Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Chinese companies wary of political risks on Xi's Belt and Road

As the global limelight fades from President Xi Jinping’s “Belt and Road” summit, the main actors -- Chinese state-owned companies -- are warning about the political risks they face along the route. Earlier this month Xi outlined plans to direct as much as 840 billion yuan ($122 billion) to build roads, railways, ports and pipelines across Asia and beyond, securing China’s central role in world trade. The plan has the country’s state-owned enterprises weighing investments in 65 participant nations, almost two-thirds of which have sovereign debt ratings below investment grade. (Bloomberg)

Xinjiang exports liquid chemical to Europe via freight train

A freight train loaded with 2,000 tonnes of liquid chemical departed Friday from Korla city in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the German city of Ludwigshafen. It is the first time that Xinjiang has exported liquid chemical to Europe via the China-Europe freight train route. (Xinhua)

CPC expels former commander of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps

Liu Xinqi, former commander of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), has been expelled from the Communist Party of China (CPC) and demoted for "severe violations of Party code" including graft, authorities announced on 24 May. Liu, also former deputy secretary of the CPC committee of the XPCC, allegedly took advantage of his post to obtain benefits for others and allowed relatives to use his influence to profit and take bribes, according to a statement from the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI). GlobalTimes

THE US-SAUDI PLOT FOR IRAN THAT SPELLS TROUBLE FOR CHINA’S NEW SILK ROAD
Riyadh may already have the building blocks for a proxy war in Balochistan, a key part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative  (Scmp)

Kidnapping highlights risks along China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

A Chinese man and his wife who teach Chinese at a local language center were abducted from Quetta's Jinnah Town, in Baluchistan Province in southwestern Pakistan Wednesday. No group has claimed responsibility for the kidnapping yet. But it is worth noting that Islamic militants have often carried out abductions of foreigners on Pakistani soil, either for ransom or to get publicity for their cause.Chinese people have also been targeted occasionally, despite the friendly relations between the two countries. The Chinese presence in Pakistan has increased in the past few years thanks to the thriving China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $46-billion investment project that involves roads, ports, power plants and other crucial infrastructure in this South Asian country. It is also the flagship project of the China-led Belt and Road initiative. Baluchistan is in the center of the CPEC which is expected to link China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to the Pakistani port of Gwadar on the southern coast. (Global Times)

Asia’s dynamism at risk in US and China’s competing visions for global trade

The US commitment to liberal trade has provided the environment within which Asia has prospered. In all cases of rapid economic growth in this region, the expansion of trade has played a decisive role, via exploitation of comparative advantage, economies of scale, access to know-how and heightened competition. The results have been dramatic, notably in the case of China. Its share of world exports of goods jumped from around 1 per cent in 1981 to 4 per cent in 2000 — just before it joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001 — and 14 per cent in 2015. Emerging Asia’s share of world exports of goods soared from 4 per cent in 1981 to 21 per cent in 2015. Meanwhile, Japan’s share has moved in the opposite direction, with a fall from 10 per cent in 1993 to 4 per cent in 2015. Overall, Asia’s share of world exports of goods (including re-exports) reached 33 per cent in 2015. (FT)

Chinese Uyghur colonies in Syria a challenge for Beijing
A reporter for Dubai-based Al Aan TV recently aired an undercover story on Idlib province – the Syrian “rebel” opposition stronghold that is supported by the US and other Western governments – and the site of the recent alleged chemical attack that prompted direct US missile strikes against the Syrian Arab Army. While the report confirmed that al-Qaeda indeed dominates Idlib, there was another unexpected revelation: the presence of large Chinese Uyghur jihadi colonies. (Asia Times)

Podcast: For Central Asia, 'OBOR' Means 'China,' And All That Comes With That

OBOR’s promise of enhanced trade and greater global connectivity is enticing but there are many aspects of OBOR that remain unclear. For example, who is paying for it.On this week's Majlis podcast, we discuss Central Asia’s role in OBOR. Chinese President Xi Jinping first announced plans for OBOR in September 2013, but its origins go back to the 1990s when Beijing decided to develop the oil-rich Tarim Basin in China’s western Xinjiang region. Pantucci recalled, "There was this huge push to develop the west because the Chinese thought they needed to develop their western regions, so the investment and the attention was really in Xinjiang, but then there’s no kind of logic to developing Xinjiang if the regions around it aren’t [developed]." China made its first widely publicized entry into Central Asia in 1997, when it signed an agreement with Kazakhstan to construct an oil pipeline from western Kazakhstan to Xinjiang. (Rferl)

Ukraine needs China loan deadline pushed back, Deputy PM say

Ukraine needs more time to submit proposals for coal and gas projects to China in order to secure funding worth up to $3.65 billion as Kiev is unlikely to meet a June deadline, Deputy Prime Minister Stepan Kubiv told Reuters.Ukraine signed a loan agreement with the China Development Bank (CDB) in 2012 but has repeatedly pushed back deadlines by which it needs to submit plans for how the money will be used, because of differences between Ukrainian government bodies.Ukraine needs the money to revamp its energy infrastructure at a time when its economy is emerging from a deep recession and is being supported by a $17.5 billion aid programme from the International Monetary Fund. (Reuters)

Editorial: Why Belt and Road plan is a game changer that could further open China’s markets Beijing’s $1 trillion push to reshape the international trade landscape passed another milestone last week, with the successful conclusion of the Belt and Road Initiate Forum, where more than 270 cooperation deals were signed. It was the highest-level multilateral event held in China, with heads of state or government from 29 partner countries in attendance. The agreements inked at the summit covered a wide range of sectors including telecommunications, infrastructure development, trade promotion and financial cooperation. It also pushed for greater openness in terms of market access and information flow between member countries – a key tenant of the Belt and Road Initiative. (Caixin)

