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

Cargo train delivers Chinese Spring Festival goods to Europe

A cargo train loaded with Chinese Spring Festival purchases left Zhengzhou, a key transport hub in central China's Henan Province, and headed for Germany Wednesday. China Railway Corporation's Zhengzhou bureau said it would increase the proportion of food products on the trains during the Spring Festival travel rush to meet the demand of overseas Chinese in countries along the Belt and Road routes. (Xinhua)

China in talks over military base in remote Afghanistan: Officials

Worried about militants sneaking into a restive Chinese region from war-torn Afghanistan, Beijing is in talks with Kabul over the construction of a military base, Afghan officials say, as it seeks to shore up its fragile neighbour.The army camp will be built in Afghanistan's remote and mountainous Wakhan Corridor, where witnesses have reported seeing Chinese and Afghan troops on joint patrols. (AFP)

Xinjiang assigns 76,000 officials to poor villages

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have assigned 76,000 officials to villages in 2018 to fight poverty and maintain stability. In an effort to enhance work in extremely poor villages and to alleviate poverty, the Communist Party of China (CPC) Committee in Xinjiang has assigned
76,000 officials and 12,000 working groups to cover every village in the region, the Xinjiang Morning Post reported on Thursday. (Global Times)

Chinese tycoon sues local government for $640m
One of China’s richest men has revealed an attempt to sue a municipal government for Rmb4bn ($640m) over a suspended project to build a new city, the biggest case of its kind brought by an entrepreneur against the state.Yan Jiehe said the company he founded, China Pacific Construction Group, had not been paid for its work on Lanzhou New City, a settlement once billed as “Las Vegas in the Gobi”, where diggers flattened dozens of hills before officials suspended the project in 2013. (FT)

Beijing sends in new envoy in sign it wants bigger role for Afghanistan in ‘New Silk Road’

Beijing is poised to step up security and economic engagement with Afghanistan, naming an official who has worked on President Xi Jinping’s signature trade initiative as its new envoy in Kabul. (scmp)


Defense Ministry's Regular Press Conference on January 25

I have noticed two different kinds of reports on this issue on the Internet. One says that China is financing Afghanistan to build a military base. I haven’t heard of anything like that.The other report says that China is planning to establish its own military base in Afghanistan. What I want to tell you is that China and Afghanistan maintain normal military security cooperation. China and the international community are all supporting the Afghanistan side to strengthen its capability-building in national defense and counter-terrorism. The report on China’s building of its own military base in Afghanistan is ungrounded. (Mod)

StanChart signs $1.6 billion 'Belt and Road' funding deal with China

State-owned China Development Bank will make available up to 10 billion yuan ($1.59 billion) to Standard Chartered to fund projects in countries along China’s ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructure route, StanChart said on Thursday. (Reuters)

Gerry Shih on China’s Uyghur Muslims, under pressure at home and abroad
Associated Press (AP) reporter Gerry Shih was hard at work in 2017 writing a remarkable series of articles on China’s Uyghur Muslim minority. By traveling not just to China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, where 10 to 15 million Uyghurs live, but also to Syria, where some have fled and taken up arms with militant groups, he sought to answer the most politicized and consequential
questions about the ethnic group. (supchina)

Tibet's foreign trade rebounds in 2017
Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region saw its foreign trade rebound in 2017. The total value of imports and exports in the region rose 13.9% to 5.885 billion yuan (934.4 million US dollars) last year. Tibet's foreign trade fell for two consecutive years following the Nepal earthquake in 2015. Xinhua

Chinese shipping employee shot dead in Pakistan's city of Karachi

A Chinese man working with a shipping company in Pakistan was shot dead on Monday in what police described as a targeted attack in Karachi, police and hospital officials said. (Reuters)

Businesses tapping Belt and Road 'will have recourse'

Beijing's recent decision to set up three international commercial courts to resolve disputes arising from its ambitious multi-billion dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been viewed as a logical next step, according to observers. (Strait Times)

How Come China’s Ex-Reds Are So Much Better off Than Russia’s Ex-Reds?

China and Russia followed two distinct approaches to reform, leading to drastically different trajectories of economic growth.While both countries have experienced rising inequality over the last 30 years, Russia’s income distribution has worsened at a faster pace and in a bigger magnitude. What caused the difference in income distribution dynamics between the two? There are important lessons to be learned on the impact of policy decisions on inequality. (Asia Sentinel)

Kazakhstan focusses on water efficiency to ease water sharing with China
Policymakers in Kazakhstan shift focus to domestic water saving measures to reduce reliance on river water flowing from China. (the third pole)

CENTRAL ASIA

Kazakhstan: Online Anonymity Ban in Force from April
Any websites failing to stop people from commenting anonymously will face fines of $750 or more.This strict anonymity rule is part of a broader set of restrictions on the media that were approved by President Nursultan Nazarbayev in November. Critics of the legislation have cried foul, insisting it will severely limit the freedoms of journalists to do their jobs. (Eurasianet)

Uzbek President Announces Reform of Notorious Special Service

The National Security Service of Uzbekistan (SNB) will be refocused on the core tasks of the special service and transfer all non-related units to other government institutions, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced during an extended meeting of the SNB's leadership on January 31, the presidential press service reports. (Fergana News)

Former Uzbek leader's daughter resigns as ambassador

Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, daughter of former Uzbek leader Islam Karimov, has stepped down as Uzbekistan’s UNESCO representative, becoming the latest official from her father’s administration to depart. (Reuters)

How Shavkat Mirziyoev Became Uzbekistan's Supreme Leader

The dismissal of the head of Uzbekistan’s National Security Service (SNB), Rustam Inoyatov, on January 31 was the latest and arguably most important step so far in President Shavkat Mirziyoev’s consolidation of power.It was clear when Mirziyoev came to power in September 2016 after the death of Uzbekistan’s first president, Islam Karimov, that Mirziyoev would have to fend off some challenges before he could cement his claim to leadership. (rferl)

Work Resumes On Troubled Turkmenistan-China Pipeline
Work has resumed in Tajikistan on construction work on a natural gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan to China.Deputy Energy and Water Resources Minister Jamshed Shoimzoda said at a
press conference on January 30 that funding for building work is being provided by China. Payments are being made on a regular basis, he said. (Eurasianet)

Tajikistan expanding cotton fields in a bid to raise output
Cotton cultivation area in Tajikistan has increased by 13,500 hectares this year, local news agency TajikTA reported Feb. 5.“Cotton is one of the Tajik export commodities and a raw material for the local light industry. With growth of market demand cotton is now being cultivated in a total area of 187,500 hectares, 13,500 hectares more compared to 2017,” Tajik Ministry of Agriculture states. (Trend)

Tajikistan Converts 2,000 Mosques Into Public Facilities

Tajikistan last year converted 2,000 mosques into facilities for general public use in its latest effort to streamline the practice of religion in the country and marginalize those not directly under government control. (Eurasianet)

