墨西哥高铁落马 中国拉美外交面临挑战

choi

BBC Chinese, Feb 2, 2015.
www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chin ... 2_china_mexico_rail

Quote:

"中铁建牵头的 '墨西哥城-克雷塔罗高速铁路' 由中标 [Nov 3, 2014]、被废标 ['墨西哥总统 * * * 却在中铁建中标获得高速铁路承建权后3天下令注销该投标']、再度竞标一波三折，又遭墨西哥政府 [财长在高铁二度竞标标单细节公告前] 宣布以石油收入锐减无限期搁置。

"中墨民间投资在加勒比城市坎昆Cancun兴建拉丁美洲最大中国商城“龙城”上周也因环保问题被迫停工。后者据国务院侨办《侨声报》报道为中国商务部外贸发展局出资兴建，但据BBC中文网求证结果，'坎昆龙城' 纯属中墨两国民间投资。官媒将民间投资提升至国家投资项目，增加了中国在墨投资的份量

Note:
(a) The high-speed rail between Mexico City and Querétaro, Querétaro
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Querétaro,_Querétaro

will be 212km. The latter is northwest of Mexico City.
(b) Clement Tan (reporting from Hong Kong), China Rail Stocks Sink After Mexico Shelves High-Speed Rail Line. Bloomberg, Feb 2, 2015
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/
("On Friday [Jan 30], Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said the Yucatan peninsula rail project fell victim to broader budget cuts. The nation, which depends on oil revenue to fund about a third of federal spending, is reducing 2015 outlays by 124.3 billion pesos ($8.3 billion) on expectations oil prices may continue to slump for years")
(i) Last year, Mexico has three high-speed rails in mind: Querétaro line, Yucatán project and a third. Bidding for Yucatán peninsula rail project was expected to start this year, but according to the same Bloomberg report China Railway Construction Corp (CRCC) "was expected to bid on" the Yucatán project.
(ii) So China should take it personally.
(iii) There is no need to read the rest of the Bloomberg report.

(c) "值得注意的是去年11月8日佩尼亞·涅托注销投标后按原先计画出席 '亚太经合会APEC' 北京领导人会议，并进行国事访问，却在峰会后缩短访华行程提前离境。1月27至28日在哥斯大黎加首都召开的 '拉丁美洲与加勒比共同体CELAC' 首脑峰会主要议题之一为确认33国集团与中国合作战略，但佩尼亚·涅托却再度缺席。"

I do not know whether Mexico President  Enrique Peña Nieto departed Beijing earlier than planned. However, days before CELAC was to be held in Costa Rica, Nieto cancelled without explanation. But everybody could see the reasons: 43 Mexican students were killed and burned.