Landlocked in the heart of Southeast Asia, Laos ranks among the world’s poorest nations.
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However, for over a decade, China invested heavily to build a dual-purpose passenger and freight railway through the thick rainforest between Kunming and Vientiane, the Laotian capital. This 1,000km (621-mile) rail line, with speeds of up to 200km/h (124 mph), has been operating quietly for four years.
According to a Chinese government study released this month, this railway has become a critical conduit for China to secure potassium – a strategic resource vital for agricultural production.
It resolves a long-standing threat to the food security of its 1.4 billion people while injecting powerful momentum into emerging industries like green energy and life sciences.
It also gives China unprecedented confidence in trade negotiations with the West.
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Potassium fertiliser is essential for high-yield modern agriculture, yet China suffers from severe potassium scarcity – holding less than 4 per cent of global reserves, mostly in hard-to-extract salt lakes. For decades, China relied heavily on potassium salt imports from North America, home to the world’s largest reserves.