Tajikistan: Opposition Leader Tried in Absentia
A spokesman for the court has declined to state what Muhiddin Kabiri is being charged with, saying those details are a "state secret." (Eurasianet)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Multiple Routes Between China And Europe Is Why The New Silk Road Is A Real Game Changer

There are currently three operational rail corridors that physically connect China and Europe. The northern one goes mainly through Russia, and for the most part follows the route of the Trans-Siberian Express. The central route goes all the way across Kazakhstan before linking into the northern route in the west of Russia. While the southern route goes through Kazakhstan to Aktau and either crosses the Caspian Sea by ferry or goes around to Iran before going through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. Along each corridor the transport time is in the ballpark of 10.5 to 16 days. (Forbes)

WHAT A STRONGER ERDOGAN MEANS FOR CHINA

Beijing’s long-term investment in the Turkish leader may prove lucrative if the new executive president can keep a grip on his own nation’s tumultuous internal politics

(Scmp)

China's investment along Belt and Road booms

Chinese companies' investment in countries along the Belt and Road rose again in Q1. From January to March, Chinese enterprises invested 2.95 billion U.S. dollars in 43 countries along the Belt and Road, according to the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on 18 April. The investment accounted for 14.4 percent of Chinese firms' total outbound investment in Q1, compared to 9 percent for the same period last year. (Xinhua)

Seven countries to deepen cooperation on China-Europe freight rail services 

Railway authorities of China, Belarus, Germany, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Poland and Russia, have signed an agreement to deepen cooperation on China-Europe freight rail services, according to China Railway Corporation.The agreement serves the Belt and Road Initiative, expands the market share of rail freight between Asia and Europe and drives economic development and trade cooperation for counties along the route.(Global Times)

Hotan Pays Over 1 Million Yuan in “Stability” Rewards

The South China Morning Post’s Nectar Gan cites state media to report that Xinjiang authorities have paid out over a million yuan ($160,000) to 16 police officers and two private citizens in Hotan for their contribution to “maintaining stability.” Hotan, in southern Xinjiang, has been the site of several recent fatal violent incidents. (China Digital Times)

New claims of Chinese oppression against Uyghur people
China has been forcing international Uyghur students to return home by threatening their families with imprisonment. Uighur students who are studying abroad and as well local sources in the region have been forced to return under a new regulation. This has been taking place especially of those student in Turkey, Egypt and Japan, and have been treated as if they are convicted criminals. According to reports, China has begun to apply this practice to the Uyghurs, who are either immigrants or refugees abroad, as well as businessmen. (Worldbullettin)

Brexit spurs UK fantasies of restored glory ... whips, chains & boots more likelyThe British media dubbed it the Silk Road Train. And as it pulled away from a cold, cloudy and decidedly un-Central Asian platform in London last week, a small crowd waved UK and Chinese flags, clapped and, with reserve and moderation, cheered the train as it set out on the 12,000-kilometer return journey east. A Chinese dragon even did a dance. (Asia Times)

China Railway Express to EuropeThe launch of a rail freight service from the Chinese city Chongqing via the Alashankou border crossing in Xinjiang through Central Asia to Europe in March 2011 ushered in a new era for freight on rail as an alternative to shipping by sea or air. China-Europe rail cargo transport has subsequently gained rapid traction, fueled by the rollout of the Belt and Road Initiative.There are currently 40 service lines running through Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Northeast border crossings to destinations in Central Asia, Russia, Central and Eastern Europe and Western Europe. With the launch of the Yiwu-London line in January 2017, the trans-Eurasian network now extends to 15 cities in 10 European countries. A total of 1,702 trains made the trans-continental voyage between China and Europe in 2016, up 109 percent from a year before. (China.org)

Rahmah's story: 'I am a Chinese hijabi'
Rahmah is a young Chinese Muslim woman who only began wearing a hijab in her 20s. She describes how she sticks to her religious beliefs, and how she is trying to help Chinese Muslim women reclaim their identity. (BBC)

Xinjiang plans energy trade center in Karamay, eyesexpanded business in Central Asia

Northwestern China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has announced a plan to setup an oil and gas trade center in Karamay, as the region sets its sights on doing morebusiness in Central Asia.
Approved by Xinjiang's development and reform commission, the plan is in accordancewith the ambition of the nation's top energy authority to research and set up aninternational energy trade center targeting Central Asia. The Karamay center is intendedto help promote basic infrastructure in Xinjiang, which is a core region in the Belt andRoad Initiative, Xinhua News Agency reported. (People's Daily)

Horses trot through centuries-old breeding farm in northwest China
The video shows a spectacular scene of horses galloping around the Shandan Army Horse Breeding Farm in northwest China's Gansu province on April 8, 2017. The Shandan Army Horse Breeding Farm was first established in 121 B.C. by Huo Qubing, a famous cavalry general in ancient Han Dynasty. At 2,195 square kilometres, the farm is both the largest in Asia and the world's oldest horse breeding farm. (China Plus)

China opens new freight train service to Moscow

A new freight train service started on Friday linking the east China port city of Xiamen with Moscow, making it the newest China-Europe freight train route. At 9:30 a.m., the train with 40 containers left the station from Xiamen Free Trade Zone carrying goods worth 363,000 U.S. dollars including granite, lighting supplies, artificial flowers and shoes for Moscow. The train route connects the east and northeast Chinese cities of Nanchang, Nanjing, Jinan and Jinzhou, and crosses the border via Manzhouli Port in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Xinhua)

Bhutan’s Relations With China and India
The 14th Dalai Lama’s April 4-13 visit to Tawang in the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, over which China lays claim, drew thousands of followers. Among these were some 3,000 Bhutanese, who trekked across mountains to see the Tibetan spiritual leader. Bhutan shares a disputed border with Tibet and has close ties with Tibetan Buddhism, complicating its relationship with China. The Sino-Bhutanese border dispute involves 764 square kilometers (sq km) of territory. Beijing claims 495 sq km of territory in the Jakurlung and Pasamlung Valleys in north-central Bhutan and another 269 sq km in western Bhutan, comprising the Doklam Plateau. Doklam Plateau abuts Chumbi Valley, which like the Tawang salient that adjoins Bhutan’s eastern border has enormous strategic significance for China, Bhutan as well as India. India’s defense of its northeast would be undermined should Bhutan cede control over it to China. (Jamestown Foundation)


CENTRAL ASIA

Tajikistan Opens A New Chapter: No Books Allowed In Or Out Without Approval
You might want to think twice before grabbing a book to read on your flight to Tajikistan -- especially if it is written in an unfamiliar script. The country's Culture Ministry recently announced that no books are allowed in or out of the country without written permission, part of a stated effort to prevent valuable manuscripts from being smuggled out of the country. (Rferl)

'Kazakh people wear black only for mourning,' Nazarbayev says suggesting to ban beards and all-black clothes 
President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev during the meeting with the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Kazakhstan on April 19 spoke for the banning of all-black clothing for women and beards for men.He said (men's) short pants and beard "never were our traditions" and suggested to consider banning it at the legislative level, the Akorda reported. Nazarbayev made an emphasis on "religious ignorance of the younger generation," which is the reason why the young men now grow beards and shorten their pants. (Akipress)

