Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China says it is helping Afghanistan with defense, counterterrorism
BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s defense ministry said on Thursday that it was supporting Afghanistan’s
defense and counterterrorism efforts, a day after Beijing denied a plan to build a base in Afghanistan and to send Chinese forces to the war-torn country. (reuters)

‘Father of the Taliban’ calls on China to aid Afghan peace talks
Maulana Samiul Haq says China would be welcomed as an arbitrator in negotiations and shouldn’t ‘l
eave matters of such a great importance solely to the US’ (Scmp)

Pakistan invites Saudi Arabia to join China's Belt and Road corridor
Islamabad has invited Saudi Arabia to become the third partner in the Beijing-funded Belt and Road corridor of major infrastructure projects inside Pakistan, Pakistan’s information minister said on Thursday. (Reuters)

“Pakistan plans to review or renegotiate agreements reached under China’s Belt and Road Initiative, joining a growing list of countries questioning the terms of their involvement in Beijing’s showpiece infrastructure investment plan,” according to the (FT.)

China and Pakistan have decided to speed up and extend the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor towards Afghanistan during Foreign Minister Wang Yi's recent visit to Islamabad, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Monday. (Economic Times)

Tajikistan, China discuss security on Afghanistan border
President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon and Colonel General Xu Qiliang, Deputy Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the People's Republic of China (PRC) have announced at a meeting in Dushanbe the priority of bilateral cooperation in military sphere, the press service of the Tajik president stated Sept. 6, Interfax reported. (Azernews)

SCO’s Peace Mission 2018 drill in Russia
Some 3,000 people and 500 vehicles from SCO countries including China and India participated in the "Peace Mission 2018" anti-terror drill in Russia's Chelyabinsk. (xinhua)

Kazakhstan seeks sweet spot in US-China-Russia power game
Nazarbayev further boasted that these ports have direct railway and road links to the Khorgos dry port on the Kazakh-Chinese border, which, in turn, is linked to the Chinese port of Lianyungang on the Yellow Sea. Kazakhstan has also built thousands of kilometers of railways and motorways to improve connectivity. (Nikkei)

China's Belt and Road Is Full Of Holes
Five years since it was announced, China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has yet to materialize on the ground as promised. According to Chinese officials, the BRI includes six economic corridors that will carry goods, people, and data across the Eurasian supercontinent. But a statistical analysis of 173 infrastructure projects finds that Chinese investment is just as likely to go outside those corridors as within them. The BRI appears to be less coordinated than Beijing hopes and some critics fear. (CSIS)

The Belt and Road in Europe: 5 Years Later
Europe is essential for the BRI as initially envisioned by Beijing. But what do European countries think about the initiative, five years after its launch? (The Diplomat)

Silk Road passenger train planned between Antwerp, Shanghai
The program, called Diamond Silk Road, aims to connect Antwerp and Shanghai by a passenger train that will run through 10 other cities including Brussels, Moscow, Ulan Bator and Beijing, thus forming the world's largest space for free trade and manufacturing. (Xinhua)

It is considering Xi'an, Chongqing and Wuhan as potential terminals in China, as well as Duisburg in Germany. All are located far from container ports, so the new freight train service could significantly cut shipping times. For example, a shipment from Xi'an to Poland would take just 12 to 13 days on a train, compared with roughly 40 days by sea, including ground transportation to and from shipping ports. But the train will likely cost 1.5 to two times as much.

My soul, where are you?': families of Muslims missing in China meet wall of silence
An estimated 1 million Muslims are being held in re-education camps in XinjiangAcross the border in Kazakhstan, there’s a desperate wait for news of Uighurs, Kazakhs and other minorities (Guardian)

Majority of foreign migrants in Kyrgyzstan are Chinese 
79% of foreign migrants in country. 8,679 Chinese citizens have registered with the authorities and obtained work permits in Kyrgyzstan (AKiPress)

Kyrgyzstan starts repaying its debt to China this year: Kyrgyzstan started repaying its 3bn some ($43mn) loan to China this year. 2021 is a peak of debt payments, the 'energy sector must pay 102bn soms of budget loans' ( Akipress)

CENTRAL ASIA


Is Kazakhstan Preparing for a Post-Nazarbayev Era?
Since he turned 78 in July, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has appointed a number of new ministers to his Cabinet, fueling speculation about whether he will run for another term in elections scheduled for 2020.

Europe’s Security Stake in Central Asia
The European Union is traditionally seen as a non-security focused actor. Given member state capitals’ preference to lead on national security and defence, there is a tendency to see the EU solely through the lens of non-security and to focus instead on economic questions when engaging with Brussels. Yet, this view misses a vast range of activity which is already going on as well as the fact that some key European security questions are intimately tied to Central Asia.The European Union is traditionally seen as a non-security focused actor. Given member state capitals’ preference to lead on national security and defence, there is a tendency to see the EU solely through the lens of non-security and to focus instead on economic questions when engaging with Brussels. Yet, this view misses a vast range of activity which is already going on as well as the fact that some key European security questions are intimately tied to Central Asia.(Seneca)

Dealing with the Saudis

The long-standing strategic alliance between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia has taken on a new dimension with prospects of the kingdom participating in CPEC projects. (Dawn)