Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Italy-China in 18 days: a new rail transport service lunched by the giant Changjiu Logistics

The Chinese giant Changjiu Logistics launched its weekly rail transport service connecting Mortara Integrated Logistics Park (Pavia) and the city of Chengdu. The first freight train from Mortara left yesterday morning and will reach the capital city of Sichuan province within 18 and 22 days. Hopefully, in 2018, 3 or 4 weekly train trips will cover the 10,800 km which divide Lombardy from the “Hi-tech Park” in Chengdu, crossing Poland and Russia. The railroad transport service (a cheaper choice than air transport, and quicker than ship transport service), is part of the Silk Road Economic Belt, one of the programs of the development strategy One Belt One Road Initiative launched by Xi Jinping in 2013. (investorvisa)

China’s charm offensive in Eastern Europe challenges EU cohesion

China works full steam on institutionalizing its cooperation with Eastern Europe, building the 16+1 initiative into a platform for its Belt and Road Initiative. The economic reality lags far behind the announcements, but the promise of Chinese investment and the symbolism of the high-level cooperation between China and Eastern Europe are turning into a stress test for EU cohesion.

Belt and Road Now Leads to Every Central, Eastern European Nation

China’s Belt and Road initiative will expand to include all 16 central and eastern European countries (CEEC), Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday in Budapest, as he announced billions of dollars of financial support for the region.The country will sign agreements with Estonia, Slovenia and Lithuania during Li’s meeting with CEEC leaders to include the three countries in the Belt and Road initiative, he said in a speech at the Sixth Summit of China and Central and Eastern European Countries. (Caixin)

Media exports to nations like Nepal form key pillar of ‘New Silk Road’ charm offensive.
China is bringing its soft power push to countries along the “New Silk Road,” casting television shows and movies as its cultural ambassadors.Beginning next spring, television screens across Nepal are set to light up with episodes of “Ode to Joy,” one of China’s most popular sitcom series. (.sixthtone)

Is Pakistan China's Venezuela?

Beijing's frenzied drive to create a modern Silk Road puts Pakistan front and center, much as Venezuela was once a target of lending by China Development Bank as the nation sought to secure oil supplies.Of the $6 billion to $7 billion of current development projects in Pakistan as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Beijing has provided the bulk of financing -- local funding amounts to just $470 million. (Bloomberg)

China Striving to Boost Energy Imports from Turkmenistan

China is expected to be a major presence at the 28th meeting of the Energy Charter Conference, scheduled to be held in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat on November 28-29. Chinese officials are looking to catalyze efforts to secure larger volumes of energy imports from Central Asian suppliers, especially Turkmenistan, and promote projects connected to the $1-trillion Belt and Road infrastructure development initiative. (EURASIANET)

China pledges over $3 billion for CEE investment projects

China will provide funding worth over $3 billion for development and investment projects in Central and Eastern Europe, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said on Monday. “Under the auspices of China-CEEC interbank association to be inaugurated today, China Development Bank will provide 2 billion euro ($2.39 billion) equivalent of development financial facility,” he said at the sixth Summit of Heads of Government of Central and Eastern European countries and China.“The second stage of China-CEEC investment cooperation fund has been launched with a capitalization of $1 billion, most of which will be channeled to CEE countries,” he added through an interpreter. (Reuters)

Intercontinental rail freight on track to boost China-EU trade
Three years after the first cargo train embarked on its adventure from Yiwu, China’s most famous commodities center, to Madrid, nine routes to Europe have been established for the intercontinental rail freights, which have become a carrier of Sino-European trade and communication.