Uzbekistan: Internet Cafes, Gaming Halls Closed En Masse

Security services in Uzbekistan have for the last few days been ordering the closure of internet and computer gaming cafes across the country in what appears to be an attempt to clamp down on suspected extremist religious activity. (Eurasianet)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Xinjiang to run more transnational freight trains in 2017
This year, 300 westbound transnational freight trains will run from northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, 80 more than last year. Two hundred will be bound for central Asian countries, 50 for Russia and 20 for Germany, Turkey and Iran, according to the regional economic and information technology commission. (Xinhua)

China's largest land port expects car import boom

Alataw Pass, China's largest land port, is expected to process more than 1,000 of imported finished automobiles this year, more than any other regular land port in China. The port, which started to import cars in September, has processed 283 parallel imported cars, including 138 in the first two months this year, according to Zhu Yunchao with Alataw Pass bonded area. (People)

China goes west: a ghost city in the sand comes to life
Mountains have been flattened and villages bulldozed to build Lanzhou New Area in China’s wild west. Four years ago Tom Phillips met empty streets and an eerie hush, but now he finds this improbable desert mirage finally filling up. (Guardian)

Welcome to Yiwu: China's testing ground for a multicultural city
Unlike Guangzhou’s African community – who have faced prejudice and hostility – Yiwu’s foreign residents enjoy an ‘unusual freedom of worship’, with the municipal government even consulting international traders on city business. (Guardian)

Chinese contingent participates in Pakistan Day military parade rehearsal 

A contingent of the guard of honour of the three services of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) on 19 March participated in a rehearsal of Pakistan's 77th national day parade in the country's capital of Islamabad. The 90-member contingent has come to Pakistan to feature in the parade on the invitation of the Pakistani side. The final parade will be held on March 23 at Shakarparian Parade Ground in Islamabad. (Xinhua)

Pakistan's new-found coal addiction has potential to transform the country's economy 

In the dusty scrub of the Thar desert, Pakistan has begun to dig up one of the world's largest deposits of low-grade, brown, dirty coal to fuel new power stations that could revolutionize the country's economy. The project is one of the most expensive among an array of ambitious energy developments that China is helping the country to build as part of a $55 billion economic partnership. A $3.5 billion joint venture between the neighbours will extract coal to generate 1.3 gigawatts of electricity that will be sent across the country on a new $3 billion transmission network. (Economic Times)

Is China prepared for a new mantle in Central Asia amid the roll-out of its belt and road?
Raffaello Pantucci says China is slowly displacing Moscow as the regional guarantor, but Beijing does not appear to have fully considered the demands of its new role, especially in the context of its ambitious ‘One Belt, One Road’ strategy (Scmp)

China says number of 'terror attacks' is down, but threat remains highThe number of violent attacks by "terrorist cells" in China has dropped due to increased security measures, state media reported on Tuesday, however it also cited experts as saying the level of attempted violence remains high. "Violent attacks involving or orchestrated by terrorist cells" dropped in 2016, the official English-language China Daily newspaper reported, citing data from the Law Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. (Reuters)

China Russia ties

After curbing arms transfers and cooling military ties more than a decade ago, China and Russia are increasing joint exercises and stepping up sales of advanced weaponry to counter the US, writes Bill Gertz. The most recent military maneuvers, in the South China Sea in September, coincided with an international court ruling that challenged Beijing’s vast maritime claim over 90% of the strategic waterway and was the first time the PRC has conducted naval exercises in the sea with a foreign military. (Asia Times)

China Shelves Central Asia Gas Plan

When gas started flowing through China's first 2,000-kilometer line (1,242-mile) from Turkmenistan in late 2009, Chinese investment and future gas demand were regarded in the region as virtually limitless. But with declines in global energy prices and China's lower economic growth rates, all that has changed. Despite environmental pressures and bullish projections, China's gas consumption growth has moderated since the start of the economic slowdown. In November, a researcher at state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) said the country could face a gas surplus of 50 billion cubic meters (bcm) a year by 2020 due to long-term contracts for imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipeline expansion plans, Platts reported. (Radio Free Asia)

Russia to open yuan clearing centre in Moscow

Russia will open a yuan clearing centre in Moscow on Wednesday, while the Russian Ministry of Finance plans to launch $1 billion worth of yuan bonds, according to Russia’s central bank. The bond issuance will take place “ideally in one or two months,” Dmitry Skobelkin, vice president of Russia’s central bank said Thursday at an opening ceremony of the central bank’s first overseas liaison office, which is located in Beijing. (Caixin)

China’s Silk Road Fund ‘seeking investment projects in Europe’

China’s Silk Road Fund is looking for investment projects in Europe, according to a senior bank official. The fund, which provides financing for China’s “One Belt, One Road” trade initiative to forge closer commercial ties with Asia and beyond, is seeking investment opportunities with a unit of the European Investment Bank, the European lender’s vice-president Jonathan Taylor said. “Cooperations between the European Investment Fund, a subsidiary of the EIB, and the Silk Road Fund are under discussion,” Taylor said at the start of a five-day trip to China. “Discussions between the EIF and the Silk Road Fund are centering on investment in Europe,” he told a press conference.
China pledged to contribute U$S40 billion to set up Silk Road Fund three years ago. (Scmp)

Blackwater founder to open bases in Xinjiang
Military company Blackwater's founder plans to build new bases in China, a move to support the One Belt and One Road initiative. Frontier Services Group (FSG), a company that helps businesses operating in frontier markets overcome complex security, logistics and operational challenges, is planning to built two operation bases in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Southwest China's Yunnan Province, Erik Prince, executive chairman of the firm, told the Global Times in mid-March. (Global Times)

CENTRAL ASIA

To Afghanistan Not Syria? Islamic State Diverts Tajik Fighters South

In February, the Iranian government extradited five members of the same family originating from Hamadoni district, in southern Tajikistan, back to their home country (Radio Ozodi, March 2). Abdulfayz Vazirov, 33, and his sister Mohira Salimova, 32, left Tajikistan for Russia in the summer of 2016 with her three children. Under the guidance of Abu Nureki, a Tajik fighter in Iraq, they traveled to Turkey. But they could not cross the border with Syria and made their way to Iran instead. Khojaev traveled directly to Iran from Novosibirsk, where he had been working as a mediator on a construction site. The family was detained near Zahedan, in southern Iran, while trying to cross the border into Afghanistan to join the Islamic State Khurasan Province (ISKP)—the local Afghani wing of the international terrorist organization. (Jamestown Foundation)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

What China Didn’t Learn From the Collapse of the Soviet Union
It’s been 25 years since the fall of the Soviet Union, and in that time the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has generated tens of thousands of internal papers, roundtables, and even documentaries on the issue. Like most intellectual products in the mainland, 95 percent of these have been worthless regurgitations of the political line of the day by mediocre careerists. But the official angle on the collapse, which once seemed to be pushing the country toward reforms that were more sensitive to public needs and opening the economy, has shifted sharply in the last few years. Today, the lessons Beijing is drawing seem likely to keep sending it backward. (Foreign Policy)

