OpinionThinking About China

China’s High-Speed Rail System: Exciting, Headline Grabbing, and a Mistake

Beijing is still all in on the nation’s immense high-speed rail system despite China’s economic woes.
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China’s High-Speed Rail System: Exciting, Headline Grabbing, and a Mistake
Workers walk past parked high-speed trains at a maintenance yard during a media tour ahead of the 2018 Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Beijing on Aug. 30, 2018. Mark Schiefelbein/AP Photo
Milton Ezrati
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Commentary

Beijing remains committed to developing the nation’s extensive high-speed rail system, although there may be more effective uses for this funding and urgent economic priorities to consider.

Milton Ezrati
Milton Ezrati
Author
Milton Ezrati is a contributing editor at The National Interest, an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Human Capital at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), and chief economist for Vested, a New York-based communications firm. Before joining Vested, he served as chief market strategist and economist for Lord, Abbett & Co. He also writes frequently for City Journal and blogs regularly for Forbes. His latest book is "Thirty Tomorrows: The Next Three Decades of Globalization, Demographics, and How We Will Live."