How Our Former Beijing Bureau Chief Found Himself on a Bullet Train in Saudi Arabia

Gordon Chang, is that you?

Not a very thorough report. The Contractor for the Al Haramain HSR project was a joint venture of Spanish private and government companies, that also supplied the rolling stock. The contract pursuit was exposed in the news as the previous King of Spain was heavily involved in it at the time. I'm not aware if they used Chinese labor subcontractors for the work. In this part of the world, most labor would be from India, Nepal, Egypt, etc. We hope Mr. Wong can provide more facts for this.

@godfree. The key phrase here, as you mentioned, is “government sanctioned religious organizations” . These have more to do with preserving part of what is perceived as “China’s heritage “ than in actually promoting the practice of religion. Each of these organizations has Party representatives in it to ensure that they do not violate any current policies. The Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, for example, still does not have ties to the Vatican, and has not since 1949. Masses are still said in Latin, and beliefs adhere to those of that time, rather than staying current with Vatican Council reforms. Similar situations exist with all of the other faiths. The most glaring example of these restrictions is that fact that Tibetan Buddhists in China may not have any association with their spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai Lama. What will happen when he passes on will likely be confrontational and violent. a

The desert wind and sand storm could create a hefty problem for high speed train in Saudi. I saw several videos about the Chinese workers on the rigorous inspections & maintenance on train's electric circuits & mechanical parts every night. It is especially a daunting challenge for Saudis due to sandy weather. Of course, Saudis could have out sourced the daily maintenance work to Chinese companies since they have plenty of oil to exchange for trains and services.

Not sure, but I think that the hi-speed train, included the infrastructure and trains, was mainly a spanish companies project

Americans sell weapons of mass destruction to Saudi Arabia, to use them in Yemen. China sells them a high-speed railway. As a well-traveled Times reporters, Edward Wong is caught by dissonance? Seriously? Just wondering, while roaming in Saudi Arabia, did Edward visit or see any cathedrals, churches, synagogue, Hindu or Buddhist temples? All these are still found in atheist China. That's another dissonance. Business is business. Buy & sell. So what if officially atheist China help build a railway connecting the holiest sites in Islam which are off-limit to non-Muslims? Somehow Saudi chose Chinese and not the Japanese or French to build the high-speed railway. Interesting. The Saudis must have done their homework.

A big thank you, NY Times, on this one. And, what a first-hand, well-"experienced", well-written piece of Journalism, Mr. Wong. Your Story of Communist China's massive railway through Asia, and through a Muslim Nation and their Countryside, speaks volumes. Why would the CCP want to "help" a nation (by running a railway through it ...) that has a Religion that the CCP neither recognizes, or even remotely likes ? Because ... Xi Jin Ping is about to, basically, "steal" that Countryside. Tell it to the Nation of Tibet. In 1959, Mao and the CCP's Red Guard invaded, and stole this neighboring, non-violent, non-aggressive Nation at gunpoint; killing thousands of fleeing citizens, and jailing thousands more for practicing their non-violent Buddhist faith. Too many Tibetans are still in Chinese Prisons today, for not renouncing their Faith, or their Traditions. The CCP stole everything that they had ; their Land, Language, & Culture - but not their Legacy. No Chinese proverb expresses Xi's "One Belt, One Road" Initiative, as properly as does one from J.R.R. Tolkien. Xi "only" wants - "One belt to Rule them All, One Belt to Find Them, One Belt to Bring Them All, and in the Darkness - BIND them". Good luck to anyone on that Railroad. Forget the coffee and the false "sweets" that the Waiters bring. And, do mind the Gap while getting off, between too much Human Rights abuse, Environmental abuse, AND the massive Land Grab that is going on. All aboard ??

The Saudis are the neo rich Beverly Hillbillies of the middle east - with deadly force.

There is only "dissonance here" in a U.S. citizen's mind where economic relationships between countries are predicated on faux concerns about human rights and routinely involve sales of military equipment. There is dissonance indeed in selling U.S. made cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia for use in Yemen.

There are faults with the writing.

Wow. I never knew of a train in Saudi Arabia. I am jealous. Many years ago, I lived in Kuwait in the so called PNZ (Partitioned Neutral Zone) where my company, Getty Oil operated. Though physically in Kuwait - we were a "Saudi" company. So, on business, I made a couple of trips to Saudi Arabia including Jeddah. I wish the reporter had more time in Jeddah. Even then, this is early 80's - Jeddah was a very un Saudi city. Much more open and more like - anything goes as compared to Riyadh. Now, I must go back just to ride this train. Like the reporter, I have ridden many bullet trains around the world including the Shanghai maglev - the fastest in the world. Thanks for a new destination

The moral dilemma expressed in this article is that bad countries also do good. Authoritarian governments operate on both sides of the street. They work their soft power by building infrastructure projects at home and abroad, but they still are addicted to throwing critics in jail, or just getting rid of them. The governments of China and Saudi Arabia belong in the history books.

It's a pity that America cannot build high speed rail like this. The San Francisco to Los Angeles project was cancelled because it was mired in lawsuits.

Can, and should it be allowed, the term "bullet train" be interchangeably used with any high-speed train? I had thought it is supposed to be a term reserved for the Japanese high-speed rail system.

Mr. Wong showed up himself a bit surprised to realize the 'officially atheist and repressive of Muslims' China took part for building the infrastructure of this bullet train on Arab soil. For sure, not only Mr. Wong but whoever who prizes coherence, should equally be surprised if it were a Western company rather than the Chinese in this Arab enterprise. Because it's the same biased West which are used to showing off intolerance towards the Islam since the Crusade in old times, that now prohibits veils in Europe, or burn Koran in the US, etc.

The ruling Communist Party of China, officially atheist like two-thirds[1] of the population and one-fourth non-religious Taoists, the Constitution guarantees freedom of worship in government-sanctioned religious organizations. The government supports seventy-four seminaries, one thousand seven hundred Tibetan monasteries, three thousand religious organizations, 85,000 religious sites and 300,000 full time Catholic, Protestant, Buddhist, Ancient Chinese, Taoist and Moslem clergy. Can any Western country match that?  [1] Gallup