Chinese companies increasingly employ central asians
It’s often received wisdom that Chinese companies mainly employ Chinese workers on their projects in Central Asia (for example David Lewis of Exeter University recently on the Majlis podcast). This view fails to recognise that Chinese companies have been localising for some time, and that old narratives on Chinese labour practices in Central Asia need to be reexamined. There is significant evidence of Chinese companies employing Central Asians, particularly in labouring, clerical and interpreting jobs. Criticism of a lack of opportunities in management and technical positions is probably justified but some companies, such as Huawei, offer opportunities at that level too. (China in Central Asia)

China gets an all-clear from the Taliban to mine for copper in Afghanistan
The Taliban say they're giving China the green light to restart a $3 billion mining project, but Afghanistan's legal government says the militant group is just blowing smoke. "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan directs all its Mujahideen to help in the security of all national projects that are in the higher interest of Islam and the country," the Taliban announced on Nov. 29, adding that a massive copper mine called Mes Aynak is among the sites it is "committed to safeguarding." (CNBC)

Afghanistan voices displeasure over being ignored in upcoming trilateral meetin

Kabul voiced displeasure over the planned trilateral meeting between China, Russia and Pakistan on Afghanistan in Moscow on Tuesday, Tolo News reported. Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs' (MoFA) spokesman Ahmad Shekib Mustaghni said on Monday that the agenda of the meeting was a matter of concern. Despite Afghanistan being the focus of their agenda, Kabul was not consulted, he said.

"Gratuitous utilisation”: How China is actively bringing the Tajik parts of Pamir under its influence

The Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO) of Tajikistan, also known as Pamir—a namesake of mountains, occupies about 40 per cent of Tajikistan’s territory, i.e. about 63,700 sq. km. The region borders on Kyrgyzstan in the north, China in the east and Afghanistan in the south. The Pamir mountains are known for their wealth of natural resources, hence the interest of many countries in it with China, Tajikistan’s immediate neighbour, being the first in line. And in April 2010, the government of Tajikistan approved of an agreement between the Geology Service of the Chinese ministry of lands and resources and the Tajik administration for geology. The agreement paved way for “joint geological prospects in border zones” that have been underway for more than six years. (Fergana News)

China says to hold first military drills with Nepal next year

China will hold its first military drills with Nepal next year, China's Defence Ministry said on Thursday (Dec 29), in a move that could unnerve neighbouring India. China is vying to increase its influence in landlocked Nepal, which serves as a natural buffer between China and India, challenging India's long-held position as the dominant outside power. While China and India have tried to improve ties, a festering border dispute and deep mutual suspicions remain. (Strait Times)

Between Russia and China, the Black Dragon River
The Amur River separates China from Russia’s Far East, and not so long ago was the site of bloody conflict. (The Diplomat)

5 Upheavals To Expect Along The New Silk Road In 2017

The New Silk Road is a multifaceted, multinational initiative to establish a network of enhanced overland and maritime economic corridors extending between China and Europe, better integrating a region that consists of over 60 countries and 60% of the population, 75% of the energy resources, and 70% of GDP in the world. Here some predictions for the next year:

1. Leaps towards more of an institutionalized framework

2. Continued on the ground development

3. Increased participation from Europe

4. The opening of new trade routes and the joining together of the overland and maritime Silk Road

5. Increased synergy between Russia, Japan, and India's international development plans with China's Belt and Road (Forbes)

The Art of the Bazaar: A Photo Essay

Every Friday Muslim migrant men fill the streets surrounding the mosque in the Ürümchi neighborhood of Black First Mountain (Heijia Shan). They come to pray. After the noonday (zohr) prayers and straining to hear the weekly message from the imam, they tuck their rugs under their arms and buy their meat for the week. Thousands come, Uyghurs from the countryside who are in the city working as day laborers in demolition sites or hawking goods on the streets, to perform their ritual ablutions and stroll through one of Ürümchi's last remaining bazaars. For centuries bazaars and mosques have been a linked ritual space for Muslims in Chinese Central Asia. (Art of Life in Chinese Central Asia)

CENTRAL ASIA 

Russia wants to boost air force presence in Tajikistan

Russia wants to expand its air force deployment to Tajikistan and is in talks with Dushanbe for joint use of an air base in the former Soviet republic, the Russian ambassador to Dushanbe said on Tuesday. Russia already has an infantry base near Dushanbe with up to 7,000 troops stationed there and last year deployed four attack and transport helicopters to a nearby Ayni air base.
Ambassador Igor Lyakin-Frolov told reporters the Russian and Tajik governments were in talks over an agreement that would allow Russia joint use of the Ayni base and to expand its presence there. (Reuters)

Kazakh Leader Says Ready To Host Russia, Iran, Turkey For Syria Talks
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev said he is ready to host talks between Russia, Iran, and Turkey on the conflict in Syria in the Kazakh capital of Astana."Kazakhstan is ready to host all sides for talks in Astana," Nazarbaev said on December 26 during a visit to St. Petersburg where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kazakh national news agency Kazinform reported that Nazarbaev recently spoke with the presidents of Turkey and Iran and got their agreement to the plan.
Putin said on December 23 that Russia, Iran, Turkey and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had all agreed that neutral Kazakhstan should be the venue for new Syrian peace negotiations.

The Soviet Union’s pivot to Asia

I very much enjoyed Chris Miller's new book The Struggle to Save the Soviet Economy, a narrative of economic policy in the last decade or so of the USSR that explains just how and why its economic problems became overwhelming. I was too young when the Soviet Union broke up to do more than just register the news headlines, so helped me get a better understanding of the events leading up to its collapse. One of book's themes is that perestroika was not in fact an ill-considered attempt to rapidly introduce Western neoliberal economics, but rather an attempt to emulate the reforms that China was implementing so successfully at the time. (Batson's Blog)

100 Women 2016: Saikal - Kyrgyzstan's original nomad warrior woman

Kyrgyzstan's national hero Manas once fell in love with and fought the daughter of a nomad chief. Her name was Saikal and this is her story. (BBC)

It's good princess V bad princess! Fears grow for Uzbek socialite 'locked away by new president' as his niece replaces her as country's poster girl 

Concern is rising over the fate of vanished Uzbekistan princess Gulnara Karimova as the country's new despot refuses calls from her family to prove to the world that she is still alive. Iron-fisted President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has ignored a demand by the son of the glamorous 44-year-old daughter of his predecessor to reveal her fate. Islam Karimov, 24, grandson and namesake of the former Tashkent tyrant, has voiced fears that 59-year-old Mirziyoyev's security operatives plan to to 'eliminate her, most likely by poisoning' (Daily Mail)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Party high-flier uses his Tibet model in bid to tame Xinjiang
Just three months after former Tibet party boss Chen Quanguo took up his new post in Xinjiang, the far western frontier is implementing new security and surveillance measures – policies its Tibetan neighbours to the south are only too familiar with. Since October, residents in many parts of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, both the predominantly Muslim Uygurs and the Han, have been told to hand over their passports to local police for safekeeping, according to police notices circulating online and residents’ complaints on social media. (South China Morning Post)

