Your quick guide to what Xi Jinping said in his ‘Belt and Road’ keynote speech
China’s President Xi Jinping sought to attract countries to join his ambitious “Belt and Road Initiative” at an international forum on Sunday.Xi’s massive trade and investment grand plan seeks to connect nations along the new Silk Road routes through economic cooperation and infrastructure development. We sum up Xi’s key offerings as covered in his keynote speech at the Belt and Road summit on Sunday morning. (Scmp)
OBOR spans some 65 countries representing 60 percent of the global population and around a third of global GDP. The China Development Bank alone has earmarked $890 billion for some 900 projects. Here are some of them: (Afp)
Chinese President Xi Jinping has told his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan that the two should deepen counter-terrorism cooperation, amid Chinese concern about ethnic Uighurs from its Xinjiang region fighting with militants in the Middle East.Uighurs are a largely Muslim, Turkic-speaking minority from China's western Xinjiang region.Hundreds, possibly thousands, keen to escape unrest in Xinjiang, have traveled clandestinely via Southeast Asia to Turkey, where many see themselves as sharing religious and cultural ties.Beijing says some Uighurs then end up fighting with Islamist militants in Iraq and Syria. (Reuters)
HOW UYGURS AND TIBETANS FOUND UNITY IN KASHMIR
Two Muslim communities who fled persecution in China decades ago have found themselves at the centre of further conflict – this time on the border of Pakistan and India (Scmp)
Nepal is in talks with China to build a cross-border rail link that may cost up to $8 billion, and funding could be expected after Nepal formally signed up to Beijing's Belt and Road initiative, a Nepali finance ministry official said on Sunday.Yug Raj Pandey, an under secretary at Nepal's Ministry of Finance, told Reuters the proposed 550 kilometer-long railway would connect China's western Tibet region to Nepal's capital of Kathmandu and will carry goods and passengers. The Himalayan nation officially signed an agreement two days ago to be part of President Xi Jinping's ambitious plan to build a new Silk Road, he said on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. (Reuters)
Chinese companies buy stake in dry port in Kazakhstan
Chinese companies buy stake in dry port in KazakhstanTwo Chinese companies on Monday signed a contract withKazakhstan's national railway company to buy 49 percent of an inland port near theChina-Kazakhstan border.China COSCO Shipping Corporation and Jiangsu Lianyungang Port Co. will each hold 24.5 percent of the dry port located in the Khorgos-East Gate special economic zone,
accordingto a statement from China COSCO Shipping. (People's Daily)
Interview: Theresa Fallon On Understanding China's One Belt, One Road Plan
The One Belt One Road project, or the Belt And Road Initiative, as it's been rebranded, is kind of an
all-encompassing project. So old projects that were successful are folded into the narrative. That way it guarantees that they're a success.For example, what happened in Kazakhstan with the building of the first oil pipeline away from the Russian monopoly Transneft. [It] took place -- it was agreed to do it -- in 1997. It was built in three stages, and it went from Kazakhstan to China. And that's considered part of the Belt And Road initiative. So it almost predates [the initiative] by over a decade. So old projects [and] new projects are all kind of wrapped into the Belt And Road initiative, and it gives a very positive narrative. (Rferl)
Beijing laying groundwork for mass DNA testing in Xinjiang
China appears to be laying the groundwork for the mass collection of DNA samples from residents of Xinjiang, a largely Muslim region already under a security crackdown, rights observers and independent analysts said on 16 May. Police in Xinjiang confirmed they are in the process of purchasing at least US$8.7 million in equipment to analyse DNA samples. Observers from Human Rights Watch said they had seen evidence of almost US$3 million worth of additional purchases related to DNA testing. They warned that such a collection programme could be used as a way to increase political control. (SCMP)
China's Silk Road project shows Putin needs Xi way more than Trump
Depending on who you speak with, Russia has no business in the United States. Other than Lukoil and a uranium mine, Russia only exists in the U.S. as a figment of some people's wild imaginations. Russia has very little economic interests here. But in China, that's another story. Truth be told, Russia also has very little going on with the Chinese too. Russia's foreign business is really Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Europe, with Europe being the lion's share. But that is going to change. Forbes
New Bank Serves as Financial Catalyst for Central Asia’s “Belt and Road” Development
