President Xi Jinping used the two-day New Silk Road international forum in Beijing to establish China as the flagship of a new, benign trade-focussed world order. This was, said Xi, a “new model of win-win and cooperation” that will prevail over gunboat diplomacy.
At the start of the conference, China’s state broadcaster Xinhua made clear that the initiative — officially first called One Belt, One Road (OBOR) and now Belt and Road (BRI) — was not “neocolonialism by stealth.”
“China needs no puppet states,” said Xinhua, while essentially repeating what Xi delivered in his keynote delivery.
“China is willing to share its development experience with the rest of the world” said Xi, “but we will not intervene in other nations’ internal affairs, export our social system and development model, nor force others to accept them.”
The Forum communiqué – a summary of the main points developed in Xi’s keynote speech – reported that the nations represented in Beijing had pledged to promote “practical cooperation on roads, railways, ports, maritime and inland water transport, aviation, energy pipeline, electricity and telecommunications”.
Big business too was represented and, reportedly, is enthusiastic.
Alibaba’s Jack Ma, so committed to advancing an electronic World Trade Platform, spoke to Chinese media at the Forum and hailed BRI’s “inclusion of young people, women, smaller enterprises and developing countries.”
On the final day of the forum, Beijing even engineered a sort of New Silk Road United Nations, in the form of a Leaders Roundtable, with the microphones open equally to all. The event was a nifty illustration of how Xi wants the world to see this initiative.
“The primary intention and the highest goal of the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ is to allow each member to jointly address global economic challenges, find new growth opportunities and drivers, achieve a win-win situation and keep moving toward a community with joint destiny,” said Xi.
Xi went onto offer exhortations for Ming dynasty navigation master Admiral Zheng He – as a “friendly emissary” – before delivering a metaphor for the new world trade order that he had just outlined.
“Wild swan geese,” he said of the large, rare and wild bird found in Asia but not in Europe, “are able to fly far and safely through winds and storms because they move in flocks and help each other as a team.”
Ride a wild swan
The New Silk Roads are bound to find turbulence ahead. At the forum, the German Minister for Economics and Energy, Brigitte Zypries, threatened not to sign the final communiqué if it did not contain firm guarantees for free tenders – as in no favoritism for Chinese companies – related to further OBOR/BRI projects.
But, in terms of railroad building/expansion/exploitation, can anyone compete with China?
Freight train convoys now regularly depart from eastern and central China, traversing the Central Asian steppes and clocking thousands of kilometers in 17 days before arriving in London, Madrid, Duisburg or Lyon. They depart loaded with household goods, clothes and spare parts and return with chemical products, wines and baby products.
That’s twice as fast as seaborne trade, even though a freight train carries less than 100 containers compared to up to 20,000 in a cargo ship. What really matters though is that this is only the first stage of a future high-speed rail network from eastern China to Europe via Central Asia.
Public-private partnerships will also be part of the expansion. For instance, the first branch of the Iron Silk Road, a railway from Chongqing to Duisburg, was actually instigated six years ago not by Beijing policy but by Silicon Valley giant Hewlett-Packard to ship millions of notebook computers to Europe by train.
But now China’s policy is advancing fast across Europe. At the forum Eastern Europe was heavily represented and the region has been helped by a fund set up three years ago to initially invest US$10 billion euros.
Last year, China Everbright bought Tirana’s airport in Albania. China Exim Bank is financing highway construction in Macedonia and Montenegro. In 2014, China Road and Bridge Corporation built a bridge over the Danube in Belgrade, the so-called “bridge of Sino-Serbian friendship” that was mostly financed by China Exim Bank.
Then there’s the high-speed rail line between Athens and Budapest, via Macedonia and Belgrade. The crucial Budapest-Belgrade stretch – still held up by EU red tape – should finally be operational this year.
Geoeconomics, once again, is pushing geopolitics. By investing in a corridor from the Aegean Sea to central Europe, Beijing will be actively boosting trade out of the famous Greek port of Pireus that actually has been under Chinese control since 2010.
And now the battle for soft power
Zhou Wenzhong, secretary-general of China’s high level regional affairs forums, the Boao Forum for Asia, bills the New Silk Roads as “China’s answer to globalization.” But is it actually more than that? Is it actually the new world vision? And one that is composed of so many multiple and constantly moving parts, that to date it has been difficult to define.
Xi used the Forum to try to clarify the concept but the reality is, on-the-ground conditions and circumstances will define the different strategies in the future. These will include, for each project, nation-by-nation policy and financing coordinations that have the power to move the initiative beyond a infrastructure boom.
The forum has already made it clear how significant players are jostling for position. There is already a looming competition tussle between Hong Kong and London as to who will be the privileged source of financing. While Hong Kong remains the number one offshore yuan trade settlement center in the world, Britain’s Chancellor, Philip Hammond, emphasized that London remains the world’s financial centre, unmatched to deliver on the New Silk Roads “internationally bankable” needs.
The flight of the swan geese is already on. The next big question is how emphatically the New Silk Roads will rewrite the rules of the global trade game without upsetting ultra-sensitive players such as India. But that’s where soft power chips in.
