Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

A new China-Europe freight train line was launched Tuesday, linking Delingha, northwest China's Qinghai Province, with Russia. 
The first train, loaded with chemical containers, will leave China through the Alataw Pass in Xinjiang and pass through Kazakhstan before reaching Barnaul in Russia. (xinhua)

Chinese premier calls for more pragmatic cooperation with Tajikistan
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on 10 October called on China and Tajikistan to continue to consolidate mutual political trust, promote pragmatic cooperation and safeguard regional peace and stability. Li made the remarks in a signed article for a Tajik newspaper prior to his official visit to Tajikistan and attendance at the 17th meeting of the Council of Heads of Government of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Xinhua

India, China launch joint training for Afghanistan, plan more projects
China’s ambassador to India said the joint training of 10 Afghan diplomats at the Indian Foreign Service Institute was the first step in China-India-Afghanistan cooperation that was agreed at a summit between President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this year. (Reuters)

China in Afghanistan: A Reluctant Leader with Growing Stakes
A piece from late last week as part of a short dossier ahead of the Afghan election done for a new outlet of an excellent Italian think tank called Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI). My contribution focused on China’s role in Afghanistan, a common theme which there should be more work on later in the year.

Pakistan, IMF to Discuss Bailout TermsThe International Monetary Fund’s managing director, Christine Lagarde, said a team will soon visit Islamabad to discuss a new financial assistance package for Pakistan, reportedly up to $8 billion. Pakistan has received more than a dozen financial support packages (Dawn) from the IMF, including a $6.4 billion bailout that concluded in 2016.

Greater transparency is needed to dispel Xinjiang concerns
Like any nation, China is obligated to respond proactively to extremism and terrorism in the autonomous region. Just as essential is being more open to foreign journalists and rights groups (scmp)

CENTRAL ASIA 

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev met with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris this
week. Mirziyoyev, who has promoted gradual reforms in his long isolated country, reportedly signed partnership agreements (AP) with French energy firms during the trip.

Putin, Mirziyoyev launch project for Uzbekistan’s first nuclear plant
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbek counterpart Shavkat Mirziyoyev on October 19 pressed a symbolic button together to launch a project to build Uzbekistan’s first nuclear power plant. Given that the Soviet-era nuclear plant in Kazakhstan was decommissioned in 2001 and is unlikely to be restored to operation, the facility is likely to be Central Asia's first new-era nuclear plant. (intellinews)

Turkmenistan profile - Media
The Turkmen government has an absolute monopoly of the media. The authorities monitor media outlets, control printing presses, block websites, monitor internet use and lay down editorial policies.
Reporters Without Borders has called Turkmenistan "an ever-expanding news black hole". (bbc)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China is ‘building a training camp in Afghanistan’ to fight terrorism
China has started building a training camp for Afghan troops in a narrow corridor that connects the two countries – a project Beijing is fully funding to help its neighbour boost counterterrorism efforts, sources close to the military said. (scmp)

Why the Muslim world isn't saying anything about China’s repression and 'cultural cleansing' of its downtrodden Muslim minority
Muslim countries have been silent over China's crackdown on its Uighurs, a Muslim-majority ethnic minority in the country's west. (businessinsider)

Imran Khan expected to stick with Chinese investment projects after Pakistan election victory

Khan’s party and other opposition parties have staged frequent protests that caused projects associated with the corridor to be delayed, but Khan stressed that the target was Sharif and not China. (scmp)

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation looking frosty from Astana

Kazakhstan is one of Russia’s closest allies in Central Asian, and the relationship between Russia and Kazakhstan plays an important role in the functioning of the SCO. But the relationship has recently become rocky. Kazakhstan–China relations are ostensibly faring better. According to the official Kazakh narrative, relations between Kazakhstan and China are exemplary and Astana is eager to capture the opportunities provided by China’s Belt and Road Initiative. China has pledged to provide more than US$600 million to support the development of transport infrastructure in Kazakhstan within the next five years, and Chinese companies are building a light rail transit system in Astana with US$1.9 billion that Kazakhstan borrowed from the China Development Bank. More than 127 projects cumulatively worth US$67 billion were signed between Kazakhstan and China in the past six years. New joint projects were also discussed during Nazarbayev’s last visit to China in areas such as energy, oil and gas, new technologies and cultural cooperation.(eastasiaforum)

Kazakhs Increasingly Hostile to Both Russians and Chinese
Kazakhstanis are increasingly skeptical of close ties with both Russians and Chinese, profoundly limiting the ability of the former to recover the influence Moscow once had there and making it far more difficult for Beijing to move in and supplant it. (Jamestown)

Sauytbay Trial in Kazakhstan Puts Astana in a Bind with China
The complexities of international relations aside, is Kazakhstan going to choose China over Kazakhs? (the diplomat)

Asylum seeker to remain in Kazakhstan in Chinese internment centre case
A Kazakh court has decided against deporting a Chinese woman of Kazakh descent back to China, where her lawyers say she faces a risk of torture after working at a secretive internment centre in China’s western region of Xinjiang (FT)

CHINESE HANDLING OF KAZAKHS A BUMP IN BELT AND ROAD
Astana’s economic ties with Beijing leave it with a headache in dealing with public anger over the internment of its nationals in Xinjiang’s ‘re-education centres’ (scmp)

Kazakh port in decline bids for slice of China trade
With the outlines of its six idle cranes obscured by thick fog and pouring rain, Kazakhstan's Caspian seaport Aktau seems an unlikely stop on China's much-hyped new silk road.
But the sleepy port, which has been badly hit in recent years by new oil routes, is vying for a slice of the pie as competition for Chinese trade warms up on the shores of the world's largest inland sea. (AFP)

Crackdown in Xinjiang: Where have all the people gone?
The impact is beginning to be felt outside the region. Once thriving trade with China’s neighbours in Central Asia and Pakistan has dried up, with foreign traders unable to receive their usual one-month visas due to heightened security screening. Inventory depots, where traders gather to make deals, offload goods and exchange currency, have seen traffic plummet. (FT)

