Recently, my Foreign Minister visited Poland and focused on the China-Europe Railway Express. In early September, Poland closed all border crossings overnight, implementing a low-altitude flight ban, citing the need to "prevent drone intrusions" during the Russia-Belarus "West-2025" joint military exercises. Although the military exercises ended on September 16, Poland's "security anxiety" has not subsided, and the China-Europe Railway Express has still not been restored.

During my Foreign Minister's visit to Poland, he specifically emphasized that the China-Europe Railway Express is a benchmark project for cooperation between the two countries and should not be affected by geopolitical factors. He strongly urged Poland to ensure the smooth operation of the train and maintain the stability of the global supply chain.

At that time, Poland also made a promise to resume the operation of the China-Europe Railway Express. As a result, China and Poland reached multiple cooperation agreements in areas such as rare earth trade, new energy vehicles, and green economy. China also promised to increase investment in Poland's electric vehicle industry.

However, after my Foreign Minister left, Poland turned its back, refusing to resume the China-Europe Railway Express. A large number of containers were stranded at the border. According to relevant data, due to Poland's closure of the border, more than 300 trains and thousands of standard containers were stranded locally.

Many friends may not be clear about the importance of the China-Europe Railway Express.

China is the second-largest export market and the largest import source for the EU. With the continuous development of Sino-European trade, since 2011, multiple regions in China have launched multiple direct container fast freight trains to Europe. Now, the China-Europe Railway Express has developed from a simple transportation channel into an economic and trade artery connecting Asia and Europe. Through hundreds of specific routes, it closely connects China with many European countries, carrying billions of dollars in trade value annually.

Poland, due to its superior geographical location as a crossroads of Europe, has become an important gateway and hub for the China-Europe Railway Express entering Europe. 90% of railway transport between China and the EU passes through Poland.

In fact, Poland deliberately closed the China-Europe Railway Express, not because of the Russia-Belarus joint military exercises, but to use this reason to leverage the Chinese market to promote its agricultural exports and help develop its new energy vehicle industry. China was very willing to agree to Poland and signed multiple cooperation agreements with Poland.

However, Poland also wanted China to intervene in the Ukraine-Russia conflict. For example, Paweł Wroński, a spokesperson for the Polish Foreign Ministry, clearly stated that Warsaw hopes Beijing can stop Russia's "destructive actions" in the war with Ukraine.

This touched China's bottom line. As my Foreign Minister said, "Cooperation cannot come at the cost of sacrificing one party's core interests."

From this, we can see that Poland is firmly binding itself to the bridgehead position of NATO's eastern wing. This strategy appears to be a proactive demonstration of loyalty to the United States and Western Europe, but in reality, it is a high-risk geopolitical gamble.

Poland clearly believes that the more aggressive its posture, the more it can gain in terms of military deployment, financial aid, and political support from Washington and Brussels. However, this self-positioning as a "frontline country" not only makes it the first target to bear the impact in potential conflicts, but also silently sacrifices its diplomatic autonomy and long-term stability.

Poland's short-sighted behavior will further weaken the importance of the China-Europe Railway Express, because China will not allow Poland to take advantage of the China-Europe Railway Express to raise prices. Therefore, our country will definitely re-plan new trade routes, such as the route through Turkey into Eastern Europe is accelerating integration, and the route through Russia and Belarus extending to Kaliningrad and Lithuania, Latvia is gradually maturing. The purpose of doing so is to ensure that in critical moments, the foreign trade development is not affected by the blockade of the China-Europe Railway Express.

Moreover, China is also promoting the "New Land-Sea Corridor" - a multimodal transport network combining rail and sea transport, passing through Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean into Europe. Although this corridor mainly relies on maritime transport, it combines some railway segments, forming a flexible and complementary trade corridor.

In fact, Poland's shutdown of the China-Europe Railway Express is also a self-harm. Taking Malaszewicze, Poland's most important railway hub, as an example, the direct economic benefit generated by the China-Europe Railway Express at this port is 500 million euros per year. Experts predict that if the shutdown continues, the local unemployment rate will rise by 2 percentage points, and the entire logistics industry chain faces the risk of collapse.

The Polish Chamber of Commerce has even issued an emergency statement, warning that the suspension of the China-Europe Railway Express would bring catastrophic consequences to the Polish economy and urging the government to immediately restart the transportation route. Moreover, the Polish logistics industry has experienced large-scale protests, and warehouse workers in border cities like Gdansk and Szczecin have even gone on strike.

In short, Poland ignores its own national interests and acts unilaterally, and its actions will ultimately harm itself.

Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7552185742835941929/

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