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The U.S. and China Are Squabbling Over a Chinese-Financed Railway. This Time It’s in Vietnam, Not Kenya

by Eric Olander
Article from the nationalist Global Times tabloid criticizing an earlier article published by the Voice of America.

U.S. and Chinese state-backed media outlets are once again exchanging fire over a Chinese-backed railway project in the Global South… but this time it’s not the Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya, instead, it’s Hanoi’s brand new subway in Vietnam that is at the center of yet another great power controversy.

This latest squabble began on Monday when VOA published a story that claimed the new metro is “hobbled by [a] lack of riders.” VOA cited first-day ticket sales of just 12,000 or 8% of capacity as evidence of the apparent hesitation that Hanoians have towards their new Chinese-built subway.

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