Is Hyperloop Coming to Ukraine?
The Infrastructure Ministry of Ukraine has started laying the groundwork for a Hyperloop system in that nation.
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies; or HyperloopTT, has signed an agreement to help design and build a national Hyperloop system in Ukraine, a press release indicates. HyperloopTT and Ukraine’s Ministry of Transportation will plan the system.
Several Ukrainian entities including the National Academy of Sciences, the state defense conglomerate Ukroboronprom, and the aerospace manufacturer Yuzhmash will take part in the Hyperloop project. No foreign companies beyond HyperloopTT were mentioned in the press release.
Is China Backing HyperloopTT?
It sounds as if the Ukrainian Hyperloop might have Chinese backing.
“Ukraine is at the crossroads of the New Silk Road transportation corridor and we can expect Hyperloop to play a major role in connecting Europe and Asia,” HyperloopTT Chairman Bibop Gresta said in the press release.
The New Silk Road is a transportation corridor across Asia that would the European Union with the People’s Republic of China. The project would follow the historic Silk Road which connected the Chinese Empire and the Byzantine Empire in Medieval times.
Some plans for the New Silk Road have envisioned a direct Hyperloop connection between Europe and China. The current rail connection between Europe, Russia, and China runs across the Ukraine.
No specifics of the Ukrainian Hyperloop beyond a 10 kilometer (6.21-mile) long test track are mentioned. One thing is obvious though, the war between Russian-backed separatists and Ukraine’s government would have to end in order for a New Silk Road Hyperloop to be constructed.
Are Chinese Troops Coming to Ukraine?
An obvious way to end that conflict would be to place troops from China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin and his stooges would not touch the PLA, because they need Chinese markets for Russian oil and minerals.
Placing a PLA garrison in Ukraine to secure the new Silk Road would be a logical move for the Chinese. One way to sneak a Chinese garrison into Ukraine is under the guise of United Nation Peacekeeping.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has been very keen on the idea of UN peacekeepers which has the Trump administration’s support, The Washington Post noted. Placing mostly Chinese peacekeepers in Ukraine would give Putin a face-saving excuse to end his pointless military campaign in that country.
The German government has also been strongly supportive of UN Peacekeepers in Ukraine, The Irish Times reported. Peacekeepers or PLA troops in Ukraine would secure Germany’s supply line to China, without the need for German military forces.
The map of the world might change dramatically, long before the Hyperloop is built. It looks as if a new world order directed from Beijing is slowly taking shape with the help of many local leaders.
Hyperloop has the potential to reshape both geopolitics and transportation. Securing the trade routes will be the major goal of the nations of the 21st Century. Hyperloop will make those trade routes more important and more vulnerable.
