Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Party high-flier uses his Tibet model in bid to tame Xinjiang
Just three months after former Tibet party boss Chen Quanguo took up his new post in Xinjiang, the far western frontier is implementing new security and surveillance measures – policies its Tibetan neighbours to the south are only too familiar with. Since October, residents in many parts of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, both the predominantly Muslim Uygurs and the Han, have been told to hand over their passports to local police for safekeeping, according to police notices circulating online and residents’ complaints on social media. (South China Morning Post)

Moscow to Host Crucial Meeting With China, Pakistan to Discuss Afghanistan

Russia, Pakistan and China will hold the next round of three-way counterterrorism talks in Moscow December 27, primarily focusing on turmoil-hit Afghanistan. Russian Ambassador to Islamabad Alexey Dedov disclosed the details in an interview to state-run Pakistani radio. This will be the third meeting of the “trilateral working group on Afghanistan,” he said, following meetings in Beijing and Islamabad. (VOA)

Xinjiang sees robust textile, garment exports in first 10 months, Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan as two major markets 

Textile and garment exports in northwest China's Xinjiang saw robust growth in the first 10 months this year, boosted by the Belt and Road Initiative, local customs authorities have said. Exports of textiles and garments from Xinjiang reached 43 billion yuan (6.2 billion U.S. dollars) during the Jan.-Oct. period, up 49 percent from the same period last year, according to the customs of Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.(Xinhua)

Spotlight: Chinese businesses actively participate in development of Russia's Far East
Russia's development strategy for its Far East in recent years has yielded opportunities for local cooperation with China and for investment from Chinese enterprises. The deepened China-Russia political ties and mutually complementary markets, among other factors, have also contributed to a broad prospect for win-win cooperation between the border regions of the two neighbors. This is believed to be the consideration that has led to a recent visit here by a Chinese business delegation, along with massive investment and cooperation projects. According to COFCO Vice President Chi Jingtao, the company is ready to open a branch in the Far Eastern port city of Vladivostok.
Its investment will be focused on a farm produce and food processing plant, which is expected to supply products for the Russian, Chinese and international markets. Developing high-end tourism and commercial real estate at the cultural and tourist attractions of Russia's Far East is the other major part of the company's investment plan.(Xinhua)

China Focus: Chongqing's China-Europe trains on fast track
Every day, trains full of laptops, electronics and auto parts depart the remote village of Tuanjiecun for Europe. For five years, trains have delivered laptops for Hewlett-Packard, car window regulators for Brose and semi-conductors for AT&S, from Chongqing Municipality, southwest China, to Europe. Since the trains started in March 2011, there has been a business boom in the mountain city. According to Chongqing Logistics City, Chongqing imported more than 2,000 cars on the international rail network in the past two years. Six years ago the city was struggling to attract businesses, which mostly centred on China's coastal areas where convenient shipping and air transport converge. (People)

Kyrgyz concerns about donkey exports to China
Kyrgyzstan has signed a contract to export 4,000 donkeys to China, reigniting a row about the ethics and transparency of the trade. Police in Osh region in the south of the Central Asia state confirm that lorries laden with the live donkeys are already heading for China, adding that all licences and medical paperwork are in order, the Turmush web site reports. It established that the donkeys come from farmers in Chong-Alai village, and the price paid per head by a Chinese-Kyrgyz company is on above the local market value of 3,000-4,000 soms ($43-57; £34-46). (BBC)

China 'blocks' border crossing to Mongolia as relations freeze over following Dalai Lama visit

After receiving a visit from exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Mongolia says that China has closed down a key border crossing between the two countries. Al Jazeera reports that hundreds of mining trucks have been stuck at the Gants Mod crossing in southeastern Mongolia in sub-zero temperatures after tariffs on commodity shipments between China and Mongolia were raised last month, coinciding with a six-day visit to Ulaanbaatar made by the Dalai Lama. (Shanghaiist)

New rail and road cargo service opens between Tibet, Nepal, largely cutting transport time and boosting trade
Dozens of trucks carrying 19 million yuan (2.8 million U.S. dollars) worth of goods left the border port of Gyirong in Tibet after customs clearance on Friday, continuing the journey to their destination in Nepal.The new rail and road cargo service, linking Guangdong, Tibet and Nepal, aims to boost trade with the South Asian neighbor as China pushes forward its Belt and Road Initiative. A train carrying eight carriages and 14 boxcars full of products, including shoes, clothes, hats, furniture, appliances, electronics and building materials, covered the 5,200-km distance between Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, and Xigaze in Tibet. The trucks are responsible for the remaining 870 km of the journey, carrying goods to Gyirong and then to the final stop in Kathmandu, Nepal's capital.(Xinhua)

