Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China, Uzbek joint natural gas project ready to start pumping

A natural gas project jointly developed by China and Uzbekistan in the southern part of the central Asian nation is ready to start producing, China National Petroleum Corp said on Tuesday. Phase one of the Karakul block in southern Bukhara province would be able to pump 1 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year to China though the Central-Asian pipeline grid, the company said, though it did not say when the supply would start. (scmp)

More neighbors are saying “no thanks” to Chinese money—for now

A common pattern has been for China to sign controversial projects when a pro-China government is in place—as was the case with Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Hambantota port deal—only to see them revisited once less receptive administrations are in power. In Nepal, outgoing prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), signed a preliminary agreement for the dam in June, just days before he relinquished his post to the rival Nepali Congress as part of a pre-existing power-sharing agreement. Current deputy prime minister Kamal Thapa criticized and scrapped the project for not having gone through open bidding as required by law.

China to invest in Kazakhstan's Aktyubinsk region

Chinese corporation Tianjin Bohua Petrochemical will invest $4 billion in the construction of a factory which is expected to produce polyethylene and polypropylene from natural gas in the Aktyubinsk region of Kazakhstan.The memorandum of cooperation was signed within the framework of the working visit of the Akim of Aktobe region Berdybek Saparbayev to Beijing.The foreign trade turnover between Kazakhstan and China in the first eight months of 2017 increased by 31 percent and amounted to $6.5 billion. Kazakhstan’s exports amounted to $3.5 billion showing an increase of 28 percent, while imports grew by 36 percent and equaled to $3 billion. (Azernews)

Japan to help finance China's Belt and Road projects
The Japanese government intends to financially support private-sector partnerships within China's Belt and Road Initiative in a nod to improving ties. Japan will provide backing, such as loans through government-backed financial institutions, to promote cooperation among Japanese and Chinese private companies working on initiatives in third-party nations. (Nikkei)

China plans super-grid for clean power in Asia
China’s bold vision is to create a global renewable energy grid that connects renewable energy generation across hemispheres. This would create a continuous source of clean power across national borders. The Beijing-based Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organisation (Geidco) and China’s State Grid Corporation have proposed a layout for such a system in Asia. This would develop six ultra high voltage grids across China, north-east Asia, Southeast Asia, south Asia, central Asia and west Asia to cement a clean power system in the region. President Xi Jinping recently underlined the strategic role that the BRI should play in this system. The wind and power resources of central Asia are a vital resource for one component of this grid.(FT)

China’s Billions Cannot Guarantee it a Free Ride in Pakistan

Fighting to compete with cheap imports from neighboring China, Shabbir Tiles & Ceramics Ltd., a unit of the House of Habib family business operating since 1841, had suffered four years of losses. It’s is now on course to post an annual profit next financial year after Pakistan placed an anti-dumping duty on Chinese tiles in October. That follows similar moves from the regulator on steel products. (Bloomberg)

China denies making impossible demands for collapsed US$14 billion infrastructure deal with Pakistan

Beijing did not ask for ownership rights to Diamer-Bhasha dam, an unnamed official with China’s top planning agency was quoted on state media (scmp)

China, Ukraine signed an action plan on jointly building Belt and Road; agreed to deepen collaboration to strengthen partnership
China and Ukraine on Tuesday signed an action plan on jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road and agreed to deepen all-round collaboration to strengthen their strategic partnership at the third session of the China-Ukraine Intergovernmental Commission on bilateral cooperation here Tuesday. (Xinhua)

China Puts Five Xinjiang Oil Fields on Auction Block

China will accelerate its efforts to open up upstream oil and gas resources by auctioning five more oil exploration sites in Xinjiang.This will be the second auction of oil sites in the northwestern autonomous region open to privately-owned firms. In July 2015, the Chinese government auctioned off the rights to explore five parcels of land in Xinjiang. Prior to this, upstream oil and gas assets in the country were almost exclusively controlled by China’s largest state-owned energy companies. (caixin)

Belt and Road to Where?

On October 24, 2017, the Communist Party of China (CPC) adopted a new version of the Party Constitution. Along with the name of Secretary General Xi Jinping, the document enshrined the One Belt One Road (OBOR) concept – Xi’s trademark geoeconomic concept that is now used to explain almost every move that China makes outside its borders. The “Belt and Road” concept has become so inflated, that it’s no longer helpful to understanding anything about China’s relationship with the outside world, but only further obscures an already complicated picture. (Carnegie)

CENTRAL ASIA

On the Ancient Silk Road, a Walk Shadowed by a Mystery

A special report by national geographic (National geopgraphic)

Uzbek President Mirziyoev Pardons 2,700 Convicts With Decree
Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev has signed a decree ordering what state media outlets called the first mass pardoning of convicts in the Central Asian country's history.A total of 2,700 convicts were pardoned under the decree signed on December 7, and 956 of them will be released from prison, state media reports said. (rferl)

Afghanistan's Ghani Visits Uzbekistan on Mission to Plug Into Central Asia

The president of Afghanistan has visited Uzbekistan on a mission to plug his struggling nation into a region from which it has long been isolated, despite the tantalizing proximity.President Ashraf Ghani traveled to Uzbekistan, for the first time since coming to power in 2014, at the invitation of his Uzbek counterpart, Shavkat Mirziyoyev. (Eurasianet)

Kyrgyzstan Says It Will Withdraw Complaint Against Kazakhstan At WTO

Kyrgyzstan says it plans to withdraw a complaint it filed with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Kazakhstan’s moves to step up controls on the border, which preceded a two-month bottleneck.
Deputy Prime Minister Tolkunbek Abdykulov told reporters in Bishkek on December 5 that the complaint will be withdrawn after Kyrgyz and Kazakh authorities agreed on a "road map" to solve the problem. (Rferl)

Eurasian Economic Union: Many Problems, Few Solutions

The squabble between Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan was relatively petty, but the cracks that their dispute exposed in the Eurasian Economic Union, a trading bloc to which they both belong, are proving harder than ever to paper over. (Eurasianet)

Post-Soviet Governments Weaponize Transparency: Report

Authoritatian governments have cleverly used the liberal norm of transparency in order to shut down liberal groups in their countries, a new report has detailed.The report, "Distract, Divide, Detach: Using Transparency and Accountability to Justify Regulation of Civil Society Organizations," is aimed at helping civil society organizations (CSOs) against a growing backlash against them. The report describes how a focus on transparency, in particular requirements to disclose sources of funding, has allowed authoritarian states to paint liberal CSOs (also known as NGOs, non-governmental organizations) as puppets of the West with little local constituency, and to justify crackdowns against them. (.eurasianet)

Russian President Vladimir Putin to launch giant US$27 billion LNG project in the Arctic

President Vladimir Putin was set to launch Friday (Dec 8) a US$27 billion (S$37 billion) liquefied natural gas plant in the snow-covered plains of the Arctic as Russia hopes to surpass Qatar to become the world's biggest exporter of the chilled fuel. With Yamal LNG, the country intends to strengthen its market presence in Asia and demonstrate its capacity to exploit huge Arctic reserves despite major technological challenges. (Afp)