Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Xinjiang shows Belt, Road needs specifics

Recent data in Xinjiang suggest that trade has not improved significantly. In the first quarter of the year, trade in Xinjiang was $4.84 billion, according to the Urumqi Customs. Though it represented a 65.6 percent gain year-on-year, it was far less than the figure of $5.24 billion in the same period of 2013, when the initiative began. The China-Europe freight trains have been running for a while, but they are not at the frequency local officials envisioned. They said that reflects low domestic and foreign demand for goods. And further market integration along the Belt and Road route is needed to spur demand, they added. (Global Times)

Uyghurs Studying Abroad Ordered Back to Xinjiang Under Threat to Families
Uyghur students enrolled in schools outside China are being ordered by Chinese authorities to return to their hometowns by May 20, with family members in some cases held hostage to force their return, sources in Xinjiang and in Egypt say.Launched at the end of January by authorities across the Xinjiang region, the campaign has frightened targeted students, some of whom have disappeared or been jailed after coming back, a Uyghur studying at Egypt’s Al-Azhar University told RFA’s Uyghur Service.(Rfa)

Party Sets Up Special Bureau for Xinjiang
The Chinese Communist Party has established a new bureau for Xinjiang within its United Front Work Department to streamline policy coordination and provide strategic regional advice to the country’s leaders. The bureau’s creation comes amid President Xi Jinping’s call for the building of a “great wall of iron” to safeguard stability in the autonomous territory. (China Digital Times)

Syria says up to 5,000 Chinese Uygurs are fighting with rebels
Up to 5,000 ethnic Uygurs from China’s far western region of Xinjiang are fighting in various militant groups in Syria, the Syrian ambassador to China said on Monday, adding that Beijing should be extremely concerned about the development. (SCMP)

Who will pay for China’s new Silk Road?
Beijing is backing a host of financial institutions to help fund its ambitious “Belt and Road Initiative”
(Scmp)

Chinese firms to make $120bn-$130bn investment annually in next five years

In the next five years, Chinese companies will invest $120 billion to $130 billion annuallyon overseas projects, Ning Jizhe, vice chairman of National Development and ReformCommission (NDRC), predicted on Friday. A majority of the investment will be allotted to countries and regions along the Belt andRoad, Ning said at a press conference held in Beijing.In the four years since the initiative was proposed by China in 2013, China has investedmore than $60 billion in the Belt and Road regions. (People's Daily)

China aims to triple rail freight with Europe by 2020

China aims to nearly triple rail freight shipments to and from Europe by 2020, an international logistics executive here told The Nikkei, making the transport link a backbone of economic growth in the Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.The National Development and Reform Commission, which steers economic policy, aims to run 5,000 freight trains between China and Europe in 2020, up from 1,800 in 2016. (Nikkei)

Cash crunch on China’s new Silk Road
China is urgently seeking support from international lenders to close a yawning financing gap for projects under its “Belt and Road Initiative”, a top official said.The remarks from Yi Gang, vice-governor of the People’s Bank of China, come just days ahead of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on Sunday and Monday. Leaders from 29 countries and regions will gather in Beijing to learn more about the blueprint for China’s trade scheme.Infrastructure and other key projects in belt and road countries had “strong demand for ­financing”, and support from the global market was “desperately needed”, Yi said in an interview with People’s Daily yesterday. Policy banks are making progress in doling out loans, but commercial banks are less active.”Many infrastructure projects were long-term and required large amounts of investment, so a system of “policy banks, commercial lenders and international ­development institutions” was needed to ensure their financial sustainability, Pan said. (Scmp)

Western partners wanted on China’s Silk Road
Beijing is seeking to lure more multinational companies and agencies to participate in its “Belt and Road Initiative”, in an attempt to reduce risks borne by its state companies. Xiao Yaqing, head of the State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, told a press conference on Monday that China’s building of a new Silk Road would be “open and inclusive”, and try to minimise risks by collaborating with the world’s leading companies and international organisations. (Scmp)

