The US-led maritime hegemony is being leveraged by China's Belt and Road strategic plan with railway lines.

When the smoke from the Middle East had not dissipated, the conflict between Iran and Israel had just subsided, foreign media broke the news that China suddenly started a railway directly to Turkey in Iran. 12,218 kilometers, connecting 6 countries, and the goods go straight from China to Europe, bypassing the ocean and ignoring the canal. The United States is still "drawing the ground into a prison" by the Panama Canal, but China has laid the railway tracks into the hinterland of Asia and Europe. China is stabbing the "land power sharp knife" with 500 years of maritime hegemony.

Geographical breakthrough: Railways are shields, and even more "breaking the deadlock"

In the chaos in the Middle East, Iran has been surrounded by the West for many years, lacking funds and technology, and even its ports have been blocked.

But now the railway has become its life-saving straw. China took action to build railways, which was on the surface of infrastructure cooperation, but in fact it opened a "back door" for Iran: the goods arrived directly from Türkiye to Europe, and the big net of US sanctions leaked instantly.

Since the end of World War II, the United States has controlled 16 major maritime throttle routes around the world, the Panama Canal has stuck in trade between China and Latin America, and Malacca has stared at Chinese merchant ships.

Trump has even recently spoken out that he “takes back the Panama Canal” and wants to strangle China’s foreign trade lifeline. But land transportation is different. The railway crosses the border line, and once the customs are released, no one can stop it. The economy of all countries passing through the railway line will benefit.

The railway extends northwest from Iran, connects to the European high-speed rail network through Türkiye, and joins the Western Line of the China-Europe Express.

It is equivalent to building another "Asia-Europe supply chain backup channel" outside Russia's traditional sphere of influence.

While others are still tangling with the rise and fall of oil prices, China has turned the railway track into geopolitical leverage to leverage the entire chess game.

Economic Abacus: 12,218 kilometers, three "money printing passwords" hidden

Time is money. It takes 30 days for sea transportation to go from China to Europe, and the China-Europe freight train is compressed to 15 days, while the new railway is even more ruthless. It uses Iran to directly enter Türkiye and cut it for another 3 days. I will send Yiwu small products to Berlin in 12 days, so fast that it will make ZARA blush when it launches new products.

But speed is just an appetizer. Real hard dishes at the cost. The freight rate of China-Europe freight was once three times that of sea freight, forcing companies to "drift at sea". However, the new railway has opened up resource countries such as Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and the return journey is no longer an empty box! Iranian oil, Kazakh wheat, and Turkish machinery all became return goods.

Shipping fee is immediately 30% off. China Railway Corporation has long found out the way: the "return and return" train is costly to catch up with the shipping.

The most subversive thing is the migration of the industrial chain. The "corridor economic belt" has emerged along the railway - Kashgar, Xinjiang has become a digital hub in Central Asia, Zhengzhou Airport uses railway linkage air transportation, and even the Persian Gulf port of Chabahar has become a "railway outlet".

"Steel artery" sucks away factories, warehouses, and data centers, like magnets adsorbing iron filings. Look at the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle: After the launch of the China-Europe Express, thousands of logistics companies gathered together, and the GDP growth rate crushed the national average.

Land power revival: When the world rolls from "ocean ball" to "continental bridge"

For 500 years, whoever controls the ocean will rule trade. But China's "railroad boxing technique" is rewriting the rules.

The first punch hits logistics hegemony. The United States relies on aircraft carriers to escort merchant ships, while China uses rails to connect to the mainland. The China-Europe freight train transports 7.4 million TEUs in ten years, and the freight costs during the epidemic were 30% lower than those in sea freight, forcing Maersk Shipping's stock price to fall into a "submarine".

The second punch is to leverage the financial system. Railway settlement uses RMB, Kazakhstan uses digital RMB to harvest wheat, and Iranian oil trading bypasses the US dollar. "Where the wheels run over, the RMB settlement will be one inch more."

The most profound thing is the "counterattack" of mainland civilization over maritime hegemony. Economists have long predicted that for every 1% increase in the density of high-speed rail network, the GDP growth rate in inland areas will increase by 0.8%. When China built railways into the heartland of Eurasia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the former landlocked countries, suddenly became hubs.

Maritime hegemony is just the background sound of the New World era.

When Trump was still collecting "tolls" by the Panama Canal, China has used railroad tracks to connect deserts, plateaus and towns. The 12218-kilometer railway is like a steel needle, sewing a civilization that is divided by the ocean. It doesn't bypass the world, it just reconnects it.

Next time, when you see a train full of photovoltaic panels heading towards Tehran, the shelves are not only commodities, but also a stepping stone to the era of land power revival.