A Comparative Study of China’s Railway Diplomacy under the Background of the “Belt and Road” Initiative: Taking the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway and the China-Thailand Railway as Examples

High-speed railway diplomacy is an integral component of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and a major subject in the study of China’s diplomacy. The Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway and the China-Thailand Railway(which is also called the Sino Thai Railway) are important representatives of China’s railway diplomacy in Southeast Asia. Against the backdrop of the “Belt and Road” Initiative, this paper aims to explore the differences in the effectiveness of high-speed rail diplomacy between China and different countries as well as the underlying reasons by conducting an in-depth analysis of the cases of the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway and the China-Thailand Railway, employing qualitative and comparative analysis research methods. It also dissects the characteristics of China’s high-speed rail diplomacy model and strategies. This analysis demonstrates that China’s high-speed railway diplomacy is not a uniform strategy; instead, the approaches adopted are contingent on the host country’s specific conditions, including its state capacity, political regime and negotiation strategies. This study summarizes a current railway diplomacy model in China based on existing data, which includes “Technology Export, Standard Export, and Diplomatic Maintenance”. The proposed model not only contributes to the theoretical framework of China’s infrastructure diplomacy but also offers valuable insights for the future trajectory of its railway diplomacy.