The AIIB's stated aims are to invest in and attract other long-term financing for transportation, telecom and energy projects throughout Asia. To date, the AIIB has approved loans worth US$1.73 billion to support 13 projects in eight countries, including the former Soviet states of Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.Tajikistan stands to benefit from a project to improve roads, including a route connecting Tajikistan and neighboring Uzbekistan. In June 2016, the AIIB approved a direct loan for $27.5 million, alongside $62.5 million from the EBRD, for an upgrade of a key 5-kilometer section of the motorway.Beijing also shares a border with Tajikistan, and has in recent years extended credits to Dushanbe for roads, tunnels and power infrastructure. The AIIB-financed highway project stands to improve China’s access to Central Asian markets, allowing for a freer flow of Chinese-made goods and products.The AIIB’s participation in the overall financing is small, a factor that will limit any
geopolitical influence from Beijing. Nonetheless, the project could create a template for further road and highway projects throughout the region.. (Eurasianet)
China’s new Silk Road will include nightclubs, yacht quays, and 24-hour surveillance in Pakistan
Ever since China’s sweeping “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) initiative was introduced in 2013, details on it have remained scarce. But this week, thanks to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, we have
one of the most comprehensive looks so far into a key project: a land corridor that runs through Pakistan, connecting China to the Arabian Sea. (Quartz)
A German imperialist paved the way for China to revive the “Silk Road”
“The ‘Silk Road,’ as a term, is really fairly recent: it was used for the first time in 1877, by the German geographer Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen, as he was trying to promote the idea of a railway from China to Europe,” says Tamara Chin, associate professor of comparative literature at Brown University in the US. “The ancients did not have a word for it.” At that time, Germany had colonial interests in parts of Shandong, in eastern China, in particular in Qingdao, a city still famous for its eponymous beer. From there Richthofen wanted to have a railway that could carry coal all the way to Europe, but he died in 1905 without making much headway. Others carried on the effort until eventually World War II made the project impossible to pursue, and the idea was cast aside.
The AIIB's stated aims are to invest in and attract other long-term financing for transportation, telecom and energy projects throughout Asia. To date, the AIIB has approved loans worth US$1.73 billion to support 13 projects in eight countries, including the former Soviet states of Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.Tajikistan stands to benefit from a project to improve roads, including a route connecting Tajikistan and neighboring Uzbekistan. In June 2016, the AIIB approved a direct loan for $27.5 million, alongside $62.5 million from the EBRD, for an upgrade of a key 5-kilometer section of the motorway.Beijing also shares a border with Tajikistan, and has in recent years extended credits to Dushanbe for roads, tunnels and power infrastructure. The AIIB-financed highway project stands to improve China’s access to Central Asian markets, allowing for a freer flow of Chinese-made goods and products.The AIIB’s participation in the overall financing is small, a factor that will limit any
geopolitical influence from Beijing. Nonetheless, the project could create a template for further road and highway projects throughout the region.. (Eurasianet)
China’s new Silk Road will include nightclubs, yacht quays, and 24-hour surveillance in Pakistan
Ever since China’s sweeping “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) initiative was introduced in 2013, details on it have remained scarce. But this week, thanks to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, we have
one of the most comprehensive looks so far into a key project: a land corridor that runs through Pakistan, connecting China to the Arabian Sea. (Quartz)
A German imperialist paved the way for China to revive the “Silk Road”
“The ‘Silk Road,’ as a term, is really fairly recent: it was used for the first time in 1877, by the German geographer Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen, as he was trying to promote the idea of a railway from China to Europe,” says Tamara Chin, associate professor of comparative literature at Brown University in the US. “The ancients did not have a word for it.” At that time, Germany had colonial interests in parts of Shandong, in eastern China, in particular in Qingdao, a city still famous for its eponymous beer. From there Richthofen wanted to have a railway that could carry coal all the way to Europe, but he died in 1905 without making much headway. Others carried on the effort until eventually World War II made the project impossible to pursue, and the idea was cast aside.
