Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China upset as Interpol removes wanted alert for exiled Uighur leader
China expressed dissatisfaction on Saturday at Interpol’s decision to lift a wanted alert for an exile from its Uighur minority, a man China accuses of being a terrorist. (Reuters)

Could the SCO Expand Into the Middle East?
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization recently added India and Pakistan. Could Iran be next? (Diplomat)

China’s one-track mind in Kazakhstan

Many observers see the new dry port of Khorgos as a sign of China’s expanding influence in Central Asia. However, despite the increasing bilateral trade between China and Kazakhstan and the symbolic significance of the project under President Xi Jinping’s “iron silk road”, the dry port should be seen as the limitation, rather than the extension, of China’s railway network in the region. In the face of the unifying bloc of broad gauge networks, a Russian geopolitical obstacle, it is reasonable for China to focus on the southern route of the ‘iron silk road’ to reach Europe. This means going through Iran and Turkey, two countries with standard-gauge rail networks. In December 2017, Beijing signed a US $530 million deal with Tehran on rail, in addition to other investments and loans under the Belt and Road Initiative. (cpianalysis)
Freight train service launched between Urumqi, Naples
Thanks to a new freight train service, citizens of Naples, Italy may find it easier to buy commodities produced in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.A train carrying tomato sauce
left Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, for Italy's Naples on Monday morning, the first between Xinjiang
and Naples. (Xinhua)

New China-Europe train service begins with 11,000 cars
Since the first cargo train set off from Daqing city, Heilongjiang province, for Belgium last June, the new China-Europe train service tailor-made for Volvo's Daqing factory has transported 10,936 China-made Volvo cars. A one-way trip takes 18 days via the 10,887 kilometers-long route, passing through Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany, saving 28 days compared to the traditional marine transport. (China Daily)

China's flagship port in Pakistan shackled by heavy security
The port is scheduled to start transshipment on March 7. Yet, for all the fanfare, some question Gwadar's prospects amid heavy security.Balochistan is mostly off limits to outsiders and there is no visible foreign presence beyond the Chinese. Journalists and visitors are closely monitored by  Pakistan's intelligence agencies.. (Bloomberg)

Reality Check: Is Chinese an official language in Pakistan?
The claim: Pakistan has made Chinese an official language.
Reality Check verdict: False - the Pakistani parliament passed a resolution "recommending" Chinese-language courses to be taught in Pakistan, but there's no suggestion Chinese will become an official language of the country. (BBC))

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor brings economic benefits to Pakistan: report
The report, "The economic benefits of the modern silk road: The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) The report, which is based on research work and surveys, said that the unprecedented CPEC has provided 60,000 jobs to Pakistanis since 2015 and that it would create over 800,000 new jobs in different sectors up to 2030. (global times)


CENTRAL ASIA

Afghanistan ready to play connector role in Eurasian integration
The inauguration of TAPI – the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline – signals Kabul is
on-board with the grand project of Eurasian integration.

Turkmenistan's Plan B: Electricity Exports
While Turkmenistan sits on the world's fourth-largest reserves of gas, those riches are worth little without markets. (Eurasianet)


World’s Longest-Imprisoned Journalist Is Freed in Uzbekistan

Uzbekistan has freed a reporter who was incarcerated for nearly two decades on sedition charges, the longest-known prison term served by a journalist, human rights advocates said Friday.The reporter, Yusuf Ruzimuradov, 64, who worked for a newspaper banned by the Uzbek authorities, had been held since 1999. (nyt)

Afghan TAPI Construction Kicks Off, But Pipeline Questions Still Unresolved
Executives and regional leaders gathered for a ground-breaking ceremony for Afghanistan's section of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline on February 23 in the western Afghan city of Herat.Herat, and uncertainty as the ceremony there approached, provide another reminder of the doubts and questions that have surrounded the TAPI pipeline for years now. (.rferl)