Beijing’s swan geese will now work to seduce the Global South into an irresistible partnership that transcends mere commerce.
China builds, USA destroy. China seeks peace and cooperation, USA seeks wars and deaths. China is for improving the lives of all human beings in the World, USA is for killing, torturing and destroying the lives of as many people as possible. China’s vision is to include every single country in its plan for economic development, USA’s vision is to ban the population of six or seven country from travelling to the USA. China wants to trade with all countries, USA wants to sanction as many countries as possible.
At best if the initiative fails the chinese will lose only 900BN dollars….that is peanuts compared to what china’s economy will be 20 years from now which is 30 trillion dollars……it is like nothing ventured nothing gained.
Some people in their appropriation get tied to the apron strings of the favored source’s vanities and prejudices. World Economy has been in downward slide since 2008. For that, West is shy of cross-country big money mega-projects. If Chinese BRI initiative greases the World Economy in upward projectile with a win-win situation for all – why not!
It could be economically transformative for many countries, save few who still view the world through bygone era short-sighted mindset. Those nay-Sayers may discover future doesn’t need them.
As for appeasing d touchy chai wallas Xi shud just tell em that a blue skinned god came to him in a dream and said "build a road over the roof of the earth to the fertile land down south". Then this superstitious lot will buy into it wholeheartedly. Snicker….
Oh Gosh, a Dollop of Innuendo and Sprinkle of Facts
The last 25 years has been the appetizer for China Inc. Now the serious business starts as the BRI will take billions out of poverty and improve the lot of so many.This my frieds is the start of the Chinese Century and all "HATERS" and non belivers like India,Japan, and possibly the US and Germany better wake up———-the train is leaving the station!!!!
Russell Baker You should wipe off the saliva dribbling out the corner of your mouth and stop your gibberish!
Yeh at least try to learn to sing in mandarin like ivankas kids.
Michael works for the Chinese state news. Trump is gonna finish China…
Karma… helps OBOR steer clear of enmities and pitfalls. We want world peace and may peace be blessed till peace descend on earth.
Sonder Pzyklon finish China why u hate the Chinese so much what has they done to u
Freight trains and Containers will go FULL of Chinese goods and come back EMPTY (as most countries cant compete with Chinese factories).. Result loss of jobs .. and flooding of markets with cheap goods which are dangerous to environment. Its ONE WAY BELT & ONE WAY ROAD to doom..And I am not even speaking of mountain of debts countries will take.
India & Japan are the smarter lot.. India is already growing faster than China and that too without much exports. There is no mountain of debt to China – hence India and China can have their independence. While whether "billions can come out poverty or not".. Chinese will make billions out of simple interest on the money lent.. and all those millions of cheap Chinese exports.. EXACTLY WHO WINS HERE???
Why do you really want the Touchy Chaiwallahs.. is that OBOR will not take off without Indians?? There other 126 nations to lick off.. as for India – she is & will remain the fastest growing economy in the world in the next 15 years without OBOR/ BRI/CPEC & what not.. so go have your fun.. 😉
"Naach na jaane aangan tedha", India is irrelevant in this equation, by the way your own statement shows that India can’t compete with China.
Hidayat Khan How does it matter to you guys .. you are blissfully on the "path to salvation (shall I call it slavation)".. Be on the journey and get going.. Leave us to our fate.. hahaha
It is intellectually unproductive to be so anti-American.
The USA makes some rather bad choices, but imputing the US with gross immorality causes misconception that could cause China’s easy methodical win.
If the US were so immoral, China would not be in such splendid position now.
Greater and greater threats without execution is and will continue to be highly effective for China in the decades to come. This is predicated on the USA having the basic decency to not start any war that will just push Taiwan and Japan into the inferno.
Absent the visceral reality of a war having already started, the US will be militarily paralysed.
Look at the NK situation. A small mad country in 2017 is enough to give the military superpower so much trouble. This is because precisely that the USA is a decent country and dreads causing mayhem in Asia. Just imagine China comes 2040 when Asia is still at peace. China is simply winning because the USA will continue to have the basic decency to not push Taiwan and Japan into the inferno. Moreover, Chinese lives in Hong Kong, Macao and even the Chinese mainland will continue to be valued by the USA.
Denigtaing the USA, not realizing why China is in such splendid position, could cost the Chinese mainland a slow and methodical and easy win. I am not concerned because the top Chinese leadership seems to understand the US quite well and appreciates correctly the benefit of the basic decency of the USA for Asia.
Abhijit Gupta go build some toilets first
Riz Sahir Get the burqas off your women & stop trining kids to become suicide bombers.
There has been rumors in the intelligence community about the cooperation between CIA and several political movements to prepare for regime changes in Asia. US favors a more “democratic” US friendly Governments. US try to interfere in politics all over Asia, while the Chinese do not. China focus is on trade and investments. Philippine President Duterte has reacted very strongly on interference from the UN, EU, and the USA. The US must understand bullying is not a good idea. China win more popularity with their methods and the New Silk Road is a good idea.