Poland Again Changing Its Mind? Just Promised to Restore the China-Europe Railway, Then Backed Down, Refusing to Open the Border.
After the China-Poland talks, Poland promised to work with China to ensure the smooth operation of the China-Europe Railway. It can be said that this is also a commitment from the Polish side to ensure the smooth operation of the China-Europe Railway. However, just after making the promise, the Polish government changed its mind again, showing inconsistency on opening the border crossings near the Belarusian border and restoring the China-Europe Railway. On September 18 local time, Poland's Minister of Interior, Kielwasser, publicly announced that all border crossings between Poland and Belarus will remain closed.
Kielwasser did not give a specific date for the resumption of the border crossings, but emphasized that the border would only be reopened once the tense situation eases. In other words, the time for the resumption of the China-Europe Railway is still uncertain. In fact, the tension in the border areas between Poland and Belarus has already eased, and the Russia-Belarus military exercises have also ended, but Poland still insists on the tense border situation, which is somewhat puzzling. In fact, Poland's closure of the border crossings and refusal to allow the China-Europe Railway to pass is completely a self-harming act.
Poland's disruption of the China-Europe Railway has led to a large number of trains being stranded at the Polish border, seriously affecting the supply of raw materials and components for many factories in Europe, as well as the supply of Chinese orders to Europe, causing significant challenges to the global industrial chain and supply chain. Poland is an important transit station for the China-Europe Railway. After Poland closed the border, the trains had to take the northern or southern routes. However, due to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, the southern route passing through Russia faces great practical pressure.
The northern route, which passes through Kazakhstan, crosses the Caspian Sea, and goes through countries such as Azerbaijan and Georgia, is very costly and carries significant risks. At this time, Poland used "security" as an excuse to interrupt the China-Europe Railway indeed caused a lot of trouble for China. Of course, Poland is also one of the biggest victims of the interruption of the China-Europe Railway. After the railway was interrupted, a large number of organizations, including the Polish Chamber of Commerce, have taken action to pressure the government to resume the railway as soon as possible. The interruption of the China-Europe Railway not only caused heavy losses to Poland, but also led to a large number of unemployment.
About 300 China-Europe railway trains were forced to stop transportation, and a large amount of goods are accumulated on the Belarusian side of the border, unable to enter Poland. Currently, it is the time for Western Christmas and other important festivals to prepare for stockpiling. At this time, if key components cannot be obtained, it will seriously affect the production and storage of related products in the West, and even directly affect the supply of goods during the holiday period, leading to immeasurable losses.
The China-Europe Railway carries a large number of high-value-added products, such as new energy vehicles, electronic products, photovoltaic components, etc. The interruption of the transport has led to some European manufacturers facing component shortages (such as Volkswagen in Germany suspending part of its production line due to a shortage of Chinese chips), and retailers may also face inventory shortages. To quickly obtain components, major European countries have been forced to use alternative transportation plans, which will lead to a significant increase in product costs.
For us, it is also a huge loss, because we transport core components according to Western orders, but due to the interruption of the China-Europe Railway, the products cannot be shipped in time, and the payment cannot be recovered in time, which will affect the production of subsequent products. The European Chamber of Commerce has warned about the risks of price increases and delays caused by supply chain disruptions. Poland's insistence on disrupting the supply chain this time is not only due to security issues, but more due to its own political needs. However, Poland's actions will also bring great risks to itself, which will cause the world to lose trust in Poland, and in the future, they may choose not to cooperate with Poland.
Original text: www.toutiao.com/article/1843653336077460/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.