China pushing for stability in Afghanistan to meet its own ends
Rather than filling the void of the United States, China is trying to play a constructive role in Afghanistan to enhance domestic security.After all, instability in Afghanistan fuels the ambitions, capabilities, and impacts of terrorist organisations in Xinjiang, the historic homeland of the Uighur ethnic group in western China.Through enhancing its influence in Afghanistan, China aims to outmaneuver Uighur terrorists and remove the possibility of terrorism in Afghanistan impacting security in Xinjiang.But the role of China in Afghanistan remains limited. China has ignored actions by terrorist organisations in Afghanistan that are not directly harming Chinese interests, but instead Afghan civilians. Nor has China allowed for NATO operations along its border. Whether or not violence in Afghanistan crosses the border, China’s economic interests are under threat through instability in the country. (Asian Correspondent)

India opens longest bridge on China border

India has inaugurated a 9.15km (5.68-mile) bridge over the Lohit river, easily its longest ever, which connects the disputed state of Arunachal Pradesh with the north-eastern state of Assam.China claims Arunachal Pradesh as its own, and refers to it as "southern Tibet".Beijing recently strongly objected to India's decision to allow Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama to visit the state and has also protested against the development of military infrastructure there.But India has defended its right to do so. (BBC)

Tajikistan Takes Up Chinese
Chinese classes are on the rise, but still not a priority for Tajik students. (Diplomat)



CENTRAL ASIA


Uzbekistan Banks on Russian Oil for New Refinery

Uzbekistan revealed in late April that it had begun building a new $2.2 billion oil refinery that would produce fuel for sale domestically and abroad. Official news sources stated perfunctorily that oil supply agreements had already been reached with Kazakhstan and Russia, although the finer details still in fact need to be decided.The ambition is formidable.The refinery being built in the Jizzakh province, which lies adjacent to the South Kazakhstan Region, is being designed to process up to 5 million tons of oil annually, an almost 50 percent increase on Uzbekistan’s existing refining capacity. It will when completed turn out 3.7 million tons of gasoline, more than 700,000 tons of aviation fuel and 300,000 tons of associated products. Completion of the project is slated for 2022. (Eurasianet)

Is This The Start Of Regional Cooperation In Central Asia?
It looks like the new president of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyaev, is keeping at least one of his promises.Not long after independent Uzbekistan's founding president, Islam Karimov, died in September 2016, his successor said one of his priorities would be better relations with neighboring Central Asian states.Mirziyaev met with Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov at the Turkmen Caspian resort area Awaza on May 19-20, and among the many agreements they reached was one on Turkmen electricity exports to Kazakhstan and to Kyrgyzstan via Uzbekistan's territory.
That doesn't sound like much, but it reverses a nearly 15-year trend of decoupling in Central Asia.

(Rfrl)

Kazakhstan set to agree to limit oil production, but on new conditions

OPEC and non-OPEC producers, including Kazakhstan, will meet in Vienna May 25 to renew the deal limiting oil production for an additional six months. Kazakhstan will sign the agreement if the restrictions do not apply to Kashagan field, according to Minister of Energy Kanat Bozumbayev.“We will negotiate with the OPEC and non-OPEC countries on the role that Kazakhstan will play by joining this agreement on May 24-25. On the same conditions, most likely, it will not work. We will discuss what measures we will join,” he said prior to the talks.

Kazakhstan: Law on Religious Clothing in the Works
The government in Kazakhstan looks set to intensify its war on what it dubs “non-traditional Islam” by drafting laws banning clothing and other attributes adopted by ultra-orthodox Muslims. Almaty TV reported this week that a law that could be presented in parliament later this year envisions restrictions on wearing certain types of black clothes and trousers with ankle-length hems. Beards could also be targeted. (Eurasiant)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Your quick guide to what Xi Jinping said in his ‘Belt and Road’ keynote speech
China’s President Xi Jinping sought to attract countries to join his ambitious “Belt and Road Initiative” at an international forum on Sunday.Xi’s massive trade and investment grand plan seeks to connect nations along the new Silk Road routes through economic cooperation and infrastructure development. We sum up Xi’s key offerings as covered in his keynote speech at the Belt and Road summit on Sunday morning. (Scmp)

The trains and sea ports of One Belt, One Road, China's new Silk Road
OBOR spans some 65 countries representing 60 percent of the global population and around a third of global GDP. The China Development Bank alone has earmarked $890 billion for some 900 projects. Here are some of them: (Afp)

China's Xi calls for greater counter-terrorism cooperation with Turkey
Chinese President Xi Jinping has told his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan that the two should deepen counter-terrorism cooperation, amid Chinese concern about ethnic Uighurs from its Xinjiang region fighting with militants in the Middle East.Uighurs are a largely Muslim, Turkic-speaking minority from China's western Xinjiang region.Hundreds, possibly thousands, keen to escape unrest in Xinjiang, have traveled clandestinely via Southeast Asia to Turkey, where many see themselves as sharing religious and cultural ties.Beijing says some Uighurs then end up fighting with Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria. (Reuters)

HOW UYGURS AND TIBETANS FOUND UNITY IN KASHMIR
Two Muslim communities who fled persecution in China decades ago have found themselves at the centre of further conflict – this time on the border of Pakistan and India (Scmp)

Nepal in talks with China to build $8 billion cross-border rail link: finance ministry official
Nepal is in talks with China to build a cross-border rail link that may cost up to $8 billion, and funding could be expected after Nepal formally signed up to Beijing's Belt and Road initiative, a Nepali finance ministry official said on Sunday.Yug Raj Pandey, an under secretary at Nepal's Ministry of Finance, told Reuters the proposed 550 kilometer-long railway would connect China's western Tibet region to Nepal's capital of Kathmandu and will carry goods and passengers. The Himalayan nation officially signed an agreement two days ago to be part of President Xi Jinping's ambitious plan to build a new Silk Road, he said on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. (Reuters)

Chinese companies buy stake in dry port in Kazakhstan
Chinese companies buy stake in dry port in KazakhstanTwo Chinese companies on Monday signed a contract withKazakhstan's national railway company to buy 49 percent of an inland port near theChina-Kazakhstan border.China COSCO Shipping Corporation and Jiangsu Lianyungang Port Co. will each hold 24.5 percent of the dry port located in the Khorgos-East Gate special economic zone,
accordingto a statement from China COSCO Shipping. (People's Daily)

