Asia - China’s Belt and Road initiative – New Silk Roads
Geopolitics
978-3-14-100890-6 | Page 119 | Ill. 3
Overview
The New Silk Road project, also called Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has been promoted by the Chinese government since the 2000s. It is a prestigious project that is intended to support China's economic cooperation with partner countries and it is divided into two sections. First, there are the land routes to the north, the so-called "Silk Road Economic Belt", and second there are sea routes to the south, the so-called "Maritime Silk Road". All in all, the Belt and Road Initiative aims to create a Eurasian economic area that stretches from the Yellow Sea to the Atlantic, also including Africa.
The New Silk Road Project
Starting in Beijing, railway lines connect China with Europe. These run past major conurbations such as Tianjin, Shanghai, Xi'an, Ürümqi, Almaty, Tashkent, Teheran, Istanbul, Budapest, Kiev, Moscow, Berlin and the Ruhr. The main terminus is Duisburg, which easily connects to the conurbations of Paris, London and Randstad with Rotterdam. In addition, the important political and economic centres of Ulan-Bator, Bangkok, Singapore, the Pearl River Delta, Dhaka, Calcutta, Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Samara are connected via additional overland development corridors. The routes mainly cross states that are members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. This multilateral development bank is based in Beijing and was founded in 2015 under Chinese leadership. The trigger for the foundation was China's dissatisfaction with the dominance of the USA in the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which from China's point of view does not reflect a fair distribution of power.
The sea routes primarily connect the Pearl River Delta with Southeast Asia via the South China Sea (thus the importance of the Spratly Islands, see 118.2) and then further via the Indian Ocean with Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and via the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea with Europe. These shipping routes also connect Kuala Lumpur, Kolkata, Colombo, Gwadar, Daressalam, Mombasa, Djibouti, Suez, Athens, Venice all of which are ports with direct Chinese financial and technical investments.
Headwind for the Silk Road Project
While, on the one hand, the BRI will produce new global growth incentives by connecting Asia, Europe and Africa, by networking worldwide research activities, by stabilising borders with other Central Asian states and by developing the western part of China with the autonomous province of Xingjang, there is also increasing criticism of the prestigious project which is heavily promoted by the Chinese head of state and party leader Xi Jinping. The criticism mounts that the large-scale project is intended to reduce Chinese overcapacities, that China's role on international markets is becoming too big, that the hidden aim is to secure access to raw materials, and that environmental and social standards, human and international rights are not being applied to BRI projects. The tenders were also not transparent and fair, with about 9 out of 10 contracts awarded to Chinese companies which are subsidised by the state. Moreover, it was announced by the Chinese Minister of Defence in July 2019 that military cooperation will be added to the "One Belt, One Road" initiative. In addition, there is a clear preference on the Chinese side for bilateral agreements instead of a multilateral approach such as promoted by the EU. This puts pressure on governments and weakens cohesion in the EU. Beijing supports other countries in building infrastructure through loans and investments, but there is a danger of a debt trap and increasing dependencies.
Increasingly, heads of state are warning against too much dependence on China. Australia took its first concrete step in April 2021, although there only had been a small-scale project by the BRI in the state of Victoria. But the plans to open branches of Chinese infrastructure companies in Victoria and to compete for contracts in large projects or to cooperate in the fields of industrial production, biotechnology and agriculture stirred up resistance and will now come to nothing. The Australian central government wants to end the cooperation by federal law. Headwinds can also be expected from other states and governments. In addition, the consequences of the COVID19 pandemic have severely slowed down New Silk Road projects, as poorer partner countries in Asia and Africa (e.g. Pakistan, Kenya) are in serious economic difficulties. China may now have to extend the duration of loans and/or give projects longer maturities.
Links (as of Sept. 15, 2021):
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asiatische_Infrastrukturinvestmentbank
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seidenstra%C3%9Fe#Seidenstra%C3%9Fe_heute
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neue_Seidenstra%C3%9Fe
https://www.dw.com/de/steckt-chinas-neue-seidenstra%C3%9Fe-in-der-klemme/a-57365191 bzw. https://p.dw.com/p/3shJ1
Progress of the works
The Belt and Road Initiative was launched in 2013 and covers about 70 countries, about 60 per cent of the world's population and an investment framework of up to €1000 billion. Initial work began as early as 2005 by renovating and expanding the existing route network. Ports, container terminals, roads, rail links, bridges, logistics hubs and trading centres are being expanded or newly built. According to estimates, trade along the BRI could account for almost 40 percent of world trade in the future, with much of it by sea. A railway connection (10,870 km) between Rotterdam and the eastern Chinese port city of Lianyungang has already existed since 1990. Since 2012, freight trains have been running regularly, several times a week, between Duisburg and Chongqing.
The construction of overland roads since the 1950s also led to the discovery of oil reserves, opened up secluded and inhospitable regions and promoted their integration into supranational networks. Tourism was also revived.
In Europe, the ports of Trieste, Piraeus and Venice have particularly benefited, even though Venice is not a deep-sea port. The tri-modal connection of ports to railway lines and motorways is important, as it improves the intra-European links between regions. In the port of Trieste, the number of departing freight trains doubled between 2015 and 2018 to about 10,000. The main destinations are Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Author:
Sarah Franz