The Central Station Of The New Silk Road Has Emerged

Khorgos Gateway, a major new dry port that’s rising up from the desert in Kazakhstan’s eastern borderlands, has just taken the next step in the process of developing into the great crossroads of nations that it has been posited to become — a central station along a new Silk Road.Fueled by the rapidly emerging China-Europe rail network, the Khorgos dream is grandiose but its origins are rooted in pragmatism. The width of train tracks are different in China than in the post-Soviet realm, so trains need to stop and relay their cargo at the border. This simple logistical event is what gave rise to what is rapidly becoming an entirely new, multifaceted economic ecosystem in what was nothing but sand dunes just five years before on the Kazakh / China border. (Forbes)

For one Chinese city, new 'Silk Road' leaves old problems unsolved

In 2015, the official Xinhua news agency ran stories about how Hunchun was accelerating its "OBOR" plans, and early in 2016, China's cabinet released a list of Chinese cities included in "OBOR": Hunchun was on the map. The fact that the list came about slowly, and that some cities felt moved to lobby to be included, underlines how the pet project of Chinese President Xi Jinping is as amorphous as it is ambitious. (Reuters)

China says Silk Road plan is not tied to presidency
Asked what guarantee the world had that the initiative would go on after Xi's second term, Vice Minister of Commerce Qian Keming told a news briefing that its vitality lay in countries' hopes for development and not in the idea of "who proposed it or what term in office there is later". "The Belt and Road initiative was proposed by President Xi in 2013, but this initiative is not an individual proposal, or merely left at a proposal level. Rather it is an initiative that has been widely received by the whole world. It is jointly owned by everyone," Qian said. (Reuters)

New China-Europe container train launched

A train pulling 45 containers set off from Panjin Port, northeast China's Liaoning Province on Wednesday, joining China-Europe freight trains which have been booming in recent years. The 16-day journey will see the train leave China through Erenhot in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, to Mongolia and on to Russia before reaching Minsk, the capital of Belarus. The new service is expected to facilitate trade and opportunities along the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor.(China Plus)

China targets crimes related to "silk road" rail lines 

China's top procuratorate has declared war against crimes related to international freight and passenger railway services along the Silk Road Economic Belt. Smuggling and human trafficking by international trains and crimes endangering railway safety were highlighted in a guideline issued by the railway division of the Supreme People's Procuratorate on 9 May. (GlobalTimes)

Xi Jinping’s Silk Road is under threat from one-way traffic

Overcapacity in industries such as steel is far too big for neighbouring markets to absorb more than a fraction of it; products such as cement and glass cannot be economically exported over any great distance; and in unstable, high-risk markets such as Pakistan and the Central Asian republics, there is a danger that loans will turn sour and projects will fail. The planned rail link between central China and Europe, which is undergoing trials, highlights the challenges: five trains full of cargo leave Chongqing for Germany every week, but only one full train returns. Yet trade must flow in both directions to make the new trading routes both economically viable and politically acceptable to the foreign countries through which it will pass.So while European business supports the One Belt and One Road vision, companies are worried that in the next decade the initiative will instead be remembered as “One Belt and One Trap”: a waste of resources that depends too heavily on lumbering and inefficient state-owned enterprises, when nimble Chinese entrepreneurs and EU private capital would do a far better job. (FT)

Lessons for China in failed US Silk Road initiative

The contrast between Beijing’s and Washington’s support for a revitalised Silk Road could not be clearer.This month’s Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, a gathering of existing and potential stakeholders in China’s trade development initiative, will welcome national leaders including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi and Indonesia’s Joko Widodo to Beijing.Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, already in office for more than 100 days, has yet to appoint an ambassador to Afghanistan, which sits at the centre of a Silk Road initiative the US Department of State began promoting in 2011.Compared with China’s “Belt and Road Initiative”, Washington’s plan was underfunded and under-resourced after then secretary of state Hillary Clinton formally proposed it in 2011, observers say. (Scmp)

Central SOEs contribute to B&R initiative

Central government State-owned enterprises (SOEs) have played a significant role in pushing the "One Belt, One Road" initiative, with their overseas investment growing at an average annual rate of 15 percent in recent years, Xiao Yaqing, chairman of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), told a press conference in Beijing on Monday. Their overseas investment will be deepened and expanded as infrastructure construction is
gradually carried out in countries and regions along the Belt and Road route, he said. But Xiao said that investment may not increase every year, as central SOEs' expansion along the Belt and Road route is market-oriented and complies with the companies' strategic needs. (Global Times)

Is there still hope for China, Afghanistan’s long-stalled US$3 billion copper mining deal?
Afghanistan’s top envoy still striving for a win-win to develop the copper mine a decade after billion-dollar deal was signed (Scmp)

