China plans to further strengthen its strategic transport network in sensitive border regions over the next five years to fortify and better project power along its remote frontiers amid rising geopolitical uncertainty.
One project involves building a 394km (245-mile) highway linking the northern and southern sides of the rugged Tianshan Mountains in far-western Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, according to the draft 15th five-year plan released last week.
The route will run parallel to a strategic road built in the 1970s to improve military mobility following the 1962 Sino-India border war.
Construction of the Dushanzi-Kuqa Highway in central Xinjiang began in September and is expected to finish in 2032. Once completed, it will allow year-round travel and cut journeys across the Tianshan Mountains to half or a third of the time.
Under the plan, which outlines China’s policy priorities for the rest of the decade, China aims to complete two highways spanning all nine of its land-border provinces and “advance” construction of the National Coastal Highway along its east coast that links the port city of Dandong, near North Korea, with Dongxing on the border with Vietnam.
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