Moscow to Host Crucial Meeting With China, Pakistan to Discuss Afghanistan

Russia, Pakistan and China will hold the next round of three-way counterterrorism talks in Moscow December 27, primarily focusing on turmoil-hit Afghanistan. Russian Ambassador to Islamabad Alexey Dedov disclosed the details in an interview to state-run Pakistani radio. This will be the third meeting of the “trilateral working group on Afghanistan,” he said, following meetings in Beijing and Islamabad. (VOA)

Xinjiang sees robust textile, garment exports in first 10 months, Kazakhstan & Kyrgyzstan as two major markets 

Textile and garment exports in northwest China's Xinjiang saw robust growth in the first 10 months this year, boosted by the Belt and Road Initiative, local customs authorities have said. Exports of textiles and garments from Xinjiang reached 43 billion yuan (6.2 billion U.S. dollars) during the Jan.-Oct. period, up 49 percent from the same period last year, according to the customs of Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.(Xinhua)

Spotlight: Chinese businesses actively participate in development of Russia's Far East
Russia's development strategy for its Far East in recent years has yielded opportunities for local cooperation with China and for investment from Chinese enterprises. The deepened China-Russia political ties and mutually complementary markets, among other factors, have also contributed to a broad prospect for win-win cooperation between the border regions of the two neighbors. This is believed to be the consideration that has led to a recent visit here by a Chinese business delegation, along with massive investment and cooperation projects. According to COFCO Vice President Chi Jingtao, the company is ready to open a branch in the Far Eastern port city of Vladivostok.
Its investment will be focused on a farm produce and food processing plant, which is expected to supply products for the Russian, Chinese and international markets. Developing high-end tourism and commercial real estate at the cultural and tourist attractions of Russia's Far East is the other major part of the company's investment plan.(Xinhua)

China Focus: Chongqing's China-Europe trains on fast track
Every day, trains full of laptops, electronics and auto parts depart the remote village of Tuanjiecun for Europe. For five years, trains have delivered laptops for Hewlett-Packard, car window regulators for Brose and semi-conductors for AT&S, from Chongqing Municipality, southwest China, to Europe. Since the trains started in March 2011, there has been a business boom in the mountain city. According to Chongqing Logistics City, Chongqing imported more than 2,000 cars on the international rail network in the past two years. Six years ago the city was struggling to attract businesses, which mostly centred on China's coastal areas where convenient shipping and air transport converge. (People)

Kyrgyz concerns about donkey exports to China
Kyrgyzstan has signed a contract to export 4,000 donkeys to China, reigniting a row about the ethics and transparency of the trade. Police in Osh region in the south of the Central Asia state confirm that lorries laden with the live donkeys are already heading for China, adding that all licences and medical paperwork are in order, the Turmush web site reports. It established that the donkeys come from farmers in Chong-Alai village, and the price paid per head by a Chinese-Kyrgyz company is on above the local market value of 3,000-4,000 soms ($43-57; £34-46). (BBC)

China 'blocks' border crossing to Mongolia as relations freeze over following Dalai Lama visit

After receiving a visit from exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Mongolia says that China has closed down a key border crossing between the two countries. Al Jazeera reports that hundreds of mining trucks have been stuck at the Gants Mod crossing in southeastern Mongolia in sub-zero temperatures after tariffs on commodity shipments between China and Mongolia were raised last month, coinciding with a six-day visit to Ulaanbaatar made by the Dalai Lama. (Shanghaiist)

New rail and road cargo service opens between Tibet, Nepal, largely cutting transport time and boosting trade
Dozens of trucks carrying 19 million yuan (2.8 million U.S. dollars) worth of goods left the border port of Gyirong in Tibet after customs clearance on Friday, continuing the journey to their destination in Nepal.The new rail and road cargo service, linking Guangdong, Tibet and Nepal, aims to boost trade with the South Asian neighbor as China pushes forward its Belt and Road Initiative. A train carrying eight carriages and 14 boxcars full of products, including shoes, clothes, hats, furniture, appliances, electronics and building materials, covered the 5,200-km distance between Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, and Xigaze in Tibet. The trucks are responsible for the remaining 870 km of the journey, carrying goods to Gyirong and then to the final stop in Kathmandu, Nepal's capital.(Xinhua)

China fund to buy 10% stake in Russia’s largest petrochemicals group: China’s Silk Road Fund has agreed to buy a 10 per cent stake in Russia’s largest petrochemicals group, in the second major Chinese state investment in the company whose shareholders include people close to president Vladimir Putin. Sibur, which buys and processes gas produced as a byproduct of Russia’s energy industry, announced on the 14 of December that its shareholders had signed a deal for China’s Silk Road Fund – a state investment vehicle created as part of Beijing’s One Belt One Road strategy – to take a 10 per cent stake, without providing further details, writes Jack Farchy in Moscow. (FT)

Russia supports China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project: Envoy

According to an interview on Radio Pakistan, this was stated by Russian Ambassador to Pakistan Alexey Y Dedov. Dedov pointed out that CPEC is a component of China's Silk Road and his country was also working on a similar Eurasian Economic Union. He added that China and Russia are holding discussions to merge the two projects. (Dawn)

China completes $350 million power plant in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe

A Chinese firm has completed a power plant worth $350 million in Tajikistan's capital Dushanbe, the ex-Soviet country said Thursday, indicating Beijing's growing economic dominance in the cash-strapped state. It is one of several Chinese companies active in Tajikistan, where China's Exim Bank holds around half of all foreign debt. (EnergyWorld)

Tajikistan: China Swoops in For Fertilizer Plant

The game of pass the parcel with one of Tajikistan’s rare industrial success stories has now led to a promising fertilizer plant being taken over by Chinese investors. The lower house of parliament on December 14 ratified a deal between Tajikistan and China for Henan Zhong-Ya holding group to assume control of OAO Azot in a deal that will require the company to invest $360 million over the coming three years. (Eurasianet)

Kabul security gates in storage as Afghan officials trade accusations A set of giant security gates financed by China and intended to protect Kabul from large bombs and drug smuggling lie stored in a warehouse more than five months after they arrived, while Afghan authorities bicker over who should install them. Intended for the four main entry points into Kabul, they have been delayed by infighting between departments and by a land dispute, underlining the difficulty of getting things done in a country where conflict and corruption have slowed progress.
The hangar-style gates, each weighing around 30 tonnes, are to reinforce the so-called "Ring of Steel" that surrounds Kabul, a city of five million people already protected by blast walls, armed checkpoints and eye-in-the-sky surveillance cameras. (Reuters)

Will warmer ties between US and Russia leave China out in the cold?