Criminal Arrests in Xinjiang Account for 21% of China’s Total in 2017

According to Chinese government data, criminal arrests in Xinjiang accounted for an alarming 21% of all arrests in China in 2017, though the population in the XUAR is only about 1.5% of China’s total. The ratio of formal arrests made in Xinjiang has increased by 306% in the past five years compared to the previous five-year period.Of the total number of people arrested from 2013 to 2017, nearly 70% of the arrests were made in the year 2017 alone. (nchrd)

Companies help create jobs, reduce poverty in Xinjiang

Huafu Fashion Co. Ltd., the world's largest supplier of melange yarn, will invest in 100 poor villages in southern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region as part of three-year poverty-relief plan. Based in east China's Zhejiang Province, Huafu plans to invest a total of 100 million yuan (around 15 million US dollars) in 100 poverty-stricken villages in developing industries to boost employment over the following three years. (Xinhua)

China's CNPC to invest more than $22 billion to boost Xinjiang oil, gas output by 2020

China’s state oil company CNPC said on Wednesday it will invest more than 150 billion yuan ($22 billion) by 2020 to boost oil and gas output in the western Xinjiang region, the latest move to replace falling output from ageing fields in northeast China. Output will exceed 50 million tonnes of oil equivalent in the Xinjiang region within two years, CNPC said. (Reuters)

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang tells Buddhist leaders to defend ethnic unity on rare trip to Tibet
Li also vows to boost infrastructure spending to improve economy, visiting tunnel construction site for railway link with Sichuan

Southern Xinjiang gets better connected

A key roadway in Hotan prefecture, in the south of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, was opened to traffic for the first time on Wednesday. The four-lane highway is an important component of China's planned road network that aims to better connect the country with Central and South Asia. (China Daily)

Russia, Central Asia accept BRI gainful

The ancient Silk Road once linked China with Central Asia and Russia, as well as Europe. In the 21st century, Central Asian countries have established even closer economic and trade ties with China. In fact, a series of medium-and long-term economic development strategies devised by the Central Asian countries have much in common with the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, and thus have created ample room and good opportunities for strategic cooperation. (China Daily)

China-Europe freight trains make 10,000 trips

"China has accumulated abundant management experience in running container terminals. After the acquisition, we've gradually introduced an advanced operation process and management into Noatum, and improved efficiency". With the help of the Chinese management team, the company has established an operations department to increase efficiency at the ports and railway terminals. A new health, security and safety department has been set up to ensure the company meets the highest safety standards.

CENTRAL ASIA

TAJIKISTAN

The self-proclaimed Islamic State claimed the killings of four foreign tourists who were run over by a car while cycling (NYT) and then stabbed. The Tajik government blamed the attack (RFE/RL) on a banned local Islamist party and said one assailant was trained in Iran.

Tajik or Russian” jets bomb Afghanistan following border skirmish
Strike confirms willingness to engage in cross-border operations to secure southern front. (eurasianet)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China development banks expand links with foreign lenders

China’s development banks — the biggest lenders in the sector worldwide — are ramping up co-operation with overseas financial institutions after problems with their international investment projects. The China Development Bank (CDB) and the Export-Import Bank of China (Ex-Im Bank) are seeking to spread the burden of funding international projects, officials and executives said. (FT)

How the China-US trade row might pave the way for the soybean Silk Road

China already imports nearly 100 million tonnes of the crop a year, accounting for about 60 per cent of the world’s market. Last year roughly half of those imports came from Brazil and a third from the United States, with suppliers in places like Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan together contributing less than 1 per cent of the total. (scmp)

Is China’s US$62 billion investment plan fuelling resentment in Pakistan?
China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will stir up political tensions if Islamabad and Beijing cannot resolve existing concerns, NGO says. “While it is too early to assess if CPEC can deliver the economic gains Islamabad promises, the project risks inflaming long-standing tensions between the centre and smaller federal units, and within provinces over inequitable economic development and resource distribution,” the report said. (Scmp)

Kyrgyzstan grows wary of China amid corruption probe Kyrgyzstan is growing increasingly wary of China as details of a corruption case involving a project linked to Beijing are revealed. The country is heavily indebted to China and is now working to rebalance its diplomacy, moving closer to its neighbors. (Nikkei)

China targets vehicle pollution with pledge to deliver 30 per cent more goods by rail by 2020

China will boost rail freight capacity by 2020 and raise the volume of goods delivered by trains by as much as 30 per cent, an environment ministry official said on Thursday, as the country grapples with rising vehicle pollution. (Scmp)

China, Uzbekistan to deepen law enforcement, security cooperation

Chinese State Councillor Zhao Kezhi held talks with Uzbek Minister of Internal Affairs Pulat Bobojonov on 5 July on law enforcement and security cooperation. Zhao, minister of public security, said the two sides should implement consensus reached by leaders of the two countries, further improve security cooperation mechanism for Belt and Road projects, and strengthen pragmatic cooperation in crackdown on the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism and cross-border crime, as well as in law enforcement training to create a safe and stable environment for prosperity and development in both countries. (Xinhua)

China’s ‘prison-like re-education camps’ strain relations with Kazakhstan as woman asks Kazakh court not to send her back

Secretive “re-education camps” allegedly holding hundreds of thousands of people in a Muslim-majority region in western China are the focus of an explosive court case in Kazakhstan, testing the country’s ties with Beijing. (Scmp)

