Xinjiang's Urumqi builds the hub of China-Europe freight trains
As one of the major cities in core area of China's Silk Road Economic Belt, Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang, is to build itself as the hub of China-Europe freight trains to provide international freight logistics services for Chinese customers, such as customs declaration and inspection. The first-phrase construction in the hub of China-Europe cargo trains in Urumqi, the capital city of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, was completed in the mid-November with a total investment of 85 million yuan. The second-phrase construction has injected 50 million yuan. After completion, international freights will be assembled and supervised to meet the demands and provide convenience for the clients. (Trader Planet)
China starts $21.8 billion offshore fund amid currency concerns
China starts $21.8 billion offshore fund amid currency concerns
China's central government has launched a 150 billion yuan ($21.79 billion) fund designed to support investments offshore by Chinese companies as well as the country's so-called new Silk Road initiative. The first phase of the Guotong Fund, capitalized at 70 billion yuan, was registered on Nov. 25 in Hangzhou, according to a statement posted Wednesday on the website of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC). The statement cited equipment manufacturing as one type of offshore investment the fund might support, and said the new vehicle might take a role in mergers. (Reuters)
Xi'an launches freight train service to Moscow
Xi'an launches freight train service to Moscow
A freight train service linking Xi'an, capital of northwest China's Shaanxi Province with Moscow, capital of Russia, began operations on the 6 of December. The train of 41 containers mainly carrying consumer durables, left Xi'an at 10:50 a.m. and will pass through Kazakhstan before reaching Moscow, sources with the Xi'an International Trade and Logistics Park said. The trip will take 11 days, compared to the traditional land/sea route, which takes over 45 days. It is the third China-Europe freight train from Xi'an following those to Warsaw and Hamburg. (Xinhua)
Chinese account for 77 percent of foreign labor force in Kyrgyzstan
Chinese account for 77 percent of foreign labor force in Kyrgyzstan
Some 77 percent of all foreign workers in Kyrgyzstan are Chinese citizens, the press service of the State Migration Service of the country reported on Thursday. During 11 months of 2016, Kyrgyzstan reviewed 2,380 applications to attract foreign labor power to the Kyrgyz Republic, 1,836 of them were approved. Government of Kyrgyzstan established the quota for foreigners in 2016 with 14,490 people and 11,751 foreign experts receiving permits. (Xinhua)
Debts of Kyrgyzstan: all roads lead to China
In 1992, Kyrgyzstan had taken loans for $ 4.9 million. The appetite grew with each passing year, and by 2002 the debt reached $ 1.5 billion, and by September 2016 - $ 3.7 billion.Noteworthy: at the end of 2005 the debt of the Kyrgyz Republic decreased by $ 6.7 million, but then again began to grow rapidly. Kyrgyzstan mainly takes soft loans. There are already $ 2.2 billion of them. The most generous in this group is the Export-Import Bank of China, that has given the country $ 1.4 billion.
According to the Finance Ministry, for the years of independence Kyrgyzstan has taken from the Chinese bank $ 2.86 billion, $ 1,103 billion of which have been spent on roads and $ 983 million- on the energy sector. (Kg24)
Debts of Kyrgyzstan: all roads lead to China
In 1992, Kyrgyzstan had taken loans for $ 4.9 million. The appetite grew with each passing year, and by 2002 the debt reached $ 1.5 billion, and by September 2016 - $ 3.7 billion.Noteworthy: at the end of 2005 the debt of the Kyrgyz Republic decreased by $ 6.7 million, but then again began to grow rapidly. Kyrgyzstan mainly takes soft loans. There are already $ 2.2 billion of them. The most generous in this group is the Export-Import Bank of China, that has given the country $ 1.4 billion.
According to the Finance Ministry, for the years of independence Kyrgyzstan has taken from the Chinese bank $ 2.86 billion, $ 1,103 billion of which have been spent on roads and $ 983 million- on the energy sector. (Kg24)
'Guizhou, China's new force in Belt and Road Initiative'
Guizhou has become a new force in China's opening-up strategy due to its advantageous location in the Belt and Road Initiative, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on the 6 of December. Wang made the remarks in an event where the ministry and the Guizhou provincial government showcased the Southwest China province to diplomats from more than 120 countries. The landlocked province, which "has a special position in China's opening-up and history", became an important passage between China and the world more than 2,000 years ago, when China's silk and tea was carried through the Ancient Tea Horse Road and the Southern Silk Road to South Asia, Wang said. (ChinaDaily)
China’s naval base in Pakistan revealed: China’s new global game – analysis:
Talking to The Express Tribune (Nov 25, 2016) Pakistani naval officers revealed that Chinese naval ships would be deployed at the Gwadar Sea Port to safeguard the port and trade under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). A special squadron of four to six ships would be deployed, comprising of both Chinese and Pakistani navies. The ambit of this combined naval force is not only the protection on Gwadar Port, which is designated as a defence entity, but also ensuring security of maritime trade emanating from Pakistan which will have Chinese interests. The Arabian Sea to the African coast, and of course, the Gulf would be its area of operation. (eurasiareview)
Central Asia
Uzbekistan PM wins presidential vote panned by Western monitors
Shavkat Mirziyoyev, long-serving prime minister of Uzbekistan, has become its second president, winning 88.61 percent of the vote in an election on Sunday criticized by Western observers.