Interview: Theresa Fallon On Understanding China's One Belt, One Road Plan
The One Belt One Road project, or the Belt And Road Initiative, as it's been rebranded, is kind of an
all-encompassing project. So old projects that were successful are folded into the narrative. That way it guarantees that they're a success.For example, what happened in Kazakhstan with the building of the first oil pipeline away from the Russian monopoly Transneft. [It] took place -- it was agreed to do it -- in 1997. It was built in three stages, and it went from Kazakhstan to China. And that's considered part of the Belt And Road initiative. So it almost predates [the initiative] by over a decade. So old projects [and] new projects are all kind of wrapped into the Belt And Road initiative, and it gives a very positive narrative. (Rferl)

Beijing laying groundwork for mass DNA testing in Xinjiang
China appears to be laying the groundwork for the mass collection of DNA samples from residents of Xinjiang, a largely Muslim region already under a security crackdown, rights observers and independent analysts said on 16 May. Police in Xinjiang confirmed they are in the process of purchasing at least US$8.7 million in equipment to analyse DNA samples. Observers from Human Rights Watch said they had seen evidence of almost US$3 million worth of additional purchases related to DNA testing. They warned that such a collection programme could be used as a way to increase political control. (SCMP)

China's Silk Road project shows Putin needs Xi way more than Trump
Depending on who you speak with, Russia has no business in the United States. Other than Lukoil and a uranium mine, Russia only exists in the U.S. as a figment of some people's wild imaginations. Russia has very little economic interests here. But in China, that's another story. Truth be told, Russia also has very little going on with the Chinese too. Russia's foreign business is really Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Europe, with Europe being the lion's share. But that is going to change. Forbes

New Bank Serves as Financial Catalyst for Central Asia’s “Belt and Road” Development
The AIIB's stated aims are to invest in and attract other long-term financing for transportation, telecom and energy projects throughout Asia. To date, the AIIB has approved loans worth US$1.73 billion to support 13 projects in eight countries, including the former Soviet states of Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.Tajikistan stands to benefit from a project to improve roads, including a route connecting Tajikistan and neighboring Uzbekistan. In June 2016, the AIIB approved a direct loan for $27.5 million, alongside $62.5 million from the EBRD, for an upgrade of a key 5-kilometer section of the motorway.Beijing also shares a border with Tajikistan, and has in recent years extended credits to Dushanbe for roads, tunnels and power infrastructure. The AIIB-financed highway project stands to improve China’s access to Central Asian markets, allowing for a freer flow of Chinese-made goods and products.The AIIB’s participation in the overall financing is small, a factor that will limit any
geopolitical influence from Beijing. Nonetheless, the project could create a template for further road and highway projects throughout the region.. (Eurasianet)

China’s new Silk Road will include nightclubs, yacht quays, and 24-hour surveillance in Pakistan
Ever since China’s sweeping “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) initiative was introduced in 2013, details on it have remained scarce. But this week, thanks to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, we have
one of the most comprehensive looks so far into a key project: a land corridor that runs through Pakistan, connecting China to the Arabian Sea. (Quartz)

A German imperialist paved the way for China to revive the “Silk Road”
“The ‘Silk Road,’ as a term, is really fairly recent: it was used for the first time in 1877, by the German geographer Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen, as he was trying to promote the idea of a railway from China to Europe,” says Tamara Chin, associate professor of comparative literature at Brown University in the US. “The ancients did not have a word for it.” At that time, Germany had colonial interests in parts of Shandong, in eastern China, in particular in Qingdao, a city still famous for its eponymous beer. From there Richthofen wanted to have a railway that could carry coal all the way to Europe, but he died in 1905 without making much headway. Others carried on the effort until eventually World War II made the project impossible to pursue, and the idea was cast aside.

Can China Afford Its Belt and Road?
Financing its grand geopolitical ambitions will be harder than it looks. (Bloomberg)

India's 'new Silk Road' snub highlights gulf with China

China invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and six cabinet colleagues to its "new Silk Road" summit this month, even offering to rename a flagship Pakistani project running through disputed territory to persuade them to attend, a top official in Modi's ruling group and diplomats said. But New Delhi rebuffed Beijing's diplomatic push, incensed that a key project in its massive initiative to open land and sea corridors linking China with the rest of Asia and beyond runs through Pakistani controlled Kashmir. (Reuters)



CENTRAL ASIA

Moscow's moves in OPEC deal

Russia’s Energy Ministry denied accusations that Moscow has failed to fulfill its obligations within the production cut agreement with OPEC. Following a related report by the Wall Street Journal the cartel’s unnamed representatives, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Russia’s oil production had been already reduced to the agreed volume by the end of April, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes. A source in the ministry’s press service told the publication that it is currently exploring the situation on the oil market and evaluating whether the present initiative between OPEC and non-OPEC states is effective.(Tass)

Will Uzbekistan Join TAPI?
During his second visit to Turkmenistan, Uzbek President Mirziyoyev agreed to join the pipeline project. (Diplomat)

Turkmenistan Gets Low Scores For Olympic-Sized Sports-Infrastructure Investment

Turkmenistan has spared no expense in its bid to host international sporting events -- spending the equivalent of what it would cost to host the Olympic Games. But for its multibillion-dollar investment, Ashgabat is not getting the Olympics.Turkmenistan will be unveiling its lavish new "Olympic Complex" this September when it hosts the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG). The international event is nothing to sniff at -- more than 5,000 athletes from 62 countries are expected to arrive to compete in the games from September 17 to September 27, making it Asia's second-largest sporting event -- but the monetary and human investment has led to questions of whether it is worth the effort. (Rferl)

Majlis Podcast: Who Would Help Defend Central Asia From Insecurity In Afghanistan?
These are certainly tense times for security officials in Central Asia.Barely halfway through this spring, the violence in northern Afghanistan, in provinces just across the border from Central Asia, has already reached levels not seen since the late 1990s.The April 21 attack on a military base in Balkh Province, just across the border from Uzbekistan, left more than 130 Afghan soldiers dead, and the Taliban has besieged Kunduz city, the capital of Kunduz Province, which borders Tajikistan, for the third time in less than two years.There are also the battles in the Zebak district of Badakhshan Province, which also borders Tajikistan. The Ghormach district in Faryab Province, adjacent to Turkmenistan, has been solidly under militant control for weeks and in other areas of Faryab, and Jowzjan Province to the east, control of villages passes back-and-forth between government forces and militants. (Rferl)

La Via della Seta prende forma

La Cina inietterà nel progetto Nuova Via della Seta, 113 miliardi di dollari (780 miliardi di yuan) in più rispetto a quanto annunciato in precedenza. Lo ha dichiarato Xi Jinping in apertura al Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, che nel weekend ha attratto nella capitale cinese 29 capi di Stato e delegati da oltre 100 paesi. I finanziamenti verranno elargiti attraverso il Silk Road Fund (arricchito di 100 miliardi di yuan) e altri istituiti di credito cinesi, tra cui la China Development Bank (250 miliardi) e l'Export and Import Bank of China (130 miliardi).

