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Showing posts with the label Silk Route

Terrorism can derail China's ambitious one road one belt project

One road one belt (credits- Internet image) As China develops it's one road one belt linking the ancient silk route to Europe, it will need deal with terrorism on the route which has every chance to destroy the entire project. This subject is dealt in detail on the latest article by The National Interest. ( The entire article can be read here )

China’s Chengdu-Lhasa Railway: Tibet and 'One Belt, One Road' ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- Justin Cheung)

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Jan Reurink Source- The Diplomat Author- Justin Cheung It is no secret that Tibetan independence movements have long drawn the ire of Chinese authorities. Alongside heightened rhetoric in recent years over Tibetan unrest and the growing publicity of riots and self-immolations, China has sought to augment its capacity for crackdown in the restive province. The swiftness of Chinese response to previous swells of separatist sentiment is best illustrated in the 2008 Tibetan unrest. During that time, the BBC reported that within days of the start of anti-government riots, over 400 troop carriers of the People’s Armed Police were mobilized. Ultimately, the speed with which the Chinese government was able to ferry troops into sites of unrest was a crucial factor in quelling the upheaval. In more recent times, China’s “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) policy – Xi Jinping’s plan to expand the reach of Chinese trade routes to Europe through a la

Is China A Neocolonial Power In Africa? – Analysis ( Source- Eurasia Review / Author- Alvin Cheng- Hin Lim)

Silk Route (Image credits- Wikimedia Commons) Source- Eurasia Review Author- Alvin Cheng- Hin Lim China-bashing has predictably reemerged as a familiar theme in the current 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, with the frontrunners of both parties attacking China for having committed a myriad of alleged outrages against U.S. interests.1 Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, is of special interest, as she had prominently accused China of engaging in neocolonialism in Africa during her 2011 visit to Zambia in her position at the time as U.S. Secretary of State.2 The Chinese have not forgotten this slight, and the state-owned Xinhua news agency recently published an opinion piece critiquing Clinton’s accusation of China’s alleged neocolonialism, concluding that: “Accusing China of being a neo-colonialist in Africa puts the biased West in an absurd scenario where the robber acts like the cop.”3 As I recounted last year, China has indeed been very active with its va

Pakistan Reels With Internal Unease Regarding CPEC Implementation ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- Umair Jamal)

Gwadar port ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Umargondal) Source- The Diplomat Author-  Umair Jamal In Pakistan, controversy continues to grow around the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a multi-billion dollar economic agreement between the China and Pakistan that promises to build an economic trade corridor along the length of Pakistan, connecting western China to the Arabian Sea. Specifically, the corridor aims to connect Gwadar port in Balochistan to China’s Xinjiang region through a network of highways, railroads, and pipelines, spread over 3,000 kilometers. For energy-starved Pakistan, the project is likely to add more than 25,000MW of electricity capacity across the national grid through different energy-related projects. If implemented successfully, CPEC has the potential to transform Pakistan into a thriving economy. However, its successful implementation is only possible if there is internal political unity among all of Pakistan’s provinces. This r

Is This China’s Eurasian Century? ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- Xie Tao)

Source- Wikimedia Commons Source- The Diplomat Author- Xie Tao In October 2011, Foreign Policy magazine published an article by then-U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. Titled “America’s Pacific Century,” the subheading of the article reads: “The future of politics will be decided in Asia, not Afghanistan or Iraq, and the United States will be right at the center of the action.” This article is widely viewed as the manifesto of the Obama administration’s Asia policy — originally stated as the “pivot to Asia” but subsequently rephrased as the “rebalance to Asia.” For most Chinese officials and analysts, this rebalance to Asia is a thinly-disguised U.S. attempt to “encircle” a rising China. Indeed, considering the chain of U.S. military deployments and defense alliances in the Western Pacific, it is impossible for Washington to refute such an interpretation of its rebalance. So how did Beijing respond? Some Chinese analysts propose that China should instead

China's 'Silk Road' Initiative Is at Risk of Failure ( Source- The Diplomat / Author- Moritz Rudolf)

China- Kazakhstan border ( Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Yaohua 2000) Source- The Diplomat Author- Moritz Rudolf The Silk Road Initiative is the major project for Chinese President Xi Jinping. On every state visit and within every diplomatic forum, he has promoted his idea of “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR). Beijing wants to create China-centered infrastructure networks in order to expand its own economic and political influence in Eurasia. But the time when the country was able to make economically unprofitable investments on the basis of political motives is long gone. Beijing had intended to invest more than $900 billion in infrastructure expansion in Eurasia. However, the money is now needed to stabilize its stagnating economy and nervous financial markets. China‘s currency reserves decreased drastically in August. Due to financing difficulties a number of infrastructure projects have come to a standstill. For example, the gas pipeline known as “Power

Traveling China’s New Silk Road ( Source- The National Interest / Author- Robert D. Kaplan)

Minar at Kashgar city ( Source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Hynek Miravec) Source- The National Interest Author- Robert D. Kaplan THE THOUSANDS of terra-cotta warriors from the third-century-BC Qin Dynasty, first unearthed in the mid-1970s, constitute one of the wonders of the world. I stared down into the vast clay pit where these life-sized soldiers, no two of them exactly alike, stand in a state of freeze-frame marching. They are all headed east. For Qin, though in the heart of today’s China, had been the westernmost of the Warring States. Thus, to the east lay all of Qin’s enemies. Beyond Qin, in the opposite direction westward, the agricultural cradle that has always defined Chinese civilization begins to give way to the emptier deserts of Central Asia. A short drive from the site of the terra-cotta warriors in Shaanxi Province brought me to the Great Mosque of Xian, an eclectic confection of Arabic script underneath a traditional, upturned Chinese roof decorated

China’s 'One Belt, One Road' To Where? ( Source- The Diplomat, Author- Lucio Blanco Pitlo III)

Image credits- Wikimedia Commons / Author- Henry Le  Source- The Diplomat Author- Lucio Blanco Pitlo III The celebrated revival of the Silk Road would seem to herald the return of China’s charm offensive, winning over neighbors and other countries in the region through increased trade incentives and transport connectivity. If developing a sound soft power strategy is the mark of a rising world power, does this mean China is on its way? Certainly, in the wake of recent episodes of differences and disputes, the initiative should be seen as a welcome development. Nonetheless, some countries along the envisioned route remain wary and skeptical of the real intentions behind this offering, as well as the possible unfavorable conditions that may be attached to it. In addition, while Beijing tends to highlight its economic credentials, the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (hereinafter, SREB/MSR) has strategic, political and security implications that pa

The Bay of Bengal: The Maritime Silk Route and China’s Naval Ambitions ( Source- The Diplomat, Author- David Brewester)

Colombo Harbor ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons- Flickr/ Author- J G Morard) Source- The diplomat Author- David Brewester Since late 2013, Beijing has been promoting its “Maritime Silk Route” (MSR) initiative as a proposed oceanic complement to its various overland “Silk Route” projects. Details remain sketchy, but the proposal appears to envisage a system of linked ports, infrastructure projects and special economic zones in Southeast Asia and the northern Indian Ocean. While much of the public discussion to date has focused on ports and infrastructure, probably of greater significance is the development of new production and distribution chains across the region, with China at its center. The concept might be seen as akin to Japan’s “flying geese” strategy of the 1970s when Japanese companies outsourced component production to successive tiers of lower-cost states in Southeast Asia. If implemented, the initiative would bind countries in the Bay of Bengal and the nor