Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Financial institutions pour in Xinjiang, eyeing B&R opportunities

Chinese and foreign financial institutions have been pouring into Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in recent months, looking for opportunities under China's "One Belt and One Road" (B&R) initiative, local media reported on Monday. In the past week, two banks, Bank of Beijing and Pakistan's Habib Bank, opened branches in Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang, xinjiangnet.com reported. Xinjiang has been investing heavily in infrastructure in recent years as part of the B&R initiative. The regional government has set a target to invest 1.5 trillion yuan ($218.3 billion) in fixed assets in 2017, the Xinhua News Agency reported on March 7. At the end of 2016, there were 144 financial institutions in the region, spanning 15 different categories, including personal banking and investment banking, according to the report. Xinjiang's banking sector raised 293.8 billion yuan for B&R projects in the region in 2016, up 16.18 percent. (Global Times)

Official urges archeologists to prove Xinjiang part of China since ancient times

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region said archeological work should be used to counter anti-secessionist purposes, by using cultural relics to teach people that Xinjiang has always been part of China. Xinjiang Party chief Chen Quanguo wrote to a regional archeological work meeting on Wednesday in Urumqi that Xinjiang needs to use their work to "cultivate and promote core socialist values, deepen patriotic education and strengthen anti-secessionist thoughts." Xinjiang vice chairman Arken Tuniyaz also said that archeological work and the preservation of cultural relics need to help maintain social stability and safeguard ethnic unity.  (Global Times)

Archaeologists in China believe they have found ancient Silk Road capitalArchaeologists in Xinjiang believe an ancient city and three tombs they unearthed in the Lop Nor area of a desert was the capital of the Loulan Kingdom along the ancient Silk Road. The ancient city, uncovered in January along the north bank of the Kongque River, sat in the depths of the desert, 57.5km to the west of an ancient city of the Loulan Kingdom that Swedish explorer Sven Hedin discovered in 1900, China National Radio reported. Archaeologists spent two months reconstructing the site, which was built on a loess platform, and restored the city, of which only sections of walls remained due to wind erosion. The city was a circle of 300 metres in diameter with walls of 2.2 to 2.7 metres high. (Scmp)

Xinjiang passes regulation on eradication of extremism

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region passed a regulation on the eradication of extremism on Wednesday, calling on all corners of society to combat extremism while stressing that no one should spread extremist views in schools."Teachers should play an active role in guiding students in advocating science, pursuing the truth and resisting superstition and radicalization. No individual or organization should use classes, lectures or forums to spread extremist views," reads the regulation. The regulation also mentions that schools should strengthen education to combat separatism, and enhance the capacity of educators to resist ideological infiltration by religious extremism. (Global Times) --- > Related: China sets rules on beards, veils to combat extremism in Xinjiang China will step up a campaign against religious extremism in the far western region of Xinjiang on Saturday by implementing a range of measures, including prohibiting "abnormal" beards, the wearing of veils in public places and the refusal to watch state television. (Reuters)

Terror threats transform China's Uighur heartland into security state

Spending on security in Xinjiang is rising, jumping nearly 20 percent in 2016 to more than 30 billion yuan ($4.35 billion), according to state media.That can be seen in the metal detectors and airport-style security checks in place at major public areas, including Kashgar's ancient Id Kah mosque, bazaars, malls and hotels.Police spot document checks are carried out on pedestrians, with mobile phones inspected for extremist videos or use of banned chat applications like Telegram, WhatsApp and Twitter. Mobile internet speeds have been slowed from 4G to 3G. (Reuters)

A New Chinese Interest In Central Asian Security

Beijing's security cooperation with the Central Asian states is likely to grow significantly stronger in the coming months.The militant group Islamic State (IS) recently released a video purportedly showing Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim group living for centuries in an area that is now the western part of China, training somewhere in the Middle East. One Uyghur speaks in the video, making threats against China. It was not the first time Uyghurs fighting in Islamic extremist groups threatened China, but this recent video certainly got the attention of the Chinese government. (Rferl)

On State TV, Chinese Forces Storm a Compound a Lot Like Bin Laden’s

A news broadcast showed the police training at a replica of the house where Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011. It took an eagle-eyed viewer to point it out. (NYT)