Sono passati quasi quattro anni da quando il presidente Xi Jinping nel settembre 2013 vagheggiò l'idea di una nuova via della seta, intesa come una rivisitazione in chiave moderna delle rotte carovaniere, marittime e fluviali che dal Celeste Impero anticamente procedevano verso Occidente. Vale a dire un flusso di scambi commerciali puntellati dalla costruzione di nuove infrastrutture (strade, ferrovie, gasdotti, reti elettriche) attraverso l'Eurasia, fino ad abbracciare l'Africa e l'America per un totale di circa 60 Stati. Da allora, le compagnie cinesi hanno investito oltre 60 miliardi di dollari nei paesi interessati dal progetto, mentre le spiccate coloriture nazionalistiche - declinate ad una rivalutazione del ruolo della Cina sullo scacchiere globale dopo le umiliazioni subite per mano delle nazioni occidentali alla fine dell'800 - si sono fuse in un discorso globalmente condiviso: quello della lotta contro il protezionismo commerciale che, alimentato dai nuovi movimenti populisti, sta investendo le economia sviluppate - un tempo dichiarate sostenitrici di un liberismo deregolato.

L'insediamento di Donald Trump alla Casa Bianca e la sua difesa dell'economia statunitense sotto il motto "America First" non ha fatto altro che aggiungere un'altra freccia alla faretra del gigante asiatico, impegnato a difendere quella globalizzazione che gli ha permesso di diventare la seconda potenza mondiale esportando prodotti a basso costo.

Non a caso il discorso tenuto domenica da Xi riprende alcuni concetti precedentemente esposti durante l'World Economic Forum di Davos. Compiendo un rapido excursus storico, l'uomo forte di Pechino ha ricordato come anticamente gli scambi commerciali fluivano senza ostacoli, mentre oggi "viviamo in un mondo percorso da continue sfide". Alludendo alla Belt and Road (nome ufficiale della Nuova Via della Seta), il leader cinese ha dichiarato che "costruiremo una piattaforma aperta, difenderemo lo sviluppo di un'economia mondiale aperta e un sistema internazionale di scambi e investimenti giusto, ragionevole e trasparente, in modo che la produzione possa circolare con ordine ed efficienza e i mercati operare in maniera integrata".

Il vertice è stato accompagnato dalla sigla di diversi accordi bilaterali, come la promessa di nuovi investimenti in Pakistan per 500 milioni di dollari e 4,5 miliardi di prestiti per la realizzazione della ferrovia superveloce Jakarta-Bandung. Complessivamente, sono state raggiunte 270 collaborazioni con 68 paesi e organizzazioni internazionali in comparti che spaziano dalle infrastrutture al commercio, passando per la finanza e gli scambi people-to-people. Ma non tutto è andato come da programma: "I paesi lungo l'antica Via della Seta un tempo erano luoghi pieni di latte e miele, ma ora sono minacciati da turbolenze, conflitti e crisi. Dobbiamo raggiungere una cooperazione reciproca e una prospettiva di sicurezza sostenibile, per cercare di affrontare le questioni più critiche e insistere su una risoluzione politica", ha scandito Xi.

Anche nella comunità ideale dipinta da Pechino le criticità, infatti, non mancano. Appena un'ora prima dell'apertura dell'incontro, la Corea del Nord ha lanciato un nuovo missile a media gittata (Hwasong 12), in grado di trasportare una "testata nucleare di grandi dimensioni", almeno secondo quanto dichiarato a mezzo stampa da Pyongyang. Un gesto di sfida accolto con freddezza da Pechino che, con l'intento di riaffermare la natura inclusiva della One Belt One Road, aveva ignorato le resistenze americane, invitando nella capitale un alto funzionario nordcoreano in rappresentanza del Regno eremita, sottoposto a sanzioni internazionali dal 2006.

Da quando Trump e Xi Jinping si sono incontrati per la prima volta a Mar-a-Lago, in Florida, con l'obiettivo di creare un fronte comune contro il regime di Kim Jong-un, Pechino e Washington hanno appianato molte delle divergenze economiche condannate duramente dall'ex tycoon in campagna elettorale. Il forum ha messo il cappello all'inattesa liaison sino-americana, fornendo l'occasione per un endorsement informale di Washington, che pur non essendo tra i membri fondatori dell 'Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank - la superbanca istituita dalla Cina nel 2014 appositamente per sostenere finanziariamente - ha ugualmente spedito in sua rappresentanza Matt Pottinger, uno dei pochi "China Hand" dell'amministrazione Trump. Parte di un controverso accordo in dieci punti raggiunto la scorsa settimana nell'ambito del piano con cui le due potenze mondiali ad aprile si sono impegnate a livellare il surplus commerciale entro 100 giorni. Meno aperto al compromesso il governo indiano, che - citando l'effetto destabilizzante del corridoio Cina-Pakistan negli storici attriti tra Delhi e Islamabad sulla sovranità del Kashmir - ha deciso di non mandare alcuna missione ufficiale, limitando la propria presenza ad alcuni membri dell'ambasciata indiana a Pechino.