Opinion: A triple win for the EU, CEECs and China?
Compared with bilateral ties, this mechanism of multilateral cooperation between China and the sixteen CEECs has two advantages. First of all, it can facilitate policy coordination between the two sides in an efficient way. Chinese leader does not need to visit all the sixteen countries one by one, thus economizing diplomatic resources. Secondly, many projects go beyond one country’s boundary. Therefore, it is imperative to discuss ways and means of cooperation from a wider perspective among more partners. Challenges come from Berlin and Brussels. Out of the 16 CEECs, eleven are members of the European Union. So the EU accuses China of using the “divide and rule” tactics. In his State of the Union address in September 2017, Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, said, “If a foreign, state-owned, company wants to purchase a European harbor, part of our energy infrastructure or a defense technology firm, this should only happen in transparency, with scrutiny and debate. It is a political responsibility to know what is going on in our own backyard so that we can protect our collective security if needed.” (cgtn)

Pakistan seeks more loans from China to avert currency crisis

"The main issue is that once we are locked in an IMF programme, we will have to make full disclosure of the terms on which China has agreed to build the CPEC.” (FT)

Xinjiang relocates 460k residents

Authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in Northwest China relocated 461,000 poverty-ridden residents to work in other parts of the region during the first quarter of the year, in what a Chinese expert on Friday said was a bid to improve social stability and alleviate poverty. (Global Times)

Chinese Investor Disappoints Kazakhstan's National Oil Company
China’s troubled CEFC will pass on a deal to buy a majority stake in KMGI, a subsidiary of Kazakhstan’s Kazmunaigas.China’s CEFC will not buy a majority stake in Kazmunaigas International (KMGI), owned by Kazakhstan’s state-owned oil and gas firm Kazmunaigas, a disappointing development for a deal more than two years in the making. (The Diplomat)


CENTRAL ASIA

Uzbekistan invites Russian ROSATOM to build nuclear power plant on its territory
A series of meetings since late December 2017 between officials from Uzbekistan and ROSATOM, the Russian state nuclear energy corporation, suggests that both sides have reached an agreement to build a two-reactor nuclear power plant (NPP) in this Central Asian republic. According to Bakhrom Ashrafkhanov, Uzbekistan’s ambassador to Russia, “[T]he nuclear power plant will definitely be constructed,” and the two sides are working on a road map. It is expected the final deal will be signed this autumn in Tashkent, during President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Uzbekistan

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China, Kyrgyzstan to tap cooperation potential under comprehensive strategic partnership

On 7 June China and Kyrgyzstan vowed to explore more cooperation potential under their newly-established comprehensive strategic partnership. The pledge was made by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and visiting Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov at Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing. Xinhua [CN*] China's top legislator LI Zhanshu meets with Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov Xinhua

Interview: CSTO head eyes closer partnership with SCO

The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is looking forward to closer ties with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov. "The CSTO takes a serious approach to the development of effective and mutually beneficial cooperation with the SCO. We are always open to filling it with practical matters," Khachaturov told Chinese reporters in a recent interview. (Xinhua)

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization champions a new model of expanded regional cooperation
The SCO came into being against a challenging international backdrop in the aftermath of the Cold War. It was created as a new mechanism to meet the need of countries in the region to maintain stability, and to promote shared development. (Bloomberg)

Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin hail ‘all-time high’ in ties, sign US$3 billion of nuclear deals

The two countries also signed a raft of deals, including for nuclear cooperation projects totalling 20 billion yuan (US$3.13 billion) and a US $1 billion industrial investment fund. (Scmp)

Putin's China trip: High-speed train, ice hockey, local snacks

Putin and Xi took high speed train to Tianjin accompanied by CEOs of Russian and Chinese railway corporations, discussed Moscow-Kazan and using China’s technology&money to build/upgrade transit routes to Europe via Russia and Central Asia. (Ecns)

Chinese region of Tibet to build three more airports: Xinhua
The Chinese region of Tibet is planning to build three new airports to promote tourism and economic growth, bringing the total of civil airports in the far west region to eight, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday. (Reuters)

Rosatom deal to build China power units worth $3.6 billion: China National Nuclear
China National Nuclear Power Co Ltd said on Sunday that two deals signed with Russian state nuclear company Rosatom for the construction of four nuclear power units in China were worth a combined $3.62 billion.Rosatom said on Friday it would construct two units each at the Xudabao and Tianwan nuclear plants. (Reuters)

India refuses to endorse China's 'One Belt, One Road' initiative
Prime Minister Modi, speaking at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, suggested that the BRI project does not adequately respect the 'sovereignty and territorial integrity' of all nations involved (Taiwan News)

China’s Belt and Road plans dismay Pakistan’s poorest province
For Pakistan, this is an enormous investment — equal to 20 per cent of the whole country’s GDP — and the government has claimed it will bring wealth and development to Balochistan and change the fortunes of its people. But the protests by children in Gwadar show that it is not universally popular. (FT)


CENTRAL ASIA 

Turkmenistan's president effects radical switch-around of top security officials
The head of Turkmenistan’s security services has been fired and substituted by the head of the army in a sweeping but mysterious reshuffle of top-level security officials.
Turkmenistan’s state news agency reported on June 13 that Dovrangeldy Bayramov was also demoted from colonel to major. All that was given by way of an explanation for the dismissal was that Bayramov, who had held the post since April 2016, had committed “serious shortcomings in his work.” (Eurasianet)

How Singapore, Astana and St Petersburg preview a new world order

Ahead of the crucial Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Qingdao this coming weekend, three other recent events have offered clues on how the new world order is coming about. (Asia Times)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China to enhance cooperation on law enforcement security with other SCO countries 
Chinese State Councillor Zhao Kezhi on 21 May met with leading officials from six other member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), respectively, pledging to enhance practical cooperation on law enforcement security. They are in Beijing for the 13th meeting of SCO Security Council Secretaries, focusing on issues including the regional security situation and priority of security cooperation among the SCO members. (Xinhua)

Xi urges more SCO security cooperation
Chinese President Xi Jinping on 22 May met with heads of foreign delegations attending the 13th meeting of Security Council Secretaries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing. During the meeting, Xi suggested that the SCO member countries continue to uphold the common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept, and promote a security governance model that addresses both symptoms and root causes, so as to push forward the SCO security cooperation to a new level. (Xinhua)

