Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China to enhance cooperation on law enforcement security with other SCO countries 
Chinese State Councillor Zhao Kezhi on 21 May met with leading officials from six other member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), respectively, pledging to enhance practical cooperation on law enforcement security. They are in Beijing for the 13th meeting of SCO Security Council Secretaries, focusing on issues including the regional security situation and priority of security cooperation among the SCO members. (Xinhua)

Xi urges more SCO security cooperation
Chinese President Xi Jinping on 22 May met with heads of foreign delegations attending the 13th meeting of Security Council Secretaries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing. During the meeting, Xi suggested that the SCO member countries continue to uphold the common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept, and promote a security governance model that addresses both symptoms and root causes, so as to push forward the SCO security cooperation to a new level. (Xinhua)

China’s Bingtuan paramilitary force tightens grip on Xinjiang
In Hotan county, in the south-west of China’s remote Xinjiang region, where once there was only barren desert, rows of trees have taken root, bearing red dates and pomegranates.
The agricultural project is one of the latest in a decades-long programme of land reclamation efforts in Xinjiang that cost $4bn last year alone, according to Bingtuan, a 3m-strong paramilitary force that is creating the new farmland areas.(FT)

Chasing the Fire-Worshippers of Tashkurgan
In far western China, the Tajik people still practice customs with roots in one of the world’s oldest religions. (Sixth Tone)

Pakistan turns to China to avoid foreign currency crisis

Pakistan has again turned to China for help in avoiding a foreign currency crisis, deepening the two countries’ economic ties by borrowing $1bn from Chinese banks in April, Pakistan’s central bank
governor has revealed. (FT)

Pakistan seeks economic lifeline with fresh China loans
Pakistan expects to obtain fresh Chinese loans worth US$1-2 billion (S$1.34-2.68 billion) to help it avert a balance of payments crisis, Pakistani government sources said, in another sign of Islamabad's growing reliance on Beijing for financial support. (Reuters)

1st section of CPEC's largest superhighway inaugurated in Pakistan's Punjab
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday inaugurated the first section of the 392-km Multan-Sukkur Motorway, the largest transportation infrastructure project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Multan in the country's eastern Punjab province.The prime minister opened the 33-km section spanned from Multan to Shujaabad city for public, which was completed well before the stipulated time.The six-lane superhighway will connect the country's southern port city of Karachi with northwestern city Peshawar through the populated provinces of Punjab and Sindh. (GT)

B&R needs broader support

China may have proposed the Belt and Road (B&R) initiative but the aim is for it to involve many countries, experts said on Sunday, with more diversified investors as well as financial institutions expected to play a bigger role in bridging the funding gaps in B&R projects. For instance, the country's new outbound investment in 52 countries along the routes increased by 22.4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018, rising to $3.61 billion according to official data. However, there have been complaints about China's problems with funding for B&R projects. The Chinese government has promised $1 trillion worth of infrastructure investment under the B&R. But the funding for transportation projects stood at $90 billion between 2014 and 2017, the Asia Times reported on May 18, citing data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Also, the CSIS noted in an earlier study that China's $1 trillion promise may not be met for several years. (Global Times)

CENTRAL ASIA

The people of Turkmenistan can no longer use their president’s image as toilet paper
Police are making sure Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s face isn’t being soiled.

Russia plans to open second military base in Kyrgyzstan
After almost five years of fits and starts on the question, Moscow is set to open a second military base in Kyrgyzstan. With this strengthened military presence, Russia will be in a better position to respond to any militant or terrorist threats potentially spilling over from Afghanistan, to shore up its influence with a Bishkek fearful of terrorism and instability, to send a message to other Central Asian states that Russia remains the pre-eminent power in the region, to both please Beijing and counter the growing Chinese presence across Central Asia, as well as to regionally challenge the United States, which is still actively involved in Afghanistan.

Kazakhstan draws ire from Russia for pursuing multi-vector foreign policy
Recent developments in Armenia, where a former president–turned–prime minister, Serzh Sargsyan, hastily stepped down in the face of vigorous street protests on April 23, underscored the potential vulnerability of Russia’s regional alliances. The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) has been a pillar of Russia’s post-Soviet diplomacy since its formation in 2014, following two decades of various regionalist experiments with trade and economic integration.

Are Central Asia's Militants Already Coming Home From The Middle East?

Kyrgyzstan appears to be waging a major battle on its own soil against alleged members of "international terrorist organizations."In less than 12 months, there have been at least 28 security operations that resulted in apprehending suspects who Kyrgyz authorities say were connected to terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq. (Rferl)