China’s Newest Infrastructure Megaproject Is All About Natural Resources

In early March 2023, at a meeting in Harbin, Chinese officials committed Beijing to building a railway north from China into the enormous and resource-rich Sakha Republic that dominates the Russian Far East—yet is rather far from the Chinese border (Promvest.info, March 8; Kolyma.ru, March 9). The session did not lead to the announcement of either a precise route or schedule for the construction of this line, with the two sides only committing themselves to establishing both in the near future. And perhaps for that reason, thus far,…