China’s Bingtuan paramilitary force tightens grip on Xinjiang
In Hotan county, in the south-west of China’s remote Xinjiang region, where once there was only barren desert, rows of trees have taken root, bearing red dates and pomegranates.
The agricultural project is one of the latest in a decades-long programme of land reclamation efforts in Xinjiang that cost $4bn last year alone, according to Bingtuan, a 3m-strong paramilitary force that is creating the new farmland areas.(FT)

Chasing the Fire-Worshippers of Tashkurgan
In far western China, the Tajik people still practice customs with roots in one of the world’s oldest religions. (Sixth Tone)

Pakistan turns to China to avoid foreign currency crisis

Pakistan has again turned to China for help in avoiding a foreign currency crisis, deepening the two countries’ economic ties by borrowing $1bn from Chinese banks in April, Pakistan’s central bank
governor has revealed. (FT)

Pakistan seeks economic lifeline with fresh China loans
Pakistan expects to obtain fresh Chinese loans worth US$1-2 billion (S$1.34-2.68 billion) to help it avert a balance of payments crisis, Pakistani government sources said, in another sign of Islamabad's growing reliance on Beijing for financial support. (Reuters)

1st section of CPEC's largest superhighway inaugurated in Pakistan's Punjab
Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday inaugurated the first section of the 392-km Multan-Sukkur Motorway, the largest transportation infrastructure project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Multan in the country's eastern Punjab province.The prime minister opened the 33-km section spanned from Multan to Shujaabad city for public, which was completed well before the stipulated time.The six-lane superhighway will connect the country's southern port city of Karachi with northwestern city Peshawar through the populated provinces of Punjab and Sindh. (GT)

B&R needs broader support

China may have proposed the Belt and Road (B&R) initiative but the aim is for it to involve many countries, experts said on Sunday, with more diversified investors as well as financial institutions expected to play a bigger role in bridging the funding gaps in B&R projects. For instance, the country's new outbound investment in 52 countries along the routes increased by 22.4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018, rising to $3.61 billion according to official data. However, there have been complaints about China's problems with funding for B&R projects. The Chinese government has promised $1 trillion worth of infrastructure investment under the B&R. But the funding for transportation projects stood at $90 billion between 2014 and 2017, the Asia Times reported on May 18, citing data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Also, the CSIS noted in an earlier study that China's $1 trillion promise may not be met for several years. (Global Times)

CENTRAL ASIA

The people of Turkmenistan can no longer use their president’s image as toilet paper
Police are making sure Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s face isn’t being soiled.

Russia plans to open second military base in Kyrgyzstan
After almost five years of fits and starts on the question, Moscow is set to open a second military base in Kyrgyzstan. With this strengthened military presence, Russia will be in a better position to respond to any militant or terrorist threats potentially spilling over from Afghanistan, to shore up its influence with a Bishkek fearful of terrorism and instability, to send a message to other Central Asian states that Russia remains the pre-eminent power in the region, to both please Beijing and counter the growing Chinese presence across Central Asia, as well as to regionally challenge the United States, which is still actively involved in Afghanistan.

Kazakhstan draws ire from Russia for pursuing multi-vector foreign policy
Recent developments in Armenia, where a former president–turned–prime minister, Serzh Sargsyan, hastily stepped down in the face of vigorous street protests on April 23, underscored the potential vulnerability of Russia’s regional alliances. The Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) has been a pillar of Russia’s post-Soviet diplomacy since its formation in 2014, following two decades of various regionalist experiments with trade and economic integration.

Are Central Asia's Militants Already Coming Home From The Middle East?

Kyrgyzstan appears to be waging a major battle on its own soil against alleged members of "international terrorist organizations."In less than 12 months, there have been at least 28 security operations that resulted in apprehending suspects who Kyrgyz authorities say were connected to terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq. (Rferl)

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)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Exclusive: China may pare back 'divisive' eastern Europe summits

China is considering paring back annual summits with eastern European countries that have fueled concerns in western capitals that Beijing is seeking to divide the continent, according to three European diplomats. (Reuters)

'Gray-listing' pushes Pakistan further into China's orbit
Pakistan is set to become increasingly reliant on Chinese loans and investment now that the Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental anti-money laundering watchdog, has initiated a process to place the country back on a counter-terrorist financing watchlist, political and financial analysts say.

(Nikkei)

Pakistan Refutes IMF Report as It Eyes Bonds, China Funding

Pakistan’s de-facto finance minister refuted an International Monetary Fund assessment that the country’s economy was deteriorating and said plans to issue dollar bonds or Chinese-currency bonds haven’t been firmed up.The IMF in a statement this week said the South Asian nation’s economy faces continual “erosion” and its widening external and fiscal imbalances mean that “risks to Pakistan’s medium-term capacity to repay the fund have increased” since completion of a three-year $6.6 billion bailout program that ended in Sept. 2016. (bloomberg)

B&R initiative boosts Caucasus economies
The Caucasus region, which comprises Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan used to be an important region along the ancient Silk Road. The B&R initiative which comprises both land-based Silk Route and the oceangoing Maritime Route is aimed at not only boosting trade but also ensuring a comprehensive upgrade of infrastructure, business opportunities and with it, greater influx of tourists. Despite being an unconventional destination, Chinese travelers still venture into the region to experience something different from what they are used to. So what, who and how is China engaged
with in the Caucasus Region? (Global Times)

China's Zijin Mining interested in Serbian copper mine RTB, Belgrade says

China’s Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd. has expressed interest in buying loss-making Serbian copper miner and smelter RTB Bor, which the Balkan state has been trying to sell for the past decade. (Reuters)

China’s belt and road plan is a major debt risk for weak economies, report says
China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” creates the potential for debt-sustainability problems in some of the world’s weakest economies, according to the Centre for Global Development. The infrastructure project – aimed at forging new economic links with Europe, Asia and Africa – puts Djibouti, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, the Maldives, Mongolia, Montenegro, Pakistan and Tajikistan “at particular risk of debt distress”, researchers at the Washington-based research institute said in a report on Sunday.
(scmp)

