Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China goes on logistics buying spree to support ‘new Silk Road’
Acquisitions across Eurasia to enhance trade flows double to $32.2bn (FT)

David Cameron given special dispensation to broker talks between Britain and China in new role leading £750m investment fund

David Cameron is helping to set up up a new £750m UK-China investment fund aimed at forging closer ties between the two countries, it has been confirmed.The former Prime Minister will become vice chairman of the new private equity fund after being approached for the role by Lord Chadlington, a friend and former Tory donor. (Telegraph)

AIIB approves first loan project in China
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) announced Monday that it has approved its first loan in China for a natural gas project.The 250-million-U.S. dollar loan will fund a project to connect 216,750 households in approximately 510 villages to the natural gas distribution network, according to an AIIB statement. (Xinhua)

Russia urges India to line up behind China's Belt and Road initiative 

Russia threw its weight behind China’s massive Belt and Road plan to build trade and transport links across Asia and beyond, suggesting to India on Monday that it find a way to work with Beijing on the signature project. (Reuters)

From the Caucasus to the Balkans, China’s Silk Roads are rising
With its focus on Central Asia and Eastern Europe, the Belt and Road Initiative can be seen as fulfilling a strategy of challenging the West that can be traced back to Mao (Asia Times)

Soviet archives reveal a turning point in the Chinese Communist Party’s relationship with Uyghur and Kazakh elites in Xinjiang

In China’s frontier regions, the victims of the “anti-rightist” campaign were initially mostly Han Chinese. In Xinjiang, as elsewhere, the non-Han population was slow to heed Mao’s call, but when they eventually did, the response brought to light serious dissent among intellectuals and party members (particularly Uyghurs and Kazakhs). (Wilson Center)

CPEC long-term plan to be made public on Dec 18: Ahsan Iqbal

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has announced that the long-term plan (LTP) for the China-Pakistan Econo­mic Corridor (CPEC) that was signed on Nov 21 will be made public on Dec 18. Making the LTP public was a commitment given by the minister back in June. (Dawn)

Construction of China-Russia natural gas pipeline gains steam

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) said on 13 December that it had sped up laying natural gas pipelines connecting China and Russia, a major energy cooperation between the two countries. Welding of the northern part of the 3,371-kilometer east-route natural gas pipeline has begun, the company announced. The pipeline originates in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province and terminates in Shanghai in the east. Construction began in June 2015 and will be completed in 2020. (Xinhua)

2,000-year-old Protectorate of the Western Regions confirmed in Xinjiang
After four years of archaeological study, an ancient city in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has been basically confirmed as the former seat of the Protectorate of the Western Regions about 2,000 years ago. (Xinhua)

Thought police create climate of fear in China’s tense Xinjiang region
Xinjiang’s published budget data from January to August shows public security spending this year is on track to increase 50 per cent from 2016 to roughly 45 billion yuan (US$6.8 billion) after rising 40 per cent a year ago. It has quadrupled since 2009, a watershed year when a Uygur riot broke out in Xinjiang, leaving nearly 200 members of China’s Han ethnic majority dead, and security began to ratchet up. (AFP)

China builds up troop numbers close to Indian border flashpoint as soldiers prepare for first winter near Doklam

China has started building up its military forces near the Doklam plateau – the site of a protracted stand-off early this year, Indian media has reported.Analysts suggested the development would allow China to tighten its control of its borders and prepare for any future problems in the region.
It is also improving its military infrastructure, including new mortar and gun positions, at a site between five and 10km from the site of this summer’s two-month stand-off, Indian media reported, citing satellite imagery acquired on December 3. (Scmp)

Insight: Hoping to extend maritime reach, China lavishes aid on Pakistan town

China is lavishing vast amounts of aid on a small Pakistani fishing town to win over locals and build a commercial deep-water port that the United States and India suspect may also one day serve the Chinese navy.Since 2014, Beijing has pledged over $800 million in grants and concessional loans for Gwadar, which has less than 100,000 people. In the 15 years before that, China gave about $2.4 billion in concessional loans and grants during this period across the whole of Pakistan, a nation of 207 million people.“Gwadar is exceptional even by the standards of China’s past activities in Pakistan itself,” Parks said. (Reuters)

Nepal’s government-in-waiting to revive scrapped Chinese dam project, officials tell SCMP

Ishwor Pokhrel, general secretary of the CPN-UML, said that after taking power the new government would implement a 15-point joint communique signed by Oli and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in March 2016 that covered transportation, trade and financial cooperation. (Scmp)

Russia-India-China meeting shows a multipolar world order is taking shape

C. Uday Bhaskar says this week’s meeting of Russian, Indian and Chinese foreign ministers was not marked by complete agreement, but still reveals the fulfilment of the grouping’s promise – an end to unipolar US dominance. (Scmp)

Cargo train service flourishes between Zhengzhou, Hamburg

Cargo trains made a total of 449 journeys between Zhengzhou, a transport hub in central China's Henan Province, and Hamburg, Germany between January and November this year, the operator said on 13 December. According to the Zhengzhou International Hub Development and Construction Co., more than 234,000 tonnes of cargo worth 2.44 billion US dollars were delivered during the period. (Xinhua)








CENTRAL ASIA


Tajikistan: How a Broke Government Keeps its Books Balanced
In its annual budget, Tajikistan is relying on unusual accounting maneuvers to ensure its books reflect a healthy balance. The reality is far bleaker, and international support is playing a key role in holding the country back from the economic precipice. (Eurasianet)

A Second Year Of Shortages In Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan has a population of some 5 million people. Turkmenistan also has the fourth-largest natural-gas reserves in the world.The small population and the large amount of gas led Turkmenistan's first president, Saparmurat Niyazov, to predict after its 1991 independence that Turkmenistan would become a second Kuwait and everybody would be driving Mercedes.
Instead, Turkmenistan is facing its second straight year of shortages of basic foods as winter approaches. (rferl)

Kazakhstan coal miners carry out strike underground
Hundreds of coal miners in Kazakhstan are refusing to return to the surface until their wages are doubled and working conditions improved.More than 600 miners in the Karaganda region of central Kazakhstan have been underground for four days.It is the country's largest workers' protest since the government violently clamped down on striking oil workers in 2011. (The Diplomat)

IRAN’S PROSPECTS IN JOINING THE SCO

Iran's joining of the SCO is beneficial to both sides, said Valdai Club expert, Nandan Unnikrishnan, Vice President and Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation. With the accession of Iran, the SCO will be able to settle the Afghanistan problem, and develop strategic transport corridors. Iran, becoming a member of the SCO, will raise its rating as a regional player. (