"This shows that we are going along the path outlined by the late president (Islam Karimov)," Mirziyoyev told thousands of supporters at a rally. Mirziyoyev, 59, was prime minister from 2003 under Karimov, who died of a stroke in September having run Central Asia's most populous nation with an iron fist for 27 years. He is expected to step down as prime minister but it is unclear when, as there is no precedent for such a transition in the former Soviet republic, which became an independent state in 1991. Diplomatic and business sources say Mirziyoyev secured support for his presidential bid from Uzbekistan's powerful informal clans by agreeing to share power with two other political heavyweights, Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov and security chief Rustam Inoyatov.Diplomats say Mirziyoyev is expected to move Uzbekistan closer to Russia, its Soviet-era overlord. Russian President Vladimir Putin was the first foreign leader to publicly congratulate him on the victory.(Reuters)
Uzbekistan: Reform or Repeat?
Uzbekistan PM wins presidential vote panned by Western monitors
Shavkat Mirziyoyev, long-serving prime minister of Uzbekistan, has become its second president, winning 88.61 percent of the vote in an election on Sunday criticized by Western observers.
"This shows that we are going along the path outlined by the late president (Islam Karimov)," Mirziyoyev told thousands of supporters at a rally. Mirziyoyev, 59, was prime minister from 2003 under Karimov, who died of a stroke in September having run Central Asia's most populous nation with an iron fist for 27 years. He is expected to step down as prime minister but it is unclear when, as there is no precedent for such a transition in the former Soviet republic, which became an independent state in 1991. Diplomatic and business sources say Mirziyoyev secured support for his presidential bid from Uzbekistan's powerful informal clans by agreeing to share power with two other political heavyweights, Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov and security chief Rustam Inoyatov.Diplomats say Mirziyoyev is expected to move Uzbekistan closer to Russia, its Soviet-era overlord. Russian President Vladimir Putin was the first foreign leader to publicly congratulate him on the victory.(Reuters)
Uzbekistan: Reform or Repeat?
Uzbekistan’s 4 December presidential election formally confirmed Shavkat Mirziyoyev in the office he assumed in an acting capacity on 8 September, within days of the death of Islam Karimov. After 25 years of Karimov’s authoritarian rule, however, one of Central Asia’s most repressive states faces challenges that can only be effectively addressed by genuine domestic and foreign policy departures. Mirziyoyev has received positive notices for a few small moves in the past three months, but there is no sign as yet that he intends to alter fundamentally the system he helped shape as prime minister since 2003, a system designed to protect those in power at the expense of the population’s rights.(Crisis Group)
Nearly one month after the U.S. presidential election, President-elect Donald Trump has shown little sign of slowing his pre-election predilection for praising foreign strongmen. Not only did Trump, within the first few weeks of the election, speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin more than any other world leader, but, according to readouts from Manila, Trump spoke highly of Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign against drug dealers, which has thus far claimed thousands of lives in extrajudicial killings. However, one of Trump’s recent rounds of praise for a foreign autocrat slipped largely under the radar, drowned out by his laughable – and concerning – conversation with Pakistani officials. Toward the end of November, Trump finally connected with Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev. (The Diplomat)
Kyrgyzstan President Almazbek Atambayev has said that Russia needs to leave its air base that it operates in his country. The demand was vague, and Atambayev has made it several times in the past, but it nevertheless raised alarm in Moscow. Atambayev made the comments during a four-hour press conference on December 1. "In the future, Kyrgyzstan should rely only on its own forces. This has to do with the Russian base. Everyone criticizes me -- Atambayev kicked out the American base and left the Russian one. Keep in mind that there was an agreement on the Russian base, signed on our side by [former president Kurmanbek] Bakiyev, under which ... the military base was supposed to stay for 49 years and then be extended for 25 more. We left it only for 15 years." (Eurasia.net)
Turkmenistan: The regime that throws cigarettes on bonfires
One of the most repressive states in the world is trying to become one of the healthiest. Turkmenistan is promoting fitness and wants to become a smoking-free nation - but when no-one can openly challenge the government's decisions, how healthy can such a campaign be, asks Abdujalil Abdurasulov. (BBC)
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