Dubbi sulla reale natura dell'iniziativa Made in China continuano ad adombrare la buona riuscita del progetto. L'assenza di leader occidentali al vertice - fatta eccezione per Paolo Gentiloni, unico capo di governo del G7 - parrebbe confermare una diffidenza diffusa, alimentata dalla lenta apertura del mercato cinese ai capitali esteri e dalle presunte mire egemoniche di Pechino.
Preannunciando una seconda edizione del forum nel 2019, Xi Jinping stamattina ha rassicurato che “la Cina è disposta a condividere la sua esperienza di sviluppo con il resto del mondo, ma non interverrà negli affari interni delle altre nazioni, non esporterà il proprio sistema sociale e modello di sviluppo, né costringerà gli altri ad accettarli”.

Secondo Afp, diversi paesi europei, tra cui Germania, Francia, Estonia, Portogallo e Gran Bretagna, si sarebbero rifiutati di sottoscrivere la parte commerciale del comunicato congiunto da rilasciare al termine dell'incontro nella serata cinese di lunedì. Motivo: scarsa trasparenza sugli appalti pubblici e sugli standard sociali e ambientali previsti dal piano.

Interpretata da molti come un piano Marshall "con caratteristiche cinesi" e un abile escamotage con cui esportare la propria sovrapproduzione industriale in giro per il mondo, la Nuova Via della Seta non è nemmeno esente da rischi di natura finanziaria. Pechino si è impegnato a iniettare circa 900 miliardi di dollari in oltre 900 progetti, ma secondo l'Asian ­Development Bank il deficit infrastrutturale soltanto nella regione asiatica, da qui al 2030, ammonterebbe a ben 26 trilioni di dollari. Chi metterà il resto? Stando a quanto lasciato intendere dalla banca centrale cinese, la responsabilità ricade sugli istituti di credito internazionali, sinora coinvolti nell'iniziativa in maniera troppo marginale. Ma la prospettiva di ritorni incerti su investimenti a lungo termine in aree del globo particolarmente instabili non sembra incentivare l'erogazione di prestiti. Un aspetto a cui Pechino, forte delle sue riserve in valuta estera e di una squadra di banche di proprietà governativa, per il momento, può far fronte con più disinvoltura. Ma questo, d'altronde, sembra riaffermare la sostanziale natura sinocentrica del progetto. Come del resto della nuova geometria economica mondiale.

(Pubblicato su Il Fatto quotidiano online)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Xinjiang shows Belt, Road needs specifics

Recent data in Xinjiang suggest that trade has not improved significantly. In the first quarter of the year, trade in Xinjiang was $4.84 billion, according to the Urumqi Customs. Though it represented a 65.6 percent gain year-on-year, it was far less than the figure of $5.24 billion in the same period of 2013, when the initiative began. The China-Europe freight trains have been running for a while, but they are not at the frequency local officials envisioned. They said that reflects low domestic and foreign demand for goods. And further market integration along the Belt and Road route is needed to spur demand, they added. (Global Times)

Uyghurs Studying Abroad Ordered Back to Xinjiang Under Threat to Families
Uyghur students enrolled in schools outside China are being ordered by Chinese authorities to return to their hometowns by May 20, with family members in some cases held hostage to force their return, sources in Xinjiang and in Egypt say.Launched at the end of January by authorities across the Xinjiang region, the campaign has frightened targeted students, some of whom have disappeared or been jailed after coming back, a Uyghur studying at Egypt’s Al-Azhar University told RFA’s Uyghur Service.(Rfa)

Party Sets Up Special Bureau for Xinjiang
The Chinese Communist Party has established a new bureau for Xinjiang within its United Front Work Department to streamline policy coordination and provide strategic regional advice to the country’s leaders. The bureau’s creation comes amid President Xi Jinping’s call for the building of a “great wall of iron” to safeguard stability in the autonomous territory. (China Digital Times)

Syria says up to 5,000 Chinese Uygurs are fighting with rebels
Up to 5,000 ethnic Uygurs from China’s far western region of Xinjiang are fighting in various militant groups in Syria, the Syrian ambassador to China said on Monday, adding that Beijing should be extremely concerned about the development. (SCMP)

Who will pay for China’s new Silk Road?
Beijing is backing a host of financial institutions to help fund its ambitious “Belt and Road Initiative”
(Scmp)

Chinese firms to make $120bn-$130bn investment annually in next five years

In the next five years, Chinese companies will invest $120 billion to $130 billion annuallyon overseas projects, Ning Jizhe, vice chairman of National Development and ReformCommission (NDRC), predicted on Friday. A majority of the investment will be allotted to countries and regions along the Belt andRoad, Ning said at a press conference held in Beijing.In the four years since the initiative was proposed by China in 2013, China has investedmore than $60 billion in the Belt and Road regions. (People's Daily)

China aims to triple rail freight with Europe by 2020

China aims to nearly triple rail freight shipments to and from Europe by 2020, an international logistics executive here told The Nikkei, making the transport link a backbone of economic growth in the Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.The National Development and Reform Commission, which steers economic policy, aims to run 5,000 freight trains between China and Europe in 2020, up from 1,800 in 2016. (Nikkei)

Cash crunch on China’s new Silk Road
China is urgently seeking support from international lenders to close a yawning financing gap for projects under its “Belt and Road Initiative”, a top official said.The remarks from Yi Gang, vice-governor of the People’s Bank of China, come just days ahead of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on Sunday and Monday. Leaders from 29 countries and regions will gather in Beijing to learn more about the blueprint for China’s trade scheme.Infrastructure and other key projects in belt and road countries had “strong demand for ­financing”, and support from the global market was “desperately needed”, Yi said in an interview with People’s Daily yesterday. Policy banks are making progress in doling out loans, but commercial banks are less active.”Many infrastructure projects were long-term and required large amounts of investment, so a system of “policy banks, commercial lenders and international ­development institutions” was needed to ensure their financial sustainability, Pan said. (Scmp)

Western partners wanted on China’s Silk Road
Beijing is seeking to lure more multinational companies and agencies to participate in its “Belt and Road Initiative”, in an attempt to reduce risks borne by its state companies. Xiao Yaqing, head of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, told a press conference on Monday that China’s building of a new Silk Road would be “open and inclusive”, and try to minimise risks by collaborating with the world’s leading companies and international organisations. (Scmp)