China-Kazakhstan capacity cooperation on fast track: official

Industrial capacity cooperation between China and Kazakhstan has grown rapidly in the past few years and yielded rich results under the Belt and Road Initiative, an official said Friday.The two governments have signed a framework agreement for capacity cooperation and held 12 dialogues on the matter, Ning Jizhe, deputy head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at a press conference.China and Kazakhstan have signed major cooperation projects worth 27 billion U.S. dollars, set up a 2-billion-dollar bilateral capacity cooperation fund and earmarked loans of 15 billion dollars for the same purpose, Ning said. Currently, 34 projects, including copper mining, electrolytic aluminum and cement plants, have been completed and put into production in Kazakhstan. Another 43 projects are under construction. (Xinhua)

Key stops on China's new Silk Road

Beijing has deployed moves from a familiar playbook to try and spur economic growth: capital and infrastructure investment, and preferential policies to try to make Horgos a more attractive offshore yuan settlement centre than even Shenzhen or Shanghai.But it needs to look at how it can help Central Asian countries build up their infrastructure, said Professor Yang Yiyong, director of the Macroeconomics Institute at the National Development and Reform Commission, China's economic planning authority. "We should be taking a leaf from Singapore's book, setting up cooperation offices in each of the five Central Asian countries," he said at a Belt and Road forum. (Strait Times)
HIGHWAY TO SELL: HOW $55B TRADE CORRIDOR REKINDLED CHINA-PAKISTAN LOVE AFFAIR
A US$55 billion programme to link the routes of China’s Belt and Road plan through Pakistan has revived a relationship that began with the Karakorum Highway – even if critics blame it for mischief in Kashmir. (Scmp)

CENTRAL ASIA

Tajikistan: Forces Reportedly Scrambled as Clashes Intensify on Afghan Border
Conflicting reports are emerging about the fighting unfolding in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province, in an area close to Tajikistan’s border, but it is becoming steadily clear that Dushanbe is now spooked.Further to the west, in Afghanistan’s Kunduz province, local politicians have said Taliban fighters overran yet another district sharing a border with Tajikistan, Qala-e-Zal. Local people in the Tajik frontier town of Ishkashim in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region have reported that fighter jets patroled the area on May 5-6. The jets would beyond almost all certainty be from the Russian armed forces stationed in the country. (Eurasianet)

Tajikistan detains son of defector to Islamic State: security sources

Tajik security services have detained the eldest son of a former elite police force commander who defected to Islamic State two years ago, suspecting that the young man was going to join his father, security sources said on Wednesday.The United States last August offered up to $3 million for information about Colonel Gulmurod Khalimov, whom it trained in counter-terrorism before he joined Islamic State.Washington has described Khalimov as "a key leader" of Islamic State, which has seized parts of Syria and Iran and staged or inspired deadly militant attacks around the world. (Reuters)

Kazakhstan Seeks to Reduce Russian Media Influence Amid Moscow-West Spat
The annual anniversary of Victory Day on May 9, 1945 (Moscow time), which marked the surrender of Nazi Germany, should have been the least controversial of public holidays throughout the former Soviet Union. Yet, the use of World War II symbolism by the Russian authorities as a means to stir up patriotic feelings, increasingly in opposition to the “decadent” West, does not sit well with everyone. In neighboring Kazakhstan, which remains Russia’s closest trade and military partner, the government has been trying for years to apply a new varnish to its Victory Day celebrations. (Jamestown Foundation)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Afghanistan housing project underlines China´s growing role

Afghan authorities expect work on the first phase of a multimillion-dollar housing project financed by China to begin within months, as Beijing continues to raise its development profile in the region.
The project, originally announced in 2015 during a visit to Kabul by Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao, is expected to see the construction of 10,000 housing units for Afghan civil servants after the project was cleared by both governments last week. The first phase will see 1,400 units built near the old Darulaman palace in the capital Kabul, with China agreeing to provide $73 million (500 million yuan) in finance. Two further phases are expected to follow, depending on the successful implementation of the first stage. “So far, the project is the largest Chinese-supported project in Afghanistan,” Hamid Jalil, a deputy minister at the Ministry of Urban Development told Reuters.(Geo Tv)