If Tillerson’s appointment did mark the start of a new era in relations between the Kremlin and the White House, Moscow would have less incentive to compromise with Beijing, especially in central Asia, where both Russia and China were showing greater interest, observers said.But analysts also said less confrontation between the world’s two biggest military powers would “bring a more stable global security environment”, which would not be bad news for China. But “if now Russia’s international standing improves, it will have less incentive to continue compromising with China. And China will have less leverage in dealing with Russia.”(SCMP)

Central Asia

Tajik Prez visits India, defence ties to get boost
India would oblige any request for upgrading of Ayni airbase near Dushanbe as Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon comes starts his two day visit to India. It is President Rahmon’s 6th visit to India and he will be entering the country through Kochi, which is not an official part of his visit. The Ayni airbase near Tajikistan’s capital city was refurbished by India in 2007 and is seen as New Delhi’s strategy to find a toehold in the Central Asia. (India Express)

Shrinking exports spell trouble for Turkmenistan

WHEN the price of natural gas was high, Turkmenistan raked in $10bn a year from exports—a tidy sum for a country of 5m people. Most of it went on the grandiose schemes of Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, the authoritarian president and self-proclaimed “Protector”, or was distributed to his cronies. But the economy nonetheless grew at an average annual rate of 11% between 2010 and 2014, according to official statistics. The price of natural gas has since halved, however, with dire consequences. Gas accounted for a quarter of GDP and half of all government revenue. The low price means the economy has slowed markedly (see chart), and the budget has swung from a surplus of nearly 10% of GDP in 2012 to a projected deficit of 3% this year. Dwindling foreign-exchange reserves equate to just nine months of imports. (Economist)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Xinjiang sets up local committees to better serve religious activities

The requirement for residents to report religious activities to local residential committees in some places in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is aimed at assisting with the residents' religious practices, and will be expanded to the whole region, expert said. Xinjiang has established religious committees and residential communities to manage religious practices since September, requiring local residents to report their religious activities or activities attended by religious people, including circumcision, weddings and funerals, La Disheng, a professor at the Party School of the Communist Party of China Xinjiang regional committee, told the Global Times on the 22 November. (GlobalTimes)

Xinjiang officials deny holding ordinary citizens’ passports

Sources from Xinjiang police denied that the government is holding ordinary citizens' passports, noting that the government only holds passports of those who are suspected of having links to terrorism.  A source from Urumqi, capital of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, told the Global Times that local police are not holding residents' passports except for those with suspicious connections. (Global Times)

In China’s Xinjiang, Some Uyghurs are Forced Into a Sharecropper’s Life

Some Uyghurs living in China’s Xinjiang are compelled into a type of sharecropper’s existence as they are forced to abandon their children and travel hundreds of miles to find work in the cotton fields as there are no jobs near their homes, RFA’s Uyghur Service has learned. An auxiliary police officer in Guma (Pishan, in Chinese) county, called the shortage of agricultural water and farmland the “biggest problem in our county.” “The local labor force is forced to move other regions such as Aksu (Akesu, in Chinese) and Korla (Kuerle, in Chinese) and even to the bingtuan’s cotton fields in the northern part of Xinjiang because the local farmers have no other income aside from being able sell their physical labor,” said the police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity. (RFA)

Cooperation between SCO, UN of great significance, says SCO Secretary-General 

Deepening cooperation between the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the United Nations is of great significance in countering global terrorism and tackling challenges and threats, SCO chief said on the 22 of November. "Fighting global terrorism is a work without an end," SCO Secretary-General Rashid Alimov told Xinhua in an exclusive interview at the UN headquarters after attending a high-level special event on "the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Jointly Countering Challenges and Threats" . It is of great significance to deepen cooperative relations between the Regional Anti-terrorism Structure of the SCO and related anti-terrorism agencies within the UN system, he said, noting that "it is also the direction of our future work." (GlobalTimes)

The Countries Building The New Silk Road -- And What They're Winning In The Process

When the Soviet Union fell the political and economic landscape of central Eurasia shattered into a melee of disconnected, dysfunctional shards as 14 new countries suddenly emerged in tandem with a pronounced political and economic vacuum. However, almost as soon as the Soviet Union disintegrated, the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus began looking for ways to reconnect again. Inspiration for the future was soon taken straight from the pages of history. (Forbes)

China About to Start $35 Billion of Silk Road Plan in Pakistan
More than three quarters of $46 billion of planned Chinese-led investment in Pakistan will be implemented by next year as part of the world’s second-largest economy’s flagship Silk Road plan. “Out of this $46 billion, we have been so far able to energize about $35 billion,” Pakistan’s Planning, Development and Reforms Minister Ahsan Iqbal said in an interview in London. “By energizing I mean these are projects either in advanced implementation or in a stage of financially closing.” (Bloomberg)

China and Russia: Gaming the West
In September 2016, Russia held joint naval manoeuvres in the South China Sea with China, bringing some of its best ships to the party. Two weeks later, China shied away from joining Russia in a veto of yet another Western resolution on Syria at the UN. The discrepancy sums up the extent and the limits of the strategic convergence between both countries. (Ecfr)

Chinese Emb Bishkek is not issuing visas leading to protests damage after terror attack earlier in the year blamed. Domestic drivers-carriers gathered at the Chinese Embassy in Bishkek. Currently, there are about 30 people. They demand issue of visas to China to continue their work.(24Kg)

China-Kazakhstan trade center sees surge in visitors

A China-Kazakhstan trade center received 4.24 million visits from January to October, up 44 percent year-on-year, according to local border inspection authorities. Hu Ruifeng with Horgos City border checkpoint in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, said the China-Kazakhstan International Border Cooperation Center in Horgos saw 23,000 visitors a day during peak time, forcing the staff to offer faster customs clearance. (China.org)

China's Economic and Military Expansion in Tajikistan

Following its economic expansion in Central Asia, China unexpectedly took a step to expand its military dominance in the region. In September 2016, Beijing offered to build 11 new border checkpoints and a new military facility along the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border, which raised some concerns in Russia. Although these moves could position China as a security player in Central Asia, Russian experts seemingly are doubtful about the future of any China-Central Asia military alliance. Notably, Russia has an entrenched presence in the region and its largest foreign military base is located outside the Tajik capital. (The Diplomat)

Kazakhstan university may offer scholarships to Hong Kong students under ‘One Belt, One Road’ The president from a Kazakhstan university has said her institution is considering offering scholarships to Hong Kong students in a bid to strengthen connections with the city under China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative. Professor Loretta O’Donnell, vice-provost of Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev University, was speaking at a forum organised by Polytechnic University yesterday on the belt and road policy. (SCMP)

China’s ‘new Silk Road’ could expand Asia’s deserts
China’s massive Asian infrastructure network of proposed new roads and railways, new ports and airports, linking 65 countries to itself must grapple with the same problem as the ancient Silk Road it has been named after. Sand. Deserts present as big a problem along the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the shores of the “21st Century Marine Silk Road” as when camel caravans ambled across Central Asia in the Tang Dynasty. At a June event in Beijing to mark World Day to Combat Desertification, Yong Liqiang, deputy head of the State Forestry Administration, highlighted the scale of existing desertification, soil degradation and drought in more than 60 of the 65 countries covered by the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) strategy. (China Dialogue) 