A Summer Vacation in China’s Muslim Gulag
How one university student was almost buried by the “people's war on terror.” (Foreign Policy)

Will China's Belt and Road Initiative Push Vulnerable Countries into a Debt Crisis?
Print
As China’s Communist Party paves the way for President Xi Jinping’s indefinite leadership, the international community should expect the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—President Xi’s signature global infrastructure plan spanning Asia, Europe, and Africa—to be further cemented as China’s primary strategy of global engagement for years to come. In a new CGD paper, we assess the likelihood of debt problems in the 68 countries we identify as potential BRI borrowers. (cgdev)

The Impact Of Gazprom’s China-Russia Gas Pipeline

Gazprom’s Power of Siberia pipeline is more than two-thirds complete. It will be delivering gas to China by the end of this year. A second pipeline is still under discussion.A report yesterday from Alex Mercouris at The Duran noted some frustration from China over the irregular liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies coming from its contract partners in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. (Oilprice)

Itochu climbs aboard China's Belt and Road Initiative
Japanese company uses improved logistics to start Japan-Europe freight service. (Nikkei)

Kazakhstan getting ready for SCO Summit in Quingdao

Kazakhstan Ambassador to China Shakhrat Nuryshev has had a working visit to Quingdao, Shandong province, on March 1-3 within the framework of the upcoming participation of President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the SCO Summit in June 2018, Kazinform reporter in China reports. (kazinform)

China slows down spending on Belt and Road energy projects
China’s thirst for overseas energy investments is declining, at least by one tally. The nation’s financing for Belt and Road Initiative energy projects dropped 28 per cent to US$14.3 billion last year from US$19.9 billion, according to data released Monday by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Centre. (Scmp)

CENTRAL ASIA


Kazakhstan Grants US Access to Ports for Afghan-Bound Goods
By gaining access to Aktau and Kuryk, the United States will gain additional ways to circumvent Russia. (Eurasianet)

Uzbekistan Gives Full Backing to Tajikistan's Hydropower Project

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev told his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon that Uzbekistan is willing to get involved across the board in the Tajik hydroelectric sector, and name-checked the highly contentious giant Roghun Dam. Construction at Roghun is now underway and according to optimistic Tajik estimates should begin to generate power by early as the end of this year. (Eurasianet)

Dordoi market checked for corrupt schemes
Kyrgyzstan's security service inspected #Dordoi #market for "corruption schemes." Theatricality of this is almost endearing considering that this market is one of the black holes through which #Chinese goods are re-exported in violation of #EEU rules. (24.kg)

$7.5 Billion Pipeline Has Surprise Patrons: Taliban Militants
After decades of talks, Afghanistan finally broke ground last month on a $7.5 billion gas pipeline that will run through areas controlled by the Taliban. Even more surprising: The militant group is backing the project.The Taliban “deems it its responsibility to revive foundational economic and reconstruction work in the country and asks international construction companies to help the Afghans in this regard,” Zabihullah Mujahed, a spokesman, said in a statement last month. (Bloomberg)

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)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

A New China Military Base in Pakistan?
Reports about Beijing trying to acquire another facility there could have significant consequences for the region. A recent report about China trying to acquire a military base in Pakistan has created new concerns about Beijing’s long-term strategic plans in the Indian Ocean. The new base is supposed to go up in Jiwani, about 80 kilometers to the west of the better-known Gwadar port.If China does establish a military base here, it will be its second foreign military base, after Djibouti, which was set
up in August 2017. (The Diplomat)

FDI into western China soars in January
Foreign direct investment into western China, a key region in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, rose by 56.4% in the same period, the official data showed. (Asia Times)

NEPAL LEADER VOWS TO REVIVE CHINESE DAM PROJECT, OPEN TO REVIEW PACT OVER NEPALESE SOLDIERS IN INDIA
Nepal’s new communist prime minister will restart a Chinese-led US$2.5 billion hydropower project that was pulled by the previous government considered friendly towards India, and wants to increase infrastructure connectivity with Beijing to ease the country’s reliance on New Delhi. (scmp)

China woos Pakistan militants to secure Belt and Road projects
China has been quietly holding talks with Pakistani tribal separatists for more than five years in an effort to protect the $60bn worth of infrastructure projects it is financing as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. (FT)

China Denies Contacts with Separatist Militants in Pakistan
Chinese officials have denied reports that they are in contact with separatist militants in Pakistan’s restive Baluchistan province to secure tens of billions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure projects planned for the area. (VOA)

BATTLEGROUND MALAYSIA: CHINA EXTENDS CRACKDOWN ON UYGURS ACROSS BORDERS
Beijing’s request for 11 Uygurs to be extradited from Malaysia comes as it imposes one of the world’s most intrusive surveillance systems in Xinjiang, a security approach it seeks to export to Belt and Road countries (Scmp)

Caucasus Trans-Caspian trade route to open China import markets
The ‘Middle Corridor’ of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR) is expanding. At a meeting in Ankara on 16 February it was agreed that Turkish State Railways would join the TITR as a full member. Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia established the TITR in 2013 as a coordinating committee between their national railways. In April 2017 they signed the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route Protocol, underpinning the international legal framework for the TITR. (East AsiaForum)

CENTRAL ASIA 

Uzbekistan to restore railroad leading to Tajikistan
Uzbekistan began restoring railroad leading to Tajikistan, local media report. The railways leading to Khatlon province of Tajikistan were dismantled a decade and a half ago.According to Tajik news agencies, restoration works will be finished soon and trains will begin to run before March 10.
President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev’s state visit to Tajikistan is planned for that time. The passenger railway routes are planned to be launched between two countries.The media reports said earlier that Tajikistan and Uzbekistan are discussing the possibility of opening railway routes through Uzbekistan to Russia: Dushanbe - Pakhtaabad - Boysun - Karshi - Tosguzar railroad bypassing Turkmenistan. (Akipress)