Fallout from fall of Chinese executive who sealed copper mine deal in Afghanistan
The disgrace last week of the businessman who won a deal in 2007 for China to develop a copper mine in Afghanistan, which was the largest foreign investment deal in the war-torn country at the time, has highlighted the lack of progress on the project over a decade. (Scmp)

China-Europe new freight train linking Xi'an with Budapest starts operation on Saturday 
A new freight train linking China's northwestern city of Xi'an withBudapest has started operation.
The 41-carriage train loaded with garments, toys, household items and electronic productsmainly made in eastern China's Yiwu City, departed from Xi'an, capital of ShaanxiProvince, on Saturday afternoon. It will leave China through the Alataw Pass in Xinjiang, and pass Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland before reaching its destination in Hungary. The trip spans about 9,300 km and takes 17 days, about 30 days shorter than the previoussea and rail route. Starting Nov. 28, 2013, Xi'an has launched 317 cargo trains to central Asia and Europe, exporting 474,000 tonnes of goods as of April 1 this year. (People's daily)

Why China’s bid to sell high-speed rail technology overseas is losing steam
China’s ambitious strategy to export its high-speed railway technology is facing various obstacles, making its aim of boosting connectivity with nations across continents difficult to achieve, industry insiders said. Construction of high-speed railways abroad is part of Beijing’s massive “One Belt, One Road” initiative to increase trade and infrastructure links with countries from Asia to Africa, but most of the current rail projects have stalled. (Scmp)

China pledges to further deepen defence cooperation with Pakistan

China said 31 March that it is willing to push forward all-weather friendship with Pakistan. This was stated by spokesperson for Chinese Ministry of National Defence, in Beijing 31 March. He said China is willing to work with Pakistan to continuously deepen the exchanges and cooperation between militaries of the two countries. He said the two sides have planned to hold joint army counter-terrorism training in the first half of this year and both sides are still having consultation on related matters. (TheNation)

One Belt, One Road faces scrutiny by EU

During talks with his Serbian counterpart Tomislav Nikolic in Beijing on 30 March, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed “hope” that the Belgrade-Budapest railway project would be advanced. Xi never mentioned the European Union’s pending investigation into the planned high-speed train between the capitals of Serbia and Hungary, but it is hard not to detect a tinge of irritation in his words over the EU’s decision to suspend the China-backed initiative temporarily. (Asia Times)

China official admonishes fellow Uighur cadres for 'anti-terror' failings

A senior Uighur official in China's restive western region of Xinjiang has admonished other Communist Party "cadres" from the mostly Muslim Uighur minority for failing to pull their weight in the fight against terrorism, state media said. (Reuters)

Xinjiang county to recruit more police officers, intensify patrol efforts

The government of Akto county, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, has announced that it will recruit an additional 600 police officers from outside Xinjiang. "In order to strengthen stability maintenance work in the county, intensify our patrol efforts and enhance the people's security, the Akto government has approved the recruitment of 600 police officers, including 500 males and 100 females, for the patrol team in the county's public security bureau," the local government announced on its website on 31 March. (GlobalTimes)

Censure of officials sheds light on sweeping surveillance measures in China’s restive XinjiangThe Communist Party in China’s restive Xinjiang region has punished 97 cadres in its rural south for failing to do a proper job monitoring local residents, providing a rare glimpse into the extent of surveillance imposed in the ethnic-Uygur heartland.The cadres in Hotan prefecture in southern Xinjiang, including seven village police officers, were punished for a wide range of derelictions of duty, such as failing to mark down the exact number of Muslims taking part in congregational prayers, or not knowing who were absent from the weekly flag-raising ceremonies – a compulsory gathering aimed to boost patriotism, during which the national anthem is sung under the Chinese flag. (scmp)

New book introduces Uyghur culture

Before writing Notes of Residency in Southern Xinjiang (南疆住村笔记), Zhao Jiangtao had never imagined he would live in a rural village among Uyghur residents. Graduating from Tsinghua University in 2011, Zhao worked as a government employee in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. In 2014, in the wake of a slew of terror attacks both in and outside Xinjiang, the regional government decided to send 200,000 officials to rural areas to help reinforce local governments, win over local residents' hearts and uproot extremist ideology.  Zhao was among the first group of government employees sent to southern Xinjiang. During the year he spent in a village in Wushi county, Aksu prefecture, Zhao recorded his interactions with local Uyghurs. These writings later became the basis for Notes. His first book, it was released in January.
(Global Times)

