A new series in Xinhua offers the clearest vision yet
of China’s ambitious “New Silk Road.” On Thursday, China’s state-owned Xinhua
News Agency unveiled an ongoing feature entitled “New Silk Road, New
Dreams.” The series promises to “dig up the historical and cultural meaning of
the Silk Road, and spread awareness of China’s friendly policies towards
neighboring countries.” The first article [Chinese] was titled “How Can the World Be
Win-Win? China Is Answering the Question.”
The Xinhua series promises the clearest look so far at
China’s vision for its Silk Road Economic Belt as well as the Maritime Silk
Road. One of the most intriguing pieces released Thursday was a map showing
China’s ambitious visions for the “New Silk Road” and “New Maritime Silk Road.”
It’s the clearest vision to date of the scope of China’s Silk Road plan.
According to the
map, the land-based “New Silk Road” will begin in Xi’an in central China before
stretching west through Lanzhou (Gansu province), Urumqi (Xinjiang), and
Khorgas (Xinjiang), which is near the border with Kazakhstan. The Silk Road
then runs southwest from Central Asia to northern Iran before swinging west
through Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. From Istanbul, the Silk Road crosses the
Bosporus Strait and heads northwest through Europe, including Bulgaria,
Romania, the Czech Republic, and Germany. Reaching Duisburg in Germany, it
swings north to Rotterdam in the Netherlands. From Rotterdam, the path runs south
to Venice, Italy — where it meets up with the equally ambitious Maritime Silk
Road.
The Maritime Silk Road will begin in Quanzhou in Fujian province, and
also hit Guangzhou (Guangdong pronvince), Beihai (Guangxi), and Haikou (Hainan)
before heading south to the Malacca Strait. From Kuala Lumpur, the Maritime
Silk Road heads to Kolkata, India then crosses the rest of the Indian Ocean to
Nairobi, Kenya (the Xinhua map does not include a stop in Sri
Lanka, despite indications in February that the island country would be
a part of the Maritime Silk Road). From Nairobi, the Maritime Silk Road goes
north around the Horn of Africa and moves through the Red Sea into the
Mediterranean, with a stop in Athens before meeting the land-based Silk Road in
Venice.
The maps of the two Silk Roads drive home the enormous scale of the
project: the Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road combined will create a massive
loop linking three continents. If any single image conveys China’s ambitions to
reclaim its place as the “Middle Kingdom,” linked to the world by trade and
cultural exchanges, the Xinhua map is it. Even the name of the
project, the Silk Road, is inextricably linked to China’s past as a source of
goods and information for the rest of the world.
China’s economic vision is no less expansive than the geographic vision.
According to the Xinhua article, the Silk Road will bring “new
opportunities and a new future to China and every country along the road that
is seeking to develop.” The article envisions an “economic cooperation area”
that stretches from the Western Pacific to the Baltic Sea.
Despite this expansive goal, it’s not quite clear yet exactly what will
tie together the disparate countries along the New Silk Road (both on land and
at sea). China has discussed building up infrastructure (especially railways
and ports) along the route, yet the Xinhua article
specifically says the vision includes more than simply speedy transportation.
China envisions a trade network where “goods are more abundant and trade is
more high-end.” Beijing expects the economic contact along the Silk Roads to boost
productivity in each country. As part of this vision, China has repeatedly
stressed its economic compatibility with many of the countries along the
planned route, and offered technological assistance to countries in key
industries.
China also envisions the Silk Road as a region of “more capital
convergence and currency integration” — in other words, a region where currency
exchanges are fluid and easy. Xinhua notes that China’s
currency, the renminbi, is becoming more widely used in Mongolia, Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Thailand. Yet the article does not call for the
renminbi to become the Silk Road’s primary currency, but rather hopes that
local currencies will be the dominant means of economic deals.
From economic exchanges, China hopes to gain closer cultural and
political ties with each of the countries along the Silk Road — resulting in a
new model of “mutual respect and mutual trust.” The Silk Road creates not just
an economic trade route, but a community with “common interests, fate, and
responsibilities.” The Silk Road represents China’s visions for an
interdependent economic and political community stretching from East Asia to Western
Europe, and it’s clear that China believes its principles will be the guiding
force in this new community. “China’s wisdom for building an open world economy
and open international relations is being drawn on more and more each day,” Xinhua wrote.
But for all the ambitious talk, details remain scarce on how this vision
will be implemented. Will the land- and sea-based Silk Roads be limited to a
string of bilateral agreements between China and individual countries, or
between China and regional groups like the European Union and ASEAN? Is there a
grander vision, such as a regional free trade zone incorporating all the Silk
Road countries? Or will China be the tie that binds it all together, with
no special agreements directly linking, say, Kazakhstan and Germany? http://thediplomat.com/2014/05/chinas-new-silk-road-vision-revealed/
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