Uzbekistan Unblocks Banned Website
From around lunchtime on February 12, internet users in Uzbekistan have been reporting being able to visit websites that have for many years been blocked.Among the news websites once again made available were those of the BBC, Voice of America,

Moscow-baed Ferghana news agency and Eurasianet. The websites for Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have also been unblocked. Perhaps most remarkably, the website run by the foreign-based People’s Movement of Uzbekistan opposition group, uzxalqharakati.com, can also now be viewed inside the country without a proxy. (eurasianet)

Uzbek Singers Are Told: No Tattoos, No Earrings, And No Singing In Bedrooms In Videos

Uzbek singers can no longer sport a tattoo, show off expensive cars, or sing in a bedroom in music videos -- all part of new rules unveiled by government officials this week. Male singers shouldn’t dress like women or wear garish jewelry, according to a directive published on the website of Uzbekkonsert, a state body that regulates the Central Asian country's music industry. (rferl)

Once-repressive Uzbekistan begins a post-Karimov opening

In Uzbekistan’s ancient Silk Road city of Samarkand, near the blue-domed madrassas of central Registan Square, young Uzbeks still jostle for selfies by the statue of a local boy made good, the late dictator Islam Karimov. But, 17 months after Karimov’s death, there are signs that a country that democracy watchdog Freedom House long ranked alongside North Korea on political rights and civil liberties is starting to loosen the screws. (Financial Times)

President Says Time's Up For 'Mad Dog' Uzbek Security Service
President Shavkat Mirziyoev in his second year in office has made no bones about criticizing one of the pillars of his long-serving predecessor's strong-armed rule, accusing the SNB of committing atrocities, targeting innocent people, and "exceeding its authority."During a meeting with local activists in Bukhara Province on February 16, Mirziyoev continued his recent criticism of the SNB -- used by former President Islam Karimov to maintain tight control over the country's people and politics. (Rferl)

Kyrgyzstan: Alleged Coup Plotters on Hunger Strike
The trio have warned they will step up their protest if there is no reaction from the security services or parliament. (Eurasianet)

Flour Power: Turkmenistan Mulling 'Surplus Confiscation' Amid Shortage

It seems that desperate times call for desperate measures in northern Turkmenistan, where authorities are reported to be considering the confiscation of "surplus" flour from people amid severe shortages of the staple. (Rferl)

Tajikistan Debt Crosses a Red Line
External debt reached $2.9 billion at the start of 2018, crossing the psychologically important 40 percent debt-to-gross domestic product ratio mark. (Eurasianet)

India gets control of Iranian port
India and Iran on Saturday signed agreements, including Tehran leasing to New Delhi operational control of part of the Iranian east coast port of Chabahar for 18 months. The $85 million project, just 90km from Gwadar port, creates a transit route between India, Iran and Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan. (Dawn)

Kazakhstan Plans to Extend 'Electronic' Jurisdiction of its National Security Committee

According to a draft law introduced to Kazakhstan’s Parliament for discussion by March 05, the powers of the State Security Committee in Kazakhstan (KNB) would be expanded when new functions in the field of information and network security. (fergananews)ù

TAPI Gas Pipeline Sets To Enter Afghanistan, Groundbreaking On Friday
Turkmenistan has completed construction of gas pipeline in its section under TAPI project, following which a groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled to be performed at the Turkmen border city of Serhetabat on Friday to take the pipeline to Afghanistan. (UrduPoint)

In Cina e Asia

Un finale diplomatico per le Olimpiadi

Come per la cerimonia d’inaugurazione, sarà di nuova la diplomazia a dominare la chiusura delle Olimpiadi invernali il prossimo sabato, quando Ivanka Trump guiderà la delegazione americana in rappresentanza del padre. A lei saranno riservate misure di sicurezza in stile presidenziale e l’accoglienza della first lady. Mentre i dettagli della visita sono ancora oscuri, la sua funzione sembra essere quella di dimostrare all’alleato sudcoreano l’appoggio di Washington nel lento percorso di distensione con Pyongyang e smorzare l’approccio duro adottato dal vicepresidente Mike Pence durante le prime battute della manifestazione sportiva, che hanno visto anche la partecipazione della sorella di Kim Jong-un. Nei giorni scorsi è stato nuovamente Rex Tillerson a parlare di “apertura al dialogo” con la Corea del Nord. L’arrivo di Ivanka coinciderà con l’inizio di una trasferta di tre giorni da parte della vicepremier cinese Liu Yandong come inviata speciale. Principale fautore di una ripresa dei negoziati con Pyongyang, Pechino è fermamente convinto che la chiave della risoluzione della crisi coreana sia nelle mani di Washington e Seul.

Pechino “in trattative” con i ribelli pakistani

Sono cinque anni che Pechino dialoga segretamente con i guerriglieri pakistani. Secondo fonti del Financial Times, l’obiettivo è quello di mantenere al riparo il corridoio economico da 60 miliardi di dollari che la Cina sta costruendo in Pakistan andando a toccare la regione sudoccidentale del Baluchistan, scossa da spinte secessioniste. Il coinvolgimento politico cinese nel paese dell’Asia Meridionale contravviene al principio cardine della strategia estera di Pechino: quello della non ingerenza negli affari interni degli altri paesi. Tuttavia, il raffreddamento dei rapporti tra Islamabad e Washington ha lasciato campo aperto al gigante asiatico. Secondo le fonti, i lucrosi finanziamenti elargiti da Pechino starebbero cominciando a infiacchire le rivendicazioni indipendentiste dei ribelli, nonostante il ripetersi di attacchi violenti contro obiettivi cinesi. Non è la prima volta che la Cina riveste il ruolo di pacere nella regione. Tentativi simili sono stati riscontrati in Afghanistan con l’obiettivo di promuovere i colloqui tra Kabul e i talebani. Di recente, Pechino ha reso noto il desiderio di estendere il corridoio Cina-Pakistan ad agganciare il paese dei “barbuti”.