Latvia may link Northern Europe with China via railway

Andrew Johansson, In November 2016, a trial container train from Yiwu City in Zhejiang province in China arrived in Latvia after completing an 11,000 km journey over 12 days through North-eastern China and Siberia. It was a major logistical achievement and signalled China’s commitment to extend its Belt and Road Initiative westward, possibly to Latvia, too. The timing of this China-EU shipment fits within China’s larger goals of increasing trade with Europe through the $4 trillion infrastructure investment program they launched in 2013, known as the Belt and Road Initiative. (TheBalticTimes)

Chinese vice premier to visit CEE countries, attend meetings in Russia, Kazakhstan

Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli will visit Estonia, Slovenia, Albania, and attend meetings in Russia and Kazakhstan from April 11 to 19, a foreign ministry spokesperson said 5 April. China's relations with the 16 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, among which are Estonia, Slovenia, and Albania, have grown in recent years thanks to the rapid development of the "16+1" cooperation mechanism. (Xinhua)

China’s New Silk Road mined with distrust

At a dinner in Shanghai several years ago, I asked a wealthy Chinese entrepreneur why his government continued to support North Korea. How was it in China’s interest to coddle an economic basket case that tests nuclear weapons in the middle of the Chinese New Year? The answer was blunt. “Look at a map,” he replied. “We are ringed by American allies. North Korea is the best we can do.”
Chinese people are proud of their country’s economic renaissance but baffled by its dearth of friends. How does the West retain so much soft power in China’s backyard? (Reuters)


Beijing’s strict capital controls are delaying belt and road project approvals

Mainland firms now need up to three times longer to gain approval for their investments in the government’s trade plan (scmp)


China to turn Chernobyl into solar power plant

Two Chinese companies have announced plans to build a one gigawatt solar photovoltaic plant in the exclusion zone surrounding the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, reviving the site after the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history, RT reports. (Tengrinews)

China and Russia: Friends with strategic benefits

Is the relationship between China and Russia just an axis of convenience – a limited partnership with no real empathy between the two parties, spiced by deep-seated and well-hidden mutual mistrust? Or is it an emerging alliance of revisionist authoritarian powers which marries Beijing’s growing economic power with Russia's brazenness to challenge the international liberal order? And more importantly, what are the challenges posed by growing rapport between China and Russia to Western interests and leadership? To address these questions, one needs to unwrap the Sino-Russian relationship from many layers of myth, spin-doctoring, and old wisdom projected onto current developments. (The Interpreter)

Russian-Chinese Joint Ventures in Russia’s Far East, Arctic

Since 2001, Russian-Chinese relations have been largely grounded in security issues, both military and economic. The former is a shared perception of an increasingly aggressive United States and, in the case of Russia, concerns over the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) deployments on the periphery of both countries. In the economic sphere, the defining element is China’s rising interest in Russian energy exports. These twin issues will dominate Russian-Chinese relations for the foreseeable future and—given the geographical distances involved—focus increasingly on Russia’s Far East and the opening up of the Russian Arctic. Russia’s commitment to building up its Arctic infrastructure, as well as China’s interest in this pursuit, was illustrated by the arrival, on March 30, of Sovcomflot’s $300 million Kristof de Marzheri liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker at the Kara Sea port of Sabetta, on the Yamal Peninsula (Komsomolskaya Pravda, April 2; see EDM, March 29). (Jamestown Foundation)

India Moves Mountains to Build Military Road to China Border

AME CHUNG CHUNG, India—On the near-vertical slopes of the eastern Himalayas, workers are blasting and cutting treacherous rock faces to build a top-priority military asset: a 34-mile road to the country’s disputed border with China. India is accelerating work on strategic roads to be able to move troops and supplies to the border faster and deploy sophisticated weapons if armed conflict breaks out. China already has extensive infrastructure on its side. (Wsj)


First trainload of Russian wheat arrives in China

A freight train fully loaded with Russian wheat arrived at Manzhouli land portin north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Saturday.This is the first bulk shipment of Russian wheat to enter China via the land port after thetwo countries reached deals on quarantine inspection requirements for exporting Russianwheat, corn, rice and soybean to China in December 2015. (Ppl's Daily)