China fund to buy 10% stake in Russia’s largest petrochemicals group: China’s Silk Road Fund has agreed to buy a 10 per cent stake in Russia’s largest petrochemicals group, in the second major Chinese state investment in the company whose shareholders include people close to president Vladimir Putin. Sibur, which buys and processes gas produced as a byproduct of Russia’s energy industry, announced on the 14 of December that its shareholders had signed a deal for China’s Silk Road Fund – a state investment vehicle created as part of Beijing’s One Belt One Road strategy – to take a 10 per cent stake, without providing further details, writes Jack Farchy in Moscow. (FT)

Russia supports China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project: Envoy

According to an interview on Radio Pakistan, this was stated by Russian Ambassador to Pakistan Alexey Y Dedov. Dedov pointed out that CPEC is a component of China's Silk Road and his country was also working on a similar Eurasian Economic Union. He added that China and Russia are holding discussions to merge the two projects. (Dawn)

China completes $350 million power plant in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe

A Chinese firm has completed a power plant worth $350 million in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe, the ex-Soviet country said Thursday, indicating Beijing's growing economic dominance in the cash-strapped state. It is one of several Chinese companies active in Tajikistan, where China's Exim Bank holds around half of all foreign debt. (EnergyWorld)

Tajikistan: China Swoops in For Fertilizer Plant

The game of pass the parcel with one of Tajikistan’s rare industrial success stories has now led to a promising fertilizer plant being taken over by Chinese investors. The lower house of parliament on December 14 ratified a deal between Tajikistan and China for Henan Zhong-Ya holding group to assume control of OAO Azot in a deal that will require the company to invest $360 million over the coming three years. (Eurasianet)

Kabul security gates in storage as Afghan officials trade accusations A set of giant security gates financed by China and intended to protect Kabul from large bombs and drug smuggling lie stored in a warehouse more than five months after they arrived, while Afghan authorities bicker over who should install them. Intended for the four main entry points into Kabul, they have been delayed by infighting between departments and by a land dispute, underlining the difficulty of getting things done in a country where conflict and corruption have slowed progress.
The hangar-style gates, each weighing around 30 tonnes, are to reinforce the so-called "Ring of Steel" that surrounds Kabul, a city of five million people already protected by blast walls, armed checkpoints and eye-in-the-sky surveillance cameras. (Reuters)

Will warmer ties between US and Russia leave China out in the cold?

If Tillerson’s appointment did mark the start of a new era in relations between the Kremlin and the White House, Moscow would have less incentive to compromise with Beijing, especially in central Asia, where both Russia and China were showing greater interest, observers said.But analysts also said less confrontation between the world’s two biggest military powers would “bring a more stable global security environment”, which would not be bad news for China. But “if now Russia’s international standing improves, it will have less incentive to continue compromising with China. And China will have less leverage in dealing with Russia.”(SCMP)

Central Asia

Tajik Prez visits India, defence ties to get boost
India would oblige any request for upgrading of Ayni airbase near Dushanbe as Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon comes starts his two day visit to India. It is President Rahmon’s 6th visit to India and he will be entering the country through Kochi, which is not an official part of his visit. The Ayni airbase near Tajikistan’s capital city was refurbished by India in 2007 and is seen as New Delhi’s strategy to find a toehold in the Central Asia. (India Express)

Shrinking exports spell trouble for Turkmenistan

WHEN the price of natural gas was high, Turkmenistan raked in $10bn a year from exports—a tidy sum for a country of 5m people. Most of it went on the grandiose schemes of Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the authoritarian president and self-proclaimed “Protector”, or was distributed to his cronies. But the economy nonetheless grew at an average annual rate of 11% between 2010 and 2014, according to official statistics. The price of natural gas has since halved, however, with dire consequences. Gas accounted for a quarter of GDP and half of all government revenue. The low price means the economy has slowed markedly (see chart), and the budget has swung from a surplus of nearly 10% of GDP in 2012 to a projected deficit of 3% this year. Dwindling foreign-exchange reserves equate to just nine months of imports. (Economist)