The Central Station Of The New Silk Road Has Emerged

Khorgos Gateway, a major new dry port that’s rising up from the desert in Kazakhstan’s eastern borderlands, has just taken the next step in the process of developing into the great crossroads of nations that it has been posited to become — a central station along a new Silk Road.Fueled by the rapidly emerging China-Europe rail network, the Khorgos dream is grandiose but its origins are rooted in pragmatism. The width of train tracks are different in China than in the post-Soviet realm, so trains need to stop and relay their cargo at the border. This simple logistical event is what gave rise to what is rapidly becoming an entirely new, multifaceted economic ecosystem in what was nothing but sand dunes just five years before on the Kazakh / China border. (Forbes)

For one Chinese city, new 'Silk Road' leaves old problems unsolved

In 2015, the official Xinhua news agency ran stories about how Hunchun was accelerating its "OBOR" plans, and early in 2016, China's cabinet released a list of Chinese cities included in "OBOR": Hunchun was on the map. The fact that the list came about slowly, and that some cities felt moved to lobby to be included, underlines how the pet project of Chinese President Xi Jinping is as amorphous as it is ambitious. (Reuters)

China says Silk Road plan is not tied to presidency
Asked what guarantee the world had that the initiative would go on after Xi's second term, Vice Minister of Commerce Qian Keming told a news briefing that its vitality lay in countries' hopes for development and not in the idea of "who proposed it or what term in office there is later". "The Belt and Road initiative was proposed by President Xi in 2013, but this initiative is not an individual proposal, or merely left at a proposal level. Rather it is an initiative that has been widely received by the whole world. It is jointly owned by everyone," Qian said. (Reuters)

New China-Europe container train launched

A train pulling 45 containers set off from Panjin Port, northeast China's Liaoning Province on Wednesday, joining China-Europe freight trains which have been booming in recent years. The 16-day journey will see the train leave China through Erenhot in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, to Mongolia and on to Russia before reaching Minsk, the capital of Belarus. The new service is expected to facilitate trade and opportunities along the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor.(China Plus)

China targets crimes related to "silk road" rail lines 

China's top procuratorate has declared war against crimes related to international freight and passenger railway services along the Silk Road Economic Belt. Smuggling and human trafficking by international trains and crimes endangering railway safety were highlighted in a guideline issued by the railway division of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on 9 May. (GlobalTimes)

Xi Jinping’s Silk Road is under threat from one-way traffic

Overcapacity in industries such as steel is far too big for neighbouring markets to absorb more than a fraction of it; products such as cement and glass cannot be economically exported over any great distance; and in unstable, high-risk markets such as Pakistan and the Central Asian republics, there is a danger that loans will turn sour and projects will fail. The planned rail link between central China and Europe, which is undergoing trials, highlights the challenges: five trains full of cargo leave Chongqing for Germany every week, but only one full train returns. Yet trade must flow in both directions to make the new trading routes both economically viable and politically acceptable to the foreign countries through which it will pass.So while European business supports the One Belt and One Road vision, companies are worried that in the next decade the initiative will instead be remembered as “One Belt and One Trap”: a waste of resources that depends too heavily on lumbering and inefficient state-owned enterprises, when nimble Chinese entrepreneurs and EU private capital would do a far better job. (FT)

Lessons for China in failed US Silk Road initiative

The contrast between Beijing’s and Washington’s support for a revitalised Silk Road could not be clearer.This month’s Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, a gathering of existing and potential stakeholders in China’s trade development initiative, will welcome national leaders including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi and Indonesia’s Joko Widodo to Beijing.Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, already in office for more than 100 days, has yet to appoint an ambassador to Afghanistan, which sits at the centre of a Silk Road initiative the US Department of State began promoting in 2011.Compared with China’s “Belt and Road Initiative”, Washington’s plan was underfunded and under-resourced after then secretary of state Hillary Clinton formally proposed it in 2011, observers say. (Scmp)

Central SOEs contribute to B&R initiative

Central government State-owned enterprises (SOEs) have played a significant role in pushing the "One Belt, One Road" initiative, with their overseas investment growing at an average annual rate of 15 percent in recent years, Xiao Yaqing, chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), told a press conference in Beijing on Monday. Their overseas investment will be deepened and expanded as infrastructure construction is
gradually carried out in countries and regions along the Belt and Road route, he said. But Xiao said that investment may not increase every year, as central SOEs' expansion along the Belt and Road route is market-oriented and complies with the companies' strategic needs. (Global Times)

Is there still hope for China, Afghanistan’s long-stalled US$3 billion copper mining deal?
Afghanistan’s top envoy still striving for a win-win to develop the copper mine a decade after billion-dollar deal was signed (Scmp)

China-Kazakhstan capacity cooperation on fast track: official

Industrial capacity cooperation between China and Kazakhstan has grown rapidly in the past few years and yielded rich results under the Belt and Road Initiative, an official said Friday.The two governments have signed a framework agreement for capacity cooperation and held 12 dialogues on the matter, Ning Jizhe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a press conference.China and Kazakhstan have signed major cooperation projects worth 27 billion U.S. dollars, set up a 2-billion-dollar bilateral capacity cooperation fund and earmarked loans of 15 billion dollars for the same purpose, Ning said. Currently, 34 projects, including copper mining, electrolytic aluminum and cement plants, have been completed and put into production in Kazakhstan. Another 43 projects are under construction. (Xinhua)

Key stops on China's new Silk Road

Beijing has deployed moves from a familiar playbook to try and spur economic growth: capital and infrastructure investment, and preferential policies to try to make Horgos a more attractive offshore yuan settlement centre than even Shenzhen or Shanghai.But it needs to look at how it can help Central Asian countries build up their infrastructure, said Professor Yang Yiyong, director of the Macroeconomics Institute at the National Development and Reform Commission, China's economic planning authority. "We should be taking a leaf from Singapore's book, setting up cooperation offices in each of the five Central Asian countries," he said at a Belt and Road forum. (Strait Times)
HIGHWAY TO SELL: HOW $55B TRADE CORRIDOR REKINDLED CHINA-PAKISTAN LOVE AFFAIR
A US$55 billion programme to link the routes of China’s Belt and Road plan through Pakistan has revived a relationship that began with the Karakorum Highway – even if critics blame it for mischief in Kashmir. (Scmp)