CENTRAL ASIA


Challenging the Central Asian Migrant Myth: Separation and Radicalization
It’s a seemingly obvious path from migrant worker to radical in the minds of many, characterized by separation and marginalization and thus clear vulnerability to radicalization. But as respected migration studies scholar Sergey Abashin, a professor of history at the European University in St. Petersburg, explained at a timely talk hosted by George Washington University’s Central Asia Program on Tuesday, research does not back up several common assumptions about Central Asian migrant workers in Russia, especially with regard to religiosity and radicalization. (The Diplomat)

Latest Majlis podcast: New book reveals Central Asia's connections to the outside world 

Central Asia often seems like a remote region. You don’t hear much about Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan playing roles in international affairs. There is an impression that the five countries are tucked away in the heart of the Eurasian landmass with only the most tenuous of ties to the world outside. A new book, Dictators Without Borders: Power And Money In Central Asia, argues that this is far from the case, that the elites of these countries are, in fact, very well connected to the outside and are also very knowledgeable about laws and regulations in the world beyond Central Asia. (Rfl)

Tajikistan steps up battle against Islamic clothing

Clothing factories in Tajikistan are churning out brightly coloured national dresses amid a surge in sales, and it's not just because of the arrival of spring. An increasing number of female officials, teachers and students have been wearing the Atlas and other traditional dresses following a recommendation by the Central Asian country's government. (Yahoo)

Kazakhstan Takes Over Russian Missile Test Site

Kazakhstan has shut down another Russian military testing site, as it steadily removes Moscow's Soviet-legacy military footprint. On April 5, President Nursultan Nazarbayev ratified an agreement to take over the Emba missile testing site, in the Aktobe region of western Kazakhstan, from Russia. (Eurasia.net)
SCO Expansion Should Not Threaten the West

Expanding the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) will strain its functions but could boost trade and relations between Central Asia and South Asia, writes Raffaello Pantucci. (The Conway Bullettin)

Is Investment in Infrastructure the Answer to Russia’s Economic Problems?

It will be nearly impossible for Russia to revive its economy through state investment in infrastructure alone. Conservative estimates suggest that Russia would have to invest 15 percent of its GDP in infrastructure annually for many years to have a significant effect on the economy. (Carnegie)

Deadly Bomb Explosion in St. Petersburg Metro Exposes Vulnerability of Russia’s Cities

As of April 6, no known terrorist organization has claimed responsibility, but the authorities blame radical Islamists and the Islamic State (IS), in particular. Though, in most cases, the IS does not hesitate to claim responsibility for deadly acts of terrorism. The Russian authorities have named Akbarzhon Jalilov as their prime suspect. He allegedly carried the bomb onto the train in a backpack and was allegedly the suicide attacker. Jalilov (22), an ethnic Uzbek, was born in Osh—a city in the Fergana Valley region in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, which has a sizable ethnic-Uzbek population. (Jamestown Foundation)

Weekly News Roundup: Dispatches from the Silk Road Economic Belt

Financial institutions pour in Xinjiang, eyeing B&R opportunities

Chinese and foreign financial institutions have been pouring into Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in recent months, looking for opportunities under China's "One Belt and One Road" (B&R) initiative, local media reported on Monday. In the past week, two banks, Bank of Beijing and Pakistan's Habib Bank, opened branches in Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang, xinjiangnet.com reported. Xinjiang has been investing heavily in infrastructure in recent years as part of the B&R initiative. The regional government has set a target to invest 1.5 trillion yuan ($218.3 billion) in fixed assets in 2017, the Xinhua News Agency reported on March 7. At the end of 2016, there were 144 financial institutions in the region, spanning 15 different categories, including personal banking and investment banking, according to the report. Xinjiang's banking sector raised 293.8 billion yuan for B&R projects in the region in 2016, up 16.18 percent. (Global Times)

Official urges archeologists to prove Xinjiang part of China since ancient times

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region said archeological work should be used to counter anti-secessionist purposes, by using cultural relics to teach people that Xinjiang has always been part of China. Xinjiang Party chief Chen Quanguo wrote to a regional archeological work meeting on Wednesday in Urumqi that Xinjiang needs to use their work to "cultivate and promote core socialist values, deepen patriotic education and strengthen anti-secessionist thoughts." Xinjiang vice chairman Arken Tuniyaz also said that archeological work and the preservation of cultural relics need to help maintain social stability and safeguard ethnic unity.  (Global Times)

