China's 'Panama Canal' Project

China may soon be constructing its own version of the Panama Canal through the Isthmus of Kra in Thailand. The proposed 30-mile canal would connect the Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea, reported the National Interest.

If built, the canal would shave off three or four days of travel time (and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars per trip) for vessels that currently have to travel all the way around Singapore, a route that has been plagued by pirates.

The proposed canal could cost up to $30 billion to build, and so far, China has balked at taking up the project.

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Not A New Discussion

Last summer, reports surfaced of an agreement between Thailand’s Asia Union Group and China’s China-Thailand Kra Infrastructure Development to construct the canal. However, the deal was denied within days of the initial reports, leaving onlookers to speculate that the United States had pressured Thailand not to allow the canal’s construction.

Why? The canal would give China easier access to European markets and could increase militarization and tensions in the South China Sea.

Stay In Check

According to Lyle Goldstein, associate professor at the U.S. Naval War College, it’s not always in the United States’ best interest to stifle China’s every plan.

“Washington would do well to maintain an agnostic or even modestly supportive disposition toward projects that help knit Eurasian peoples and markets closer together,” Goldstein explained.

“The Kra Canal is hardly a threat to US national security and…is mainly an issue for the people of Thailand to decide on.”