CENTRAL ASIA

Tajikistan: Forces Reportedly Scrambled as Clashes Intensify on Afghan Border
Conflicting reports are emerging about the fighting unfolding in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province, in an area close to Tajikistan’s border, but it is becoming steadily clear that Dushanbe is now spooked.Further to the west, in Afghanistan’s Kunduz province, local politicians have said Taliban fighters overran yet another district sharing a border with Tajikistan, Qala-e-Zal. Local people in the Tajik frontier town of Ishkashim in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region have reported that fighter jets patroled the area on May 5-6. The jets would beyond almost all certainty be from the Russian armed forces stationed in the country. (Eurasianet)

Tajikistan detains son of defector to Islamic State: security sources

Tajik security services have detained the eldest son of a former elite police force commander who defected to Islamic State two years ago, suspecting that the young man was going to join his father, security sources said on Wednesday.The United States last August offered up to $3 million for information about Colonel Gulmurod Khalimov, whom it trained in counter-terrorism before he joined Islamic State.Washington has described Khalimov as "a key leader" of Islamic State, which has seized parts of Syria and Iran and staged or inspired deadly militant attacks around the world. (Reuters)

Kazakhstan Seeks to Reduce Russian Media Influence Amid Moscow-West Spat
The annual anniversary of Victory Day on May 9, 1945 (Moscow time), which marked the surrender of Nazi Germany, should have been the least controversial of public holidays throughout the former Soviet Union. Yet, the use of World War II symbolism by the Russian authorities as a means to stir up patriotic feelings, increasingly in opposition to the “decadent” West, does not sit well with everyone. In neighboring Kazakhstan, which remains Russia’s closest trade and military partner, the government has been trying for years to apply a new varnish to its Victory Day celebrations. (Jamestown Foundation)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Xinjiang offers stable jobs for poor people
State-owned enterprises in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region will provide more than 10,000 jobs to poor residents in two southern prefectures. Nearly 80,000 people in Kashgar and Hotan prefectures, which face pressure to eradicate poverty as part of a national campaign, have applied for the vacancies, according to the regional human resources and social security department. The applicants, aged between 18 and 45, should be able to use Mandarin and have basic working skills. Couples are welcomed.

Why the Communist Party has created a new bureau for Xinjiang

The ruling Communist Party of China has created a new bureau to improve intelligence and policy coordination in Xinjiang, the vast western region that has been placed under what many see as increasing police surveillance and intrusive social control. The new bureau for Xinjiang, an area larger than France, Spain and Germany combined in northwest China, has been placed under the Central United Front Work Department, a party organ whose main duty is to court elites outside the party to ensure of their political loyalty. SCMP

Xinjiang reports robust foreign trade growth in Q1

The foreign trade of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region surpassed 4.8 billion US dollars in Q1, up more than 65 percent year-on-year. Exports during the period reached 4.1 billion US dollars, expanding 64.5 percent from a year ago, and imports increased 72.4 percent, according to Urumqi customs. Xinjiang's trade with Russia, Mongolia, Pakistan and five Central Asian countries along the Belt and Road accounted for more than 66 percent of the region's foreign trade. Its trade with Kazakhstan was nearly doubled the number in Q1 last year. (Global Times)

Ancient border city gets glimpse of prosperity under ‘B&R’ initiativeThe remote city of Horgos in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was once little more than a small stop for merchant caravans on the ancient Silk Road. Centuries later, China intends to resurrect the city's past by making it a major outpost along the Silk Road Economic Belt, part of the country's "One Belt and One Road" initiative. The city, located on the China-Kazakhstan border, has benefited from the association. Rapid development fueled by infrastructure investment has transformed the city, creating new opportunities for its residents. Today, freight trains carrying Chinese-made goods such as clothing, electronics and construction materials run by way of Horgos from Lianyungang, Jiangsu to Central Asia. A highway connecting Lianyungang and Horgos opened in 2014. (Global Times)

China has a 'vested interest' in the resolution of Kashmir dispute: Chinese daily

China's state-run daily Global Times in a column published on Monday highlighted Beijing's "vested interest" in the resolution of the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India due to its massive investment in the One Belt, One Road initiative in the region. The column says that although China has "always adhered to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries," it can no long turn a "deaf ear to the demands of Chinese enterprises in protecting their overseas investments." (Dawn)

Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev will pay his first state visit to China in mid-May

Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev will pay his first state visit to China in mid-May, the official Jahon information agency reported. The forthcoming visit should open a new page in the relations between the two countries. As the Uzbek First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Javlon Vahabov said, the anticipated outcomes of the visit can be judged by a remarkable package of documents projected to be inked in China. The program of the visit includes negotiations with Chinese President Xi Jinping, members of the State Council of China, and chiefs of leading enterprises and major financial and economic bodies of China, Vahabov said. . According to the Ministry of Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan, in 2016 the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to more than $4.7 billion. In the first quarter of 2017, the figure stood at $1.2 billion. Today, Uzbekistan is home to 704 enterprises with Chinese investments, including 88 with 100% Chinese capital.(The Times of Central Asia)

China Developing New High-Speed Trains for Export
China is developing new high-speed trains with a maximum speed of 400 kilometers per hour with an eye on exporting them to countries taking part in the One Belt, One Road initiative. The trains will incorporate new materials such as carbon fiber and aluminum alloys to reduce weight and increase efficiency, the official China Daily reported, citing an engineer at a unit of the country’s top railway vehicle maker, China Railway Rolling Stock Corp. The trains should be ready by 2020 to help build out the country’s high-speed rail network, the world’s largest, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (Caixin)

Capital markets to support the B&R: government official

A government official said on Friday that qualified enterprises are encouraged to seek a listing on China's A-share markets in order to meet the cash needs of major projects under the One Belt and One Road (B&R) initiative. The government should leverage domestic and overseas markets and encourage local firms to raise funds from offshore markets in order to invest in the B&R initiative, Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, was quoted as saying by a report from cs.com.cn on Friday. (Global Times)

Xi Jinping's pet project will have some successes but its ultimate goal could be a stretch too far