Rassegna: Dispacci dalla Silk Road Economic Belt

Una crescente intolleranza cinese sta costringendo il Pakistan ad adottare una posizione più dura nei confronti di gruppi radicali anti-India come Jaish e Lashkar. Il governo pakistano valuta l'implementazione di misure volte a smembrare i gruppi e a inserire gli elementi riabilitati nelle truppe regolari. (SCMP)

Quattordici funzionari kirghisi del ministero degli Interni e del servizio frontaliero sono stati arrestati in riferimento il recente attentato che ha colpito l'ambasciata cinese a Bishkek. L'accusa è di traffico d'armi. (CRI)

Dal 2 al 9 novembre il premier cinese Li Keqiang si recherà in visita in Kirghizistan (che ospita la 15esima conferenza tra i capi di governo dei membri della Shanghai Cooperation Organization), Kazakistan, Lettonia e Russia per rilanciare la cooperazione lungo la nuova via della seta. (Xinhua)

Pechino ha pubblicato il primo Data Report sulla One Belt One Road. Dalle statistiche ufficiali trapela che Russia, Kazakistan, Thailandia, Pakistan e Indonesia sono i paesi più attivi nel progetto, mentre a livello domestico le provincie ad essere più coinvolte non sono quelle occidentali come preannunciato dal governo cinese, bensì Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Tianjin, Fujian, Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, Yunnan e Pechino. (People's Daily)

Lo scorso ottobre il vice premier cinese Wang Yang e il suo omologo russo Yury Trutnev hanno concordato di accrescere la cooperazione nel Far East russo. L'impegno è stato preso nell'ambito della secondo incontro sulla cooperazione regionale tra il nordest cinese e l'estremo oriente russo. (Xinhua People)

Secondo i media giapponesi, l'AIIB arriverà a coinvolgere 80 paesi membri, superando per adesioni l'Asian Development Bank, a quota 67. (china.com)

Xiahe è nota sopratutto per ospitare Labrag uno dei monasteri del buddhismo tibetano più famosi nel mondo. Poco si sa invece della sua comunità musulmana. Come spiega Timothy Grose, come in altre parti del Gansu, la comunità islamica di Xiahe attinge alle tre principali sette dell'Islam cinese (san da jiaopai 三大教派) e le quattro tariqa sufi (si da menhuan 四大门宦). Dal momento che ad aver spinto gli hui verso la regione sono state motivazioni commericiali più che di proselitismo, le varie etnie locali convivono piuttosto pacificamente. Infatti la moschea di Labrang è l'unica nella contea di Xiahe a non essere affiliata a una specifica tariqa (confraternita) ed è definita ufficilamente una "moschea si da menhuan" (Sound Islam Chian)

China Ocean Strategic Industry Investment Fund to promote ‘Belt and Road’ initiative: Entro la metà del 2017, 30 miliardi di yuan (4,43 miliardi dollari) verranno iniettanti nell'iniziativa OBOR. Lo ha annunciato il presidente del think tank International Ocean Forum il 22 ottobre, in occasione dell'inaugurazione dello China Ocean Strategic Industry Investment Fund (COSIIF), nato per esplorare opportunità di investimento e fornire servizi finanziari alle imprese cinesi nei mercati esteri. Tra i partner principali del fondo compare Elyseum Capital Partners, con base a Dubai. (People's Daily)

Sono in corso i controlli finali sul telaio e i vagoni ferroviari di un treno che partirà la prossima settimana da Lanzhou, la capitale della provincia nordoccidentale del Gansu, verso Minsk, dove sorgerà il China-Belarus Industrial Park. Il servizio inaugurato il 23 settembre copre una distanza di 7000 chilometri. (People's Daily)

Si ricomincia a parlare di una free trade area per i membri della Shanghai Cooperation Organization. La proposta, non nuova, è stata rilanciata dal vice ministro del Commercio cinese Qian Keming durante l'ultimo SCO economic forum. Qian ha inoltre rinnovato la richiesta dell'istituzione di una banca di sviluppo incaricata di finanziare i progetti regionali in tandem con fondi multilaterali e altri istituti (Xinhua)

Esercitazioni militari cina Tajikistan, lungo il confine con l'Afghanistan. Alla fine di ottobre Pechino ha affiancato le forze armate tagiche nel corso di esercitazioni congiunte nella regione autonoma di Gorno Badakhshan, al confine tra il Tajikistan e l'Afghanistan. L'operazione antiterrorismo ha coinvolto 10.000 soldati tajiki, insieme a blindati, artiglieria e aerei. L'operazione prende le mosse dalla creazione di un accordo di cooperazione congiunto tra Tajikistan, Cna, Pakistan e Afghanistan. Resta da vedere se la nuova alleanza riuscirà a funzionare nonostante la rivalità tra Islamabad e Dushambe. (The Diplomat)


Le autorità della municipalità di Shihezi, Xinjiang, hanno richiesto ai residenti di etnia uigura di consegnare i loro passaporti a partire dal prossimo anno, ennesima misura volta a controllare il flusso in uscita dallo Xinjiang verso ipotetici centri di addestramento in Asia Centrale e Medio Oriente. Simili provvedimenti erano stati adottati nel 2015 nella prefettura autonoma di Ili, che lo scorso giungo hanno introdotto nuove richieste per i richiedenti, come impronte digitali, campioni di DNA, immagine scannerizzata del corpo in 3D e registrazione audio della voce.(Dawn)

Le acciaierie dello Xinjiang hanno perso oltre 10 milioni di tonnellate di capacità produttiva - circa un decimo della produzione americana di un anno. La produzione dello Xinjiang è crollata del 39 per cento a 7,40 milioni di tonnellate. (The Australian)

Dal bilaterale Cina-Russia a margine del vertice Brics è emerso l'allineamento dimostrato dai due paesi riguardo i principali dossier internazionali. Tuttavia, Zheng Yu, senior researcher presso la Chinese Academy of Social Sciences ha dichiarato che "abbiamo spiegato ai russi che per ora la Cina è soltanto una potenza economica mondiale, non una superpotenza geopolitica. Sino ad oggi siamo intervenuti selettivamente su alcune questioni internazionali principali. Per la Cina, il Medio Oriente è ancora un campo di battaglia con attori globali sconosciuti". (Japan Times)

Anche se i progressi nella risoluzione delle controversie territoriali vanno a rilento, il ruolo dell'India come partner regionale della Cina si rafforza di pari passo con l'aumento dell'instabilità in Afghanistan. Inoltre una più stretta cooperazione sul triangolo Mosca-Pechino-New Delhi neutralizzerebbe gli sforzi degli Stati Uniti per isolare l'India dall'orbita di Cina e Russia. (Sputnik)

Secondo la National Development and Reform Commission, entro il 2020, tra Cina ed Europa viaggeranno almeno 5000 treni merci all'anno. Al momento sono meno di 2000. (Xinhua) Secondo il piano quinquennale della China Railway Express, la ferrovia rappresenta un nuovo tipo di commercio che si adatta alla catena di distribuzione moderna, caratterizzata da ordini più piccoli, spedizioni multiple e consegne più frequenti. (Global Times)

