You can see the strategy if you simply read the business news. Globalism will likely expand in scale tremendously if these infrastructure projects are completed. Of course as you well know it is more than railroads, but railroads are a good indicator. You took us on a short visit to Africa, I'll introduce some developments (some in the works for a long time) in SE Asia.

http://www.exporail-southeastasia.co...stment-in-rail

Southeast Asia steps up investment in rail

10/10/2013 13:13:36

This week's Sunday Times highlights massive investment in transport infrastructure in South East Asia. Driving this, says the article, is "the compelling need to modernise in the face of competition from China". Also setting the tempo is a move by the 10 ASEAN economies to establish a single market and production base by 2015
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http://csis.org/publication/chinas-c...southeast-asia

China’s Charm Offensive Signals a New Strategic Era in Southeast Asia

In Bali, Xi set a target of increasing annual China-ASEAN trade to $1 trillion by 2020, up from $400 billion in 2012. The Chinese president also proposed the formation of an Asian infrastructure development bank that, if realized, would help regional countries diversify away from the U.S.- and Japan-dominated Asian Development Bank.
For Washington, it should be encouraging that Beijing is coming up with tangible ways to boost regional connectivity in Southeast Asia, a policy the United States also supports. But U.S. businesses should not, and cannot, afford to be absent from large regional infrastructure schemes. U.S. companies no longer compete with their Japanese and Korean rivals in the construction of roads and railroads in Southeast Asia. But U.S. companies still have a competitive advantage in telecommunications, the advanced recovery of oil and gas, energy projects, and the design and construction of airports and ports. Infrastructure projects will carry political and strategic implications well into the future. For instance, a transnational railway connecting mainland Southeast Asia to China promotes integration in a different fashion than a future economic corridor linking one end of mainland Southeast Asia to another.
This one is a little older (2010), but provides important context:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1697078/s...ailway-network

Southeast Asia One Step Closer to Linking Singapore and China in Massive Railway Network

Plans for a pan-Asian railroad have been in the works for decades, but today marked the first step toward linking a massive railway line from Singapore to Southwest China and beyond. It's called the Singapore-Kunming Rail Link (SKRL), and will connect domestic lines within several Southeast Asian nations. It spans 3,000 miles, connecting Singapore all the way to the Southwestern city of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province.
"We are on the cusp of a contiguous Iron Silk Road stretching from Singapore to Scotland," said ADB's Director General for Southeast Asia, Kunio Senga.