My own view is that the BRI will unquestionably live up to some of its expectations. It is financed by a $40 billion Silk Road Fund, backed by the China Investment Corporation, China's sovereign wealth fund, China's three policy development banks and the State Administration for Foreign Exchange. Yet, away from the marketing pitch, we do not really know the main purpose of the BRI. In terms of potential size, it is much bigger than the U.S. Marshall Plan at the end of World War II, which amounted to about $130 billion in today's money. But this begs the key question: is the BRI a Eurasian economic development project? Or is it primarily a Chinese foreign policy and international relations project designed mainly to benefit China? (Nikkei)

China Repeats West's Mistakes in Pakistan

Decades of foreign support have only further entrenched the military at the center of not just Pakistan’s state, but its economy and society.Pakistan is noisy and disputatious enough to make Chinese planners wonder whether the army might not make a better partner than the civilian government or the private sector. Already, CPEC has exacerbated civil-military disputes in a country that saw its first peaceful democratic transfer of power only a few years ago. Military organizations have begun much of the corridor’s work, especially road-building. CPEC was at the top of the agenda when Pakistan’s army chief visited Beijing last month. And the army has cited the task of securing the corridor as an excuse to raise an entire new division of nine battalions and six “civil wings.” (Bloomberg)

Credit Suisse Says China Belt-Road Plan May Top $500 Billion
China could pour more than half a trillion dollars into its Belt and Road Initiative, and the push for greater global influence looks even more promising with U.S. President Donald Trump pulling back from engagement, according to Credit Suisse Group AG.The plan could funnel investments worth $313 billion to $502 billion into 62 Belt-Road countries over the next five years, Hong Kong-based analyst Shen Hu wrote in a report Tuesday. In Africa, China may may make additional investments of as much as $79 billion in 13 countries, she said. Most funds may flow into India, Russia, Indonesia, Iran, Egypt, the Philippines and Pakistan, Shen and other analysts said. (Bloomberg)

China stresses security needs for new Silk Road initiative

China's ambitious initiative to generate economic prosperity by building a new Silk Road will depend on the countries involved ensuring strong security, the country's top policemen said, ahead of a summit to discuss President Xi Jinping's pet project.Speaking at a security dialogue on the new Silk Road, domestic security chief Meng Jianzhu said the plan could only advance if there is a secure and stable environment, the Public Security Ministry said late on Thursday.(Strait Times)

City on the edge of Gobi Desert is China’s smartest

At the end of March, it was estimated that more than 500 mainland cities, including 95 per cent of provincial capitals and 83 per cent of designated prefecture-level cities, are set to be transformed into smart cities. The size of this initiative likely dwarfs any similar undertaking around the world. Leading this ambitious effort is the city of Yinchuan (銀川), a community of two million people on the western end of the Great Wall of China near the Gobi Desert in Ningxia. (Scmp

China faces resistance to a cherished theme of its foreign policy

The scheme is running into three linked problems. First, it is unclear what its priorities are, or who is running it. “We haven’t really come up with a specific goal,” says Zou Tongxuan of Beijing International Studies University. Every province has its own belt-and-road investment plan. So do hundreds of state-owned firms. The government’s strong backing has helped to get many projects up and running faster than might have happened otherwise (Mr Xi first began to talk about the idea only in 2013). But no one is in day-to-day charge, so thousands of financially dubious schemes have the imprimatur of a belt-and-road project. (Economist)


One Silk Road, one dream
Uzbek young man Munisov Zarkamol lived in Samarkand, a 3,000-year-old city nicknamed the "Pearl of the Orient" on the ancient Silk Road.From childhood, Zarkamol has been obsessed with China and the Chinese culture thanks to his mother. After studying day and night for almost a decade, he got enrolled at Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages in 2011 and chose the Chinese language as his major.The learning process was not easy. Zarkamol remembered that he couldn't tell the difference between two Chinese characters with similar sounds in his first listening class. However, after years of patient tutoring by his Chinese teachers, he managed to conquer the language obstacles one by one.(Xinhua)

CENTRAL ASIA

In Central Asia, Strategic Partnerships Growing Ascendant
It takes three separate diplomatic efforts for three countries to sign three bilateral strategic partnership agreements. That is exactly what happened over the past four years in Central Asia: first Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan signed a strategic partnership in June 2013; then Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan concluded one during Uzbekistani President Shavkat Mirziyaev’s first foreign trip to Turkmenistan on March 6, 2017; and a little over a month later, the latest agreement was signed between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan (Tengri News, June 14, 2013; Gazeta.uz, March 6, 2017; Tengri News, April 18). Cumulatively, these two-way agreements have led to the emergence of a Central Asian strategic triangle—a first for the region (Kun.uz, April 22). What exactly does it mean for these countries to have elevated their cooperation to the strategic level, and why did they take such a step at this time? (Jamestown Foundation)

Trump to Cut Foreign Aid Budgets, Opening South and Central Asia’s Door to Chinese Influence
It looks like U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s plan to reduce the foreign aid budget will come at a cost to his administration’s other aims in South and Central Asia.Some of the cuts come as no surprise as they target programs, like climate change, that the president came into office determined to roll back. But others will undermine stated administration priorities, such as regional counterterrorism and cooperation with India.The proposed budget will end funding completely for four strategically located countries in this region, and shrink health funding by half region-wide. The proposed budget will also eliminate two categories of aid, one known as Development Assistance and one called Assistance for Europe, Eurasia, and Central Asia (AEECA), instead using the Economic Support Fund (ESF) category as a preferred vehicle for the countries in which U.S. aid will continue. (Cfr)

Turkmenistan: Death and Corruption at the Top of the Tree

Occupying high office in Turkmenistan is never a comfortable affair, but this has been an especially bad week. On May 3, the 51-year old deputy prime minister for industry Batyr Ereshov suddenly dropped dead from unknown causes. The following day, the president fired General Prosecutor Amanmyrat Halliyev and another ten more junior prosecutors amid accusations that they were taking bribes. Ereshov’s sudden death has sparked much murmuring and gossip. He was one of Turkmenistan’s more visible political figures and had never appeared superficially to be in any ill-health. But official media did not dwell on the causes of death, limiting themselves instead to dry obituaries listing his achievements. (Eurasianet)