Laos Opening Up to the World
The Lao PDR as the Land Bridge of the Greater Mekong Sub-Region
Aug 21, 2008
Laos, a small land-locked country, is now rapidly becoming a regional linking hub between its larger neighbors. After years of isolation, Laos is opening up with now around 12 international border crossings and three bridges (and soon four) over the mighty Mekong river.
Laos and the Asian Highway Network
The importance of Laos' opening is confirmed by the central position it occupies in the Asian Highway Network (AH) project, sponsored by UNESCAP and largely funded by the Asian Development Bank. The 141 000 kilometer-long road network crossing 32 countries aims at interlinking the Asian continent.
Regionally, of all Greater Mekong sub-region countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and China's Yunnan province), Laos has the greatest planned AH density of all, both in regard of its territory and its population. It also has the largest AH network for the number of cars owned by its population. It thus becomes evident that those highways aren't built for Laos' internal traffic, but rather for transforming the country into a land-bridge in a larger regional road network that will eventually link China to Singapore and Vietnam to India.
What it Means for China, Thailand and Vietnam
For all three countries, passage by Laos is a way to bring the economic growth from which are already benefiting their centers, to their peripheries. For China, it means its inner provinces far from the coast who could benefit from more trade and exchanges with Southeast Asia. For Thailand, it means its Issan region in the Northeast, bordering Laos, that lags behind in terms of access to prosperity, that could benefit by being linked to Vietnam or China. Finally, in Vietnam, while the North and South have known high levels of economic development, the Center has been a lot slower to launch, thus the relevance of integrating with Northeastern Thailand and beyond via Laos.
The three countries have invested a lot in road infrastructure in Laos, and China more than any other. With the integration of Laos into the ASEAN free trade area in 2008 and the coming free trade agreement between ASEAN and China, the timing of the completion of these roads is perfect.
Consequences for Laos
Opening up will mean deep political, economic, social and cultural challenges for Laos. More foreigners passing through the country will bring more interactions and contacts between its residents and the outside world, both by way of tourism and commerce alike. This path to modernization will have impacts on traditional Lao culture for better or for worst.
Besides, coming out of isolation could prove a challenge for the Lao communist government still in power. Due to its secret and non-transparent nature, as well as the existence of competing internal factions, it is difficult to predict the medium or long-term outcomes. It could be both a source of reinforcement and strengthening if economic benefits contribute to legitimize the regime or it could lead to its destabilization and weakening by introducing new ideas and help form a new asserting and vocal middle class unsatisfied with the political status quo.
A Historic Parallel?
An historic parallel could be made between Laos' new found position and the ancient Kingdom of Lan Xang, that is claimed as the country's historical and cultural origin. Lan Xang was founded in 1354 with the aim to created to stable kingdom linking Mongol-dominated China to the North and its vassal, the Khmer Empire in the South. Surviving both those empires, Lan Xang then became a conduit between the Thai in the West and the Vietnamese in the East and reached the height of its power and influence in the 17e century.
Today, centuries later, Laos is again linking the region's main powers. Still, the question is if this state can help bring prosperity to the poor country. By combining the benefits from becoming this new land-bridge into a broader development strategy including export of hydroelectricity to Thailand, Laos could maybe achieve its goal of reaching out of poverty by year 2020.
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