘in a certain strategic direction’, presumably from inland locations to coastal regions near Taiwan or Japan,’ the Washington Times quoted the Daily’s report as saying.
Other key rail lines include the Xian-Baoji and Xiamen-Shenzhen connections that are part of the network that has made China a world leader in high-speed rail. Since 2009, the PLA has reportedly been using high-speed trains to move troops in exercises.
‘While bringing convenience to the lives of the masses, high-speed rail also plays a military role that is growing more prominent by the day,’ the article states. ‘A lightly equipped division could be moved on the Wuhan-to-Guangzhou line about 600 miles (965 kms) in five hours, a fairly rapid mobilisation in military terms,’ the China Youth Daily said outlining military benefits of the country’s six high-speed rail lines.
The report says that China’s high-speed rail network will provide ‘immense strategic military value’. ‘And the Second Artillery (missile forces) could use the high-speed rail network to quickly deploy short-range missiles ‘in a certain strategic direction’, presumably from inland locations to coastal regions near Taiwan or Japan,’ the Washington Times quoted the Daily’s report as saying.
Other key rail lines include the Xian-Baoji and Xiamen-Shenzhen connections that are part of the network that has made China a world leader in high-speed rail. Since 2009, the PLA has reportedly been using high-speed trains to move troops in exercises.
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