Can China Afford Its Belt and Road?
Financing its grand geopolitical ambitions will be harder than it looks. (Bloomberg)
India's 'new Silk Road' snub highlights gulf with China
Financing its grand geopolitical ambitions will be harder than it looks. (Bloomberg)
India's 'new Silk Road' snub highlights gulf with China
China invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and six cabinet colleagues to its "new Silk Road" summit this month, even offering to rename a flagship Pakistani project running through disputed territory to persuade them to attend, a top official in Modi's ruling group and diplomats said. But New Delhi rebuffed Beijing's diplomatic push, incensed that a key project in its massive initiative to open land and sea corridors linking China with the rest of Asia and beyond runs through Pakistani controlled Kashmir. (Reuters)
CENTRAL ASIA
Moscow's moves in OPEC deal
CENTRAL ASIA
Russia’s Energy Ministry denied accusations that Moscow has failed to fulfill its obligations within the production cut agreement with OPEC. Following a related report by the Wall Street Journal the cartel’s unnamed representatives, Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that Russia’s oil production had been already reduced to the agreed volume by the end of April, Nezavisimaya Gazeta writes. A source in the ministry’s press service told the publication that it is currently exploring the situation on the oil market and evaluating whether the present initiative between OPEC and non-OPEC states is effective.(Tass)
Will Uzbekistan Join TAPI?
During his second visit to Turkmenistan, Uzbek President Mirziyoyev agreed to join the pipeline project. (Diplomat)
Turkmenistan Gets Low Scores For Olympic-Sized Sports-Infrastructure Investment
Turkmenistan has spared no expense in its bid to host international sporting events -- spending the equivalent of what it would cost to host the Olympic Games. But for its multibillion-dollar investment, Ashgabat is not getting the Olympics.Turkmenistan will be unveiling its lavish new "Olympic Complex" this September when it hosts the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG). The international event is nothing to sniff at -- more than 5,000 athletes from 62 countries are expected to arrive to compete in the games from September 17 to September 27, making it Asia's second-largest sporting event -- but the monetary and human investment has led to questions of whether it is worth the effort. (Rferl)
Majlis Podcast: Who Would Help Defend Central Asia From Insecurity In Afghanistan?
These are certainly tense times for security officials in Central Asia.Barely halfway through this spring, the violence in northern Afghanistan, in provinces just across the border from Central Asia, has already reached levels not seen since the late 1990s.The April 21 attack on a military base in Balkh Province, just across the border from Uzbekistan, left more than 130 Afghan soldiers dead, and the Taliban has besieged Kunduz city, the capital of Kunduz Province, which borders Tajikistan, for the third time in less than two years.There are also the battles in the Zebak district of Badakhshan Province, which also borders Tajikistan. The Ghormach district in Faryab Province, adjacent to Turkmenistan, has been solidly under militant control for weeks and in other areas of Faryab, and Jowzjan Province to the east, control of villages passes back-and-forth between government forces and militants. (Rferl)
These are certainly tense times for security officials in Central Asia.Barely halfway through this spring, the violence in northern Afghanistan, in provinces just across the border from Central Asia, has already reached levels not seen since the late 1990s.The April 21 attack on a military base in Balkh Province, just across the border from Uzbekistan, left more than 130 Afghan soldiers dead, and the Taliban has besieged Kunduz city, the capital of Kunduz Province, which borders Tajikistan, for the third time in less than two years.There are also the battles in the Zebak district of Badakhshan Province, which also borders Tajikistan. The Ghormach district in Faryab Province, adjacent to Turkmenistan, has been solidly under militant control for weeks and in other areas of Faryab, and Jowzjan Province to the east, control of villages passes back-and-forth between government forces and militants. (Rferl)
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