L’AIIB punta ai paesi islamici

L’ Islamic Development Bank affiancherà l’Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank per sopperire al deficit infrastrutturale che affligge l’Africa e i paesi emergenti musulmani. Lo ha annunciato al Financial Times il presidente dell’istituto sottolineando come solo il continente nero necessiti di 150 miliardi di investimenti l’anno. Molti dei paesi membri dell’IDB sono tra quell’ottantina di stati già partner dell’AIIB. La cooperazione tra i due istituti aiuterà la superbanca cinese ad espandere le proprie attività nell’ambito della Belt and Road. Ad oggi l’IDB ha erogato la maggior parte del credito a progetti in Turchia, Indonesia, Egitto, Pakistan e Turkeministan, tutti paesi nell’orbita d'interesse di Pechino.

Pechino mette al bando i funerali “porno”

Secondo il ministero della cultura, la campagna di rettificazione coinvolgerà le province dello Henan, Anhui, Jiangsu ed Hebei. La popolazione è invitata a collaborare segnalando, attraverso un’apposita hotline, la presenza di infrazioni durante i funerali. Le soffiate verranno ricompensate con premi in denaro. E’ dagli anni ’90 che nelle aree rurali le cerimonie funebri vedono la partecipazione di ragazze avvenenti in lingerie accompagnate da chiassosi applausi, risate e tutto quello che meno si addice — secondo i nostri parametri e quelli di Pechino — a un funerale. Studi sulla strana usanza in corso dal 2006 tendono a spiegare il fenomeno collegandolo al tema della fertilità, ma anche alla volontà dei contadini di ostentare il proprio benessere economico con rituali sfarzosi e sfogare i propri istinti sessuali repressi. Punibile in passato con la pena di morte, la pornografia è tra i comportamenti disdicevoli a cui la leadership di Xi Jinping ha dichiarato guerra per restaurare i valori socialisti.

Il vero nemico di Xi Jinping: l’ineguaglianza sociale

L’ineguaglianza sociale continua a crescere in Cina mettendo a dura prova le promesse di un benessere diffuso su cui Xi Jinping fonda la propria legittimità agli occhi del popolo. Secondo il National Bureau of Statistics, nel 2017 il coefficiente di Gini — che misura la diseguaglianza sociale — è aumentato dello 0,002 su base annua a quota 0.467,meno del picco record registrato nel 2008 ( 0.491) ma comunque 0,005 punti in più del 2005. Al contempo, il reddito dell’upper class è cresciuto del 9,1% contro il 7,7%, 7,2% e 7.1% della upper-middle, middle e lower-middle class. Come spiega il Nikkei, il motore della disparità va ricercato nella bolla immobiliare. Negli ultimi anni, molti cinesi in possesso di più immobili si sono arricchiti grazie all’impennata dei prezzi delle case, tanto che il reddito derivante dall’alienazione di beni è cresciuto dell’11% annuo, tornando sulle due cifre a distanza di tre anni. Al contempo, le limitazioni imposte sui flussi migratori verso le grandi città hanno inibito l’emancipazione di contadini e migranti, gli strati più svantaggiati. Un bel grattacapo per Pechino e il suo sogno di una “società moderatamente prospera” entro il 2020.

India: esaminandi a piedi nudi

Niente scarpe e calzini. E’ la nuova regola adottata dalle autorità dello stato indiano di Bihar per impedire agli studenti di copiare da appunti nascosti durante l’esame finale previsto per il 21 febbraio. Allora saranno 1,8 milioni i quindicenni a sostenere la prova. Altre misure prevedono l’impiego di telecamere e perquisizioni prima di entrare in aula. Sono anni che Bihar si batte per debellare le irregolarità durante gli esami. Nel 2016, le minacce si sono trasformate in sanzioni pecuniarie e arresti, mentre nel 2013, 1600 studenti sono stati espulsi per aver copiato a scuola.

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

China’s Military Base in Afghanistan
Beijing has long refrained from engaging militarily beyond its borders. However, as some recent reports suggest, this situation may soon change. Ferghana News reported that China will build a military base in the northern province of Afghanistan, and, according to the news agency, the Ministry of Defense of Afghanistan is already expecting a Chinese expert delegation to discuss the location and further technicalities for the base. If these reports are true, China will fully fund the new military base in Badakhshan, covering all material and technical expenses, including both lethal and nonlethal weaponry and equipment. (Diplomat)

China denies plan to build military base in Afghanistan

China’s Defence Ministry on Thursday denied that it was planning to build a military base in Afghanistan, branding such reports “groundless”.Russian news agency Ferghana News, which focuses on Central Asia, has reported that China will build the base in northern Afghanistan. The report was picked up last week by U.S. magazine The Diplomat and then in Chinese state media.

Pakistan looks to China after US-India alliance
During the 1960s, Pakistan was China’s diplomatic window to the West, eventually brokering the normalisation of China-US relations in 1971. Today, the physical facet of Mao’s depiction is becoming a reality in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. (Dawn)

Freight trains between EU and China see costs drop by 40%
The overall freight cost of the CHINA RAILWAY Express (CR Express), which operates rail cargo routes between China and Europe as well as other regions, has dropped by about 40% from what it was at the earlier stage of the service, an official from China's top economic planner said on 22 January. In 2017, the whole-year number of CR Express train journeys increased rapidly to 3,673, up 116% over the previous year, with that number surpassing the sum figure of all the CR Express services during the past six years, Yan Pengcheng, spokesman for the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said at a regular press conference on 22 January.( Global Times)

China's Xinjiang to build 'Great Wall' to protect border: governor
China’s violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang will build a “Great Wall” around its borders to prevent the infiltration of militants from outside the country, state media reported on Tuesday citing the regional governor. (Reuters)

China sells exploration rights for three oil, gas blocks in Xinjiang-Xinhua
China has sold exploration rights for three oil and gas exploration blocks in the remote northwest Xinjiang region for more than 2.7 billion yuan ($422 million), the Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.It said that Shenergy Co, Xinjiang Energy (Group) Co and Zhongman Petroleum and Natural Gas Group Corp (ZPEC) secured the rights after a bidding competition that attracted seven companies.