Hungary launches rail link tender as CEE-China summit starts

Hungary will publish a procurement tender on 27 November for a modernised railway link with Serbian capital Belgrade to ship Chinese goods into Western Europe, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on 26 November. The tender will be published as politicians from China and Central European countries begin a two-day summit in Budapest, with the participation of 16 prime ministers including Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. (Reuters)

Hungary to invest 100 mln euros in China's central and eastern Europe fund

The Hungarian Export-Import Bank will contribute 100 million euros ($119 million) to China’s government-backed SINO-CEE Fund, which aims to raise a total of 10 billion euros, the fund said. (Reuters)

Kazakhstan Presses China On Problems Reported By Ethnic Kazakhs In Xinjiang

Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry says it has held talks with Chinese officials regarding "frequent complaints by ethnic Kazakhs about problems they face in the People's Republic of China."
In its November 28 statement, the ministry said that Deputy Foreign Minister Aqylbek Kamaldinov and the Chinese ambassador to Kazakhstan, Zhang Hanhui, discussed the issue in Astana on November 27.The same day, reported problems faced by ethnic Kazakhs in China were discussed by representatives of the consular services of the Kazakh Foreign Ministry and Chinese Embassy, the statement said. (rferl)

Bad terms: Pakistan’s raw deal with China over Gwadar port
As details emerge of agreements reached, it seems likely China will profit and Pakistan will pay. Critics say Pakistan's bureaucrats have blundered. (Asia Times)

China's Belt and Road sparks battle of the breadbaskets
China's regionwide infrastructure drive is quickly proving to be a game changer in the grain trade.
The shift in the landscape was apparent when the Kazakh agriculture minister visited Beijing earlier this month. "Kazakhstan is willing to work with China and cement bilateral cooperation for common agricultural development," Askar Myrzakhmetov, who doubles as deputy prime minister, told Chinese Agriculture Minister Han Changfu on Nov. 7.  (nikkei)

China pushing billions into Iranian economy as Western firms stall

China is financing billions of dollars worth of Chinese-led projects in Iran, making deep inroads into the economy while European competitors struggle to find banks willing to fund their ambitions, Iranian government and industry officials said. (Reuters)

India’s entry into security bloc expected to lessen Beijing’s dominance: analysts
Li Keqiang could face an unfamiliar set of challenges at this week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit with India and Pakistan as full members (Scmp)


CENTRAL ASIA

Inside the secretive state of Uzbekistan

The BBC was given permission to report from the Republic of Uzbekistan in Central Asia for the first time in over 12 years.Since the death of the authoritarian President Islam Karimov last year, a cautious programme of reform has been carried out in the secretive nation.We asked ordinary Uzbeks how they feel about the changes taking place in their country. (Bbc)

Kyrgyzstan's Outgoing President Pledges to Continue Playing Role in Politics
Kyrgyzstan’s president has in his final press conference before leaving office dangled the prospect that he may run for parliament as the list-topping candidate for the ruling Social Democratic Party, or SDPK.“I don’t plan to become chairman of parliament or the government, or even a member of parliament, but I will be number one,” Almazbek Atambayev said in his most explicit indication so far that he intends to occupy an important role in Kyrgyz political life (eurasianet)

Kyrgyz-Tajik Territorial Disputes Threaten Regional Stability
After gaining their independence a quarter century ago, all of the countries of the post-Soviet space have had to delimit their borders with each other. Most have had conflicts, but all but a few of those have since been resolved. One of the most serious of the remaining border conflicts involves the state border between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan as well as the status of an ethnic-Tajik exclave (Borukh) within the borders of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan. Disagreements about the location of the border led to an armed clash three years ago (see EDM, February 11, 2014; May 20, 2014). And now, some incautious language by the outgoing president of Kyrgyzstan threatens to reignite an issue local experts say is “a delayed action mine” that threatens not only the stability of these two countries but also of Central Asia as a whole (News.tj, November 24, 2017).

Kazakhstan: Is New Military Doctrine Response to Russia or the West?

In late September, Kazakhstan adopted its fifth military doctrine. The document outlines a shift in strategic thinking that seems, at least in part, designed to respond to potential threats emanating from Kazakhstan’s neighbor and ally, Russia — even though analysts close to the Kazakhstani government argue that it is the actions of the West that pose the greatest danger to the country’s sovereignty. (Eurasianet)

The Resurgence of Central Asian Connectivity
Can the world’s most dis-integrated region rebuild connectivity from within? (Diplomat)

Can Central Asia’s Poorest States Pay Back Their Debts to China?
Despite concerns, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have, so far, been able to manage debt repayment to China fairly well. (the diplomast)