Archaeologists in China believe they have found ancient Silk Road capitalArchaeologists in Xinjiang believe an ancient city and three tombs they unearthed in the Lop Nor area of a desert was the capital of the Loulan Kingdom along the ancient Silk Road. The ancient city, uncovered in January along the north bank of the Kongque River, sat in the depths of the desert, 57.5km to the west of an ancient city of the Loulan Kingdom that Swedish explorer Sven Hedin discovered in 1900, China National Radio reported. Archaeologists spent two months reconstructing the site, which was built on a loess platform, and restored the city, of which only sections of walls remained due to wind erosion. The city was a circle of 300 metres in diameter with walls of 2.2 to 2.7 metres high. (Scmp)

Xinjiang passes regulation on eradication of extremism

Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region passed a regulation on the eradication of extremism on Wednesday, calling on all corners of society to combat extremism while stressing that no one should spread extremist views in schools."Teachers should play an active role in guiding students in advocating science, pursuing the truth and resisting superstition and radicalization. No individual or organization should use classes, lectures or forums to spread extremist views," reads the regulation. The regulation also mentions that schools should strengthen education to combat separatism, and enhance the capacity of educators to resist ideological infiltration by religious extremism. (Global Times) --- > Related: China sets rules on beards, veils to combat extremism in Xinjiang China will step up a campaign against religious extremism in the far western region of Xinjiang on Saturday by implementing a range of measures, including prohibiting "abnormal" beards, the wearing of veils in public places and the refusal to watch state television. (Reuters)

Terror threats transform China's Uighur heartland into security state

Spending on security in Xinjiang is rising, jumping nearly 20 percent in 2016 to more than 30 billion yuan ($4.35 billion), according to state media.That can be seen in the metal detectors and airport-style security checks in place at major public areas, including Kashgar's ancient Id Kah mosque, bazaars, malls and hotels.Police spot document checks are carried out on pedestrians, with mobile phones inspected for extremist videos or use of banned chat applications like Telegram, WhatsApp and Twitter. Mobile internet speeds have been slowed from 4G to 3G. (Reuters)

A New Chinese Interest In Central Asian Security

Beijing's security cooperation with the Central Asian states is likely to grow significantly stronger in the coming months.The militant group Islamic State (IS) recently released a video purportedly showing Uyghurs, a Turkic Muslim group living for centuries in an area that is now the western part of China, training somewhere in the Middle East. One Uyghur speaks in the video, making threats against China. It was not the first time Uyghurs fighting in Islamic extremist groups threatened China, but this recent video certainly got the attention of the Chinese government. (Rferl)

On State TV, Chinese Forces Storm a Compound a Lot Like Bin Laden’s

A news broadcast showed the police training at a replica of the house where Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011. It took an eagle-eyed viewer to point it out. (NYT)

Pakistan wrestles with growing 'Chinese corridor' debt
Two international lending institutions and Pakistan's central bank have raised concerns about the debt burden of a huge China-led infrastructure program on the country's improving but fragile finances.
Surging Chinese imports for the initiative, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor program, have complicated Pakistan's balance of payments problems during its second year of economic recovery following a decade of conflict with Taliban insurgents and their al-Qaeda allies. (Asia Nikkei)

China's Terrorism Threat and Response in 2016

In August 2016, China experienced what appears to have been the first targeted terrorist attack against one of its embassies.1 A Uygur suicide bomber drove a car into China’s diplomatic compound in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, exploding it outside the ambassador’s residence; the attacker was the only fatality, but three Kyrgyz employees were injured. While Kyrgyz authorities were quick to link the attack to a Syrian-based network—although publicly available evidence to date has been limited—for Beijing the attack was the manifestation of an increased threat from Uygur groups, which had now spread beyond China to threaten Chinese interests abroad. (aspi.org)

WHY CHINA, INDIA AND THE DALAI LAMA ARE PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES IN TAWANG

A small Himalayan district is the focus of intense diplomatic heat stemming from long-standing, unresolved border issues reignited by a planned visit from the Tibetan spiritual leader (Scmp)

BRICS bank NDB plans to co-finance infrastructure projects w/ AIIB along the Beltand Road economies
The New Development Bank plans to co-finance infrastructure projects with