Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China's Sinomach to build $845 million railway in western Iran

China National Machinery Industry Corp [CNMAC.UL], known as Sinomach, has signed a contract to build a 5.35 billion yuan ($845 million) railway in western Iran, adding to a wave of Chinese investment in the country. (Reuters)

China hosts Visegrad group, calls them 'dynamic force' in EU
The four countries have been at odds with Brussels over issues including immigration and fundamental rights, with the Slovak prime minister complaining in January they should not be treated as “black sheep” in the EU.China has courted central and eastern European states, including with annual summits, which has fed concern in Western European capitals that Beijing is seeking to divide the continent. (Reuters)

Tillerson’s final warning on Belt and Road financing only proves China’s influence on the rise

The policies of the Fed, and the still-unfolding costs of the 2008 US crash, are likely to cause immeasurably more “debt distress” than China’s Belt and Road Initiative spread over the next two decades, David Dodwell said. (scmp)

Japan warms to China’s belt and road plan with talks on business tie-ups, sources say
Japan may soon become more involved in China’s multibillion-dollar belt and road plan, with the two countries expected to begin exploring business cooperation deals in third countries, according to diplomatic and trade sources. (scmp)

Shanxi police extradite Fox Hunt suspect from Tajikistan

A suspect has been returned to China from Tajikistan as a campaign to capture fugitives suspected of economic crime continues, police in Shanxi Province said Sunday.It is the first suspect that Shanxi police have brought back from Tajikistan in the Fox Hunt campaign, which targets suspects of economic crimes who fled overseas. (Global Times)

Pakistanis distressed as Uighur wives vanish in China dragnet
Islamabad (AFP) - Every autumn on the mountainous Karakoram Highway, part of the ancient Silk Road, groups of Pakistani merchants living in China's far west would wave goodbye to their Chinese wives and cross the border to spend winter in their home country.As the snow piled high, the men
would stay in touch with their families by phone, longing for the spring thaw that would allow them to be reunited in Xinjiang.But last year many of their calls suddenly went unanswered. (yahoo)

Linking China to the EU's 'gateway' for exporters
Kazakhstan seeks to become part of China's supply chain, while Poland seeks infrastructure funding (nikkei)

Is China's Belt and Road working? A progress report from eight countries

Beijing's infrastructure push clouded by project delays and mounting debt (nikkei)

China and Russia’s uneasy partnership in Central Asia
Bound by common resentment towards the overwhelming power of the West, China and Russia have grown increasingly close over the past decade. They enjoy compatible economies — Russia supplies hydrocarbons and other resources that fuel Chinese industry. They push back at the promotion of Western democracy and human rights, seeing them as threats to internal stability. Both seek to limit the presence of the West, particularly any Western military activity, in their immediate backyards — Eastern Europe for Russia, the South China Sea for China and Central Asia for both. (East asia 
forum)

Russia’s Unhappy Energy Marriage with China
With all the quiet chaos beneath the surface in Moscow, Beijing seems poised to benefit. (The Diplomat)

China Expanding in Russia’s Transbaikal—and Russian Taxpayers Are Paying for It

A new scandal is adding fuel to the fire of Russian fears about Chinese penetration of Siberia and the Russian Far East. The Russian media in those regions is reporting that in order to sell Russian agricultural products to China—something that benefits both local oligarchs and Moscow—Russian taxpayers are being forced to subsidize the sector. And those taxpayers are reportedly receiving nothing back in return, because what the Chinese are willing to pay is less than the costs Russians incur producing the food (Babr24.com, March 22, 2018; RBK, November 23, 2017). (

Pakistan’s duty concessions to China threaten local industry
Local manufacturers, who were not consulted on the plans, are up in arms as their government proposes major cuts to concessions on imports of Chinese goods. (Asia Times)

Departure ceremony of China-Europe freight train service held in Shanghai
A departure ceremony of China-Europe freight train service for cross-border e-commerce is held at Yangpu Station in Shanghai, east China, March 30, 2018. The train left Shanghai for Moscow in Russia on Friday. (Global Times)

Two Chinese militants among seven killed in anti-terrorism operation in Afghanistan
Two Chinese militants were killed in an operation by Afghan military forces in the country’s northeast on Friday, which left at least seven people dead and 13 injured, according to local media reports. (Scmp)




CENTRAL ASIA

What Turkmenistani President’s Visit to Gulf Means for TAPI Pipeline Project
Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow visited the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait in mid-March as part of a campaign to revive a long-stalled natural gas pipeline from his country to Pakistan and India (Neftegaz.ru, March 16). The visit occurred three weeks after a February 23 groundbreaking ceremony marking the latest effort to put the Turkmenistan–Afghanistan–Pakistan–India (TAPI) pipeline back on track. (jamestown foundation)

Tajikistan Slams U.S. General’s Claim of Taliban Link
Tajikistan and Russia have hit back after General John Nicholson (pictured), the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said he’d seen"destabilizing activity by the Russians” there.In an interview with the BBC, Nicholson said he had evidence that Russian weapons were being smuggled across the Tajik border to the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Kyrgyzstan: Atambayev Returns, Opening Up Front Against President
The former president has taken potshots at his erstwhile protege, igniting talk of a growing rift among the ruling elite. (Eurasianet)