Pakistan wrestles with growing 'Chinese corridor' debt
Two international lending institutions and Pakistan's central bank have raised concerns about the debt burden of a huge China-led infrastructure program on the country's improving but fragile finances.
Surging Chinese imports for the initiative, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor program, have complicated Pakistan's balance of payments problems during its second year of economic recovery following a decade of conflict with Taliban insurgents and their al-Qaeda allies. (Asia Nikkei)

China's Terrorism Threat and Response in 2016

In August 2016, China experienced what appears to have been the first targeted terrorist attack against one of its embassies.1 A Uygur suicide bomber drove a car into China’s diplomatic compound in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, exploding it outside the ambassador’s residence; the attacker was the only fatality, but three Kyrgyz employees were injured. While Kyrgyz authorities were quick to link the attack to a Syrian-based network—although publicly available evidence to date has been limited—for Beijing the attack was the manifestation of an increased threat from Uygur groups, which had now spread beyond China to threaten Chinese interests abroad. (aspi.org)

WHY CHINA, INDIA AND THE DALAI LAMA ARE PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES IN TAWANG

A small Himalayan district is the focus of intense diplomatic heat stemming from long-standing, unresolved border issues reignited by a planned visit from the Tibetan spiritual leader (Scmp)

BRICS bank NDB plans to co-finance infrastructure projects w/ AIIB along the Beltand Road economies
The New Development Bank plans to co-finance infrastructure projects with the AsianInfrastructure Investment Bank along the Belt and Road economies after more membersjoin in, the NDB's vice president said on Sunday. (People's Daily)

First meeting of Mongolian, Russian and Chinese experts takes place

The first tripartite experts' meeting on the implementation of a program to establish Economic Corridor of Mongolia, China and Russia took place on 24 March in Beijing, China. The tripartite meeting was chaired by V.Enkhbold, Director of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the Mongolian side, Xiao Weiming, Deputy Director of Western Development Division of the China’s National Development and Reform Commission from the Chinese side and A.V.Zelenov, Deputy Director of Department of Asia, Africa and Latin America countries of the Ministry of Economic Development from the Russian side. (Montsame)

Uzbekistan embarks on journey
More than 2,000 years ago, China and Central Asia were linked by the Silk Road. Now a modern version of the ancient trading route is being built, and Confucius Institutes are spreading the Chinese language and culture throughout the region.Uzbekistan is a typical Silk Road country. Some of its oldest cities, such as Bukhara and Samarkand, became wealthy as a result of the fabled route and established close commercial relations with China. ChinaDaily



CENTRAL ASIA

U.S. Boosts Special Forces Training in Central Asia

The United States has stepped up its trainings of elite military units in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan over the last two years, U.S. government records show. At the same time, the U.S. has suspended training of units from Kyrgyzstan, previously one of the biggest recipients of such aid. According to Security Assistance Monitor data, the U.S. spent $115 million in security assistance in the region in fiscal year 2015, the last year for which complete data was available. The fate of these aid programs under the administration of President Trump is unclear. Trump has promised to slash foreign aid, but also a tougher fight against Islamist terror groups, which governments in Central Asia tend to use as a justification for the need for military aid. (Eurasianet)

MACRO ADVISER: Nazarbayev puts it all on red
Kazakhstan has a reputation for being very conservative in both monetary policy and budget management; so conservative indeed that the government has often been accused of focusing too much on drafting elaborate economic reforms and not enough on actually implementing them.
It has also been criticised for reacting far too slowly to changing events. For example, when the Russian Central Bank let the ruble fully free-float in early 2015, a move that severely impacted the Kazakh economy, it took the National Bank of Kazakhstan more than six months to follow suit.
So why has President Nursultan Nazarbayev's government abandoned its traditional conservative approach and gone for broke with a radical change to the budget and the way it manages the economy? (Intellinews)

Russian long-range bombers used in war games in Tajikistan
The Russian military says its long-range bombers have practiced hitting targets in Tajikistan during joint drills with the Central Asian nation. Russia's Defense Ministry said Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 bombers have flown missions to strike a "terrorist camp" in Tajik mountains as part of the four-day war games that ended Thursday. (Daily Mail)

Kyrgyzstan: Police Suggest Expelling Foreigners Without Courts
The Interior Ministry in Kyrgyzstan is pushing for new rules that would allow them to expel foreigners from the country without need for a court ruling, thereby streamlining the process.
Officials say revisions to the law are intended to target people violating migration laws. They come on the heels of the Kyrgyz authorities’ recent decision to summarily expel a Russian journalist from the country without clear legal justification. (Eurasianet)