China's war on smog slows December rail, truck freight volume

Rail freight volumes last month fell 3.8 percent from a year earlier to 303.87 million tonnes, the lowest since June 2017 and the first year-on-year decline since July 2016, the National Bureau of Statistics said.Road freight, China’s most popular form of freight transportation, grew by 5.6 percent to 3.3 billion tonnes, its lowest growth rate since January 2017.The transport slowdown reflects a decline in China’s fixed asset investment, which increased at its slowest rate since 1999 in December, signaling flagging growth in the world’s second-largest economy. (Reuters)

China’s ExIm Bank commits $4bn in push beyond infrastructure
Export-Import Bank of China is releasing a $4bn wave of private equity capital that will broaden the state-controlled overseas investor’s scope beyond infrastructure as it seeks to compete with global funds for diversified assets. (FT)

Japan, China, and the Western Balkans

On January 17, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wrapped up a five-day trip to northern and southeastern Europe. After visiting Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, he went to Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania. His trip to the Baltic and the Balkan regions fits within Tokyo’s decades-long attempts to establish itself as a global economic and political leader, and to increase its sphere of influence via the use of soft power and the employment of its financial prowess as a diplomatic lever. (DIplomat)

China-Europe trains connect Xinjiang to world

China-Europe freight trains that set off from Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, made a total of 1,164 trips as of the end of 2017. The statistic was announced by Shohrat Zakir, chairman of the regional government, while delivering a government work report at the ongoing local parliamentary session. Urumqi, which saw the start of the first China-Europe train in May 2016, now launches three such trains on a daily basis. The trains can reach five Central Asian countries and 17 European countries. Xinhua

China Piles Up Free Trade Deals as Trump Abandons Them

Just as the U.S. throws up new barriers to cross-border commerce, its largest trading partner China is redoubling its efforts to seal free-trade agreements.From deals with blocs including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to bilaterals with tiny countries like Maldives, China’s FTAs already cover 21 countries. That compares with the 20 countries covered by U.S. agreements. More than a dozen additional pacts are being negotiated or studied, according to the Ministry of Commerce. (Bloomberg)

Chinese contractors grab lion’s share of Silk Road projects

Beijing fails to share benefits of transport infrastructure programmes. Of the contractors working on China-funded transport infrastructure projects in 34 Asian and European countries, 89 per cent were Chinese, leaving 11 per cent from elsewhere, according to the study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think-tank. (FT)

DISAPPEARED CHINESE ENGINEER HOLDS TIES WITH PAKISTAN HOSTAGE
Amid a breakdown in relations with the US and questions over China’s commitment to its Belt and Road investments, the suspected kidnapping of Pingzhi Liu could not have come at a worse time for Islamabad. China has signalled that it is considering freezing further CPEC-related investment until the country’s domestic situation stabilises. (Scmp)

China to establish court for OBOR disputes

An international commercial court is to be set up in Beijing, Xi'an and Shenzhen to provide litigation, mediation and arbitration solutions (Asia Times)

White elephants out but China-backed AIIB still keen on infrastructure with room for growth

The China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank will steer clear of white elephants but invest in some New Silk Road projects that go beyond immediate needs, the lender’s chief said on Wednesday. (Scmp)

Georgia’s Communists, With Chinese Help, Fight to Preserve Stalin’s Press

The museum – formally known as the J. Stalin Underground Printing House Museum – nevertheless carries on. “In 1991 when the USSR fell apart, capitalists and counter-revolutionary traitors seized this building and threw us all out,” says Jiuli Sikmashvili, the 78-year-old leader of the United Communist Party of Georgia, who doubles as the museum's curator. “For years, academics and men of science worked here and thrived - now we survive on donations from tourists.” (Eurasianet)

Pakistan turns to Russia and China after US aid freeze
Defence minister flags ‘regional recalibration’ of foreign and security policy (Financial Times)

China’s ‘Soft Power’ in Central Asia Both More and Less than It Appears

From one perspective, China has enormous “soft power” in Central Asia, the ability, as Joseph Nye defined it (Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power, New York, 1990), “to persuade others to do what it wants without force or coercion.” It can and does present itself in the region as a non-European state without an imperial tradition—in contrast to the Russian Federation and the West. Moreover, it is capably presenting itself both as a counterweight to the influence of those countries in the region and as a rising power interested in promoting trade and development across Central Asia. (Jamestown Foundation)

CENTRAL ASIA

Tajik President Earmarks Thousands of Extra Jobs for Chinese Workers

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has adjusted the country’s migration quota to allow in another 2,400 Chinese workers, Ozodi Radio reports referring to the Ministry of Labor, Migration and Employment.Chinese workers will primarily work on the construction of the Tajik section of the Turkmenistan-China gas pipeline. (Fergana News)

Kazakhstan: Businessman a Hostage in Astana-Ablyazov Feud?
Without warning one evening in November, agents from Kazakhstan’s security services mobbed the parking lot of a shopping center in Almaty to arrest Iskander Yerimbetov on charges of money-laundering. Family members of the 46-year-old entrepreneur have described the operation as a “hostage-taking.” (eurasianet)

Uzbekistan & Tajikistan: Catalysts for a Regional Water Solution?

The continuing rapprochement between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan could provide a boost to regional efforts that address one of Central Asia’s key strategic issues: the sustainable management of water resources.Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has placed water management high on his reform agenda. At the United Nations General Assembly in 2017, the Uzbek leader discussed at length the importance of water in Central Asia (Eurasianet)