Rassegna: Dispacci dalla Silk Road Economic Belt

Una crescente intolleranza cinese sta costringendo il Pakistan ad adottare una posizione più dura nei confronti di gruppi radicali anti-India come Jaish e Lashkar. Il governo pakistano valuta l'implementazione di misure volte a smembrare i gruppi e a inserire gli elementi riabilitati nelle truppe regolari. (SCMP)

Quattordici funzionari kirghisi del ministero degli Interni e del servizio frontaliero sono stati arrestati in riferimento il recente attentato che ha colpito l'ambasciata cinese a Bishkek. L'accusa è di traffico d'armi. (CRI)

A breve il premier cinese Li Keqiang si recherà in visita in Kirghizistan per rilanciare la cooperazione tra i due paesi. (Xinhua)

Pechino ha pubblicato il primo Data Report sulla One Belt One Road. Dalle statistiche ufficiali trapela che Russia, Kazkistan, Thailandia, Pakistane Indonesia sono i paesi più attivi nel progetto, mentre a livello domestico le provincie ad essere più coinvolte non sono quelle occidentali come preannunciato dal governo cinese, bensì Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Tianjin, Fujian, Jiangsu, Shandong, Henan, Yunnan e Pechino. (People's Daily)
Lo scorso ottobre il vice premier cinese Wang Yang e il suo omologo russo Yury Trutnev hanno concordato di accrescere la cooperazione nel Far East russo. L'impegno è stato preso nell'ambito della secondo incontro sulla cooperazione regionale tra il nordest cinese e l'estremo oriente russo. (Xinhua People)

Secondo i media giapponesi, l'AIIB arriverà a coinvolgere 80 paesi membri, superando per adesioni l'Asian Development Bank, a quota 67. (china.com)

Xiahe è nota sopratutto per ospitare Labrag uno dei monasteri del buddhismo tibetano più famosi nel mondo. Poco si sa invece della sua comunità musulmana. Come spiega Timothy Grose, come in altre parti del Gansu, la comunità islamica di Xiahe attinge alle tre principali sette dell'Islam cinese (san da jiaopai 三大教派) e le quattro tariqa sufi (si da menhuan 四大门宦). Dal momento che ad aver spinto gli hui verso la regione sono state motivazioni commericiali più che di proselitismo, le varie etnie locali convivono piuttosto pacificamente. Infatti la moschea di Labrang è l'unica nella contea di Xiahe a non essere affiliata a una specifica tariqa (confraternita) ed è definita ufficilamente una "moschea si da menhuan" (Sound Islam Chian)

China Ocean Strategic Industry Investment Fund to promote ‘Belt and Road’ initiative: Entro la metà del 2017, 30 miliardi di yuan (4,43 miliardi dollari) verranno iniettanti nell'iniziativa OBOR. Lo ha annunciato il presidente del think tank  International Ocean Forum il 22 ottobre, in occasione dell'inaugurazione dello China Ocean Strategic Industry Investment Fund (COSIIF), nato per esplorare opportunità di investimento e fornire servizi finanziari alle imprese cinesi nei mercati esteri. Tra i partner principali compare Elyseum Capital Partners, con base a Dubai.

(People's Daily)

Sono in corso i controlli controlli finali sul telaio e i vagoni ferroviari di un treno che partirà la prossima settimana da Lanzhou, la capitale della provincia nordoccidentale del Gansu, verso Minsk, dove sono in corso i lavori del China-Belarus Industrial Park. Il servizio inaugurato il 23 settembre copre una distanza di 7000 chilometri. (People's Daily)

Si ricomincia a parlare di una free trade area per i membri della Shnaghai Cooperation Organization. La proposta, non nuova, è stata rilanciata dal vice ministro del Commercio cinese Qian Keming durante l'ultimo SCO economic forum. Qian ha inoltre rinnovato la richiesta dell'istituzione di una banca di sviluppo incaricata di finanziare i progetti regionali in tandem con fondi multilaterali e altri istituti (Xinhua)

Esercitazioni militari cina Tajikistan, lungo il confine con l'Afghanistan. Alla fine di ottobre Pechino ha affiancato le forze armate tagiche nel corso di esercitazioni congiunte nella regione autonoma di Gorno Badakhshan, al confine tra il Tajikistan e l'Afghanistan. L'operazione antiterrorismo ha coinvolto 10.000 soldati tajiki, insieme a blindati, artiglieria e aerei. L'operazione prende le mosse dalla creazione di un accordo di cooperazione congiunto tra Tajikistan, Cna, Pakistan e Afghanistan. (The Diplomat)
Le autorità della municipalità di Shihezi, Xinjiang, hanno richiesto ai residenti di etnia uigura di consegnare i loro passaporti a partire dal prossimo anno, ennesima misura volta a controllare il flusso in uscita dallo Xinjiang verso ipotetici centri di addestramento in Asia Centrale e Medio Oriente. Simili provvedimenti erano stati adottati nel 2015 nella prefettura autonoma di Ili, che lo scorso giungo hanno introdotto nuove richieste per i richiedenti, come impronte digitali, campioni di DNA, immagine scannerizzata del corpo in 3D e registrazione audio della voce.(Dawn)
Le acciaierie dello Xinjiang hanno perso oltre 10 milioni di tonnellate di capacità produttiva - circa un decimo della produzione americana di un anno. La produzione dello Xinjiang è crollata del 39 per cento a 7,40 milioni di tonnellate. (The Australian)

Dal bilaterale Cina-Russia a margine del vertice Brics è emerso l'allineamento dimostrato dai due paesi riguardo i principali dossier internazionali. Tuttavia, Zheng Yu, senior researcher presso la Chinese Academy of Social Sciences ha dichiarato che "abbiamo spiegato ai russi che per ora la Cina è soltanto una potenza economica mondiale, non una superpotenza geopolitica. Sino ad oggi siamo intervenuti selettivamente su alcune questioni internazionali principali. Per la Cina, il Medio Oriente è ancora un campo di battaglia con attori globali sconosciuti". (Japan Times)

Anche se i progressi nella risoluzione delle controversie territoriali vanno a rilento, il ruolo dell'India come partner regionale della Cina si rafforza di pari passo con l'aumento dell'instabilità in Afghanistan. Inoltre una più stretta cooperazione sul triangolo Mosca-Pechino-New Delhi neutralizzerebbe gli sforzi degli Stati Uniti per isolare l'India dall'orbita di Cina e Russia. (Sputnik)

Secondo la National Development and Reform Commission, entro il 2020, tra Cina ed Europa viaggeranno almeno 5000 treni merci all'anno. Al momento sono meno di 2000. (Xinhua) Secondo il piano quinquennale della China Railway Express, la ferrovia rappresenta un nuovo tipo di commercio che si adatta alla catena di distribuzione moderna, caratterizzata da ordini più piccoli, spedizioni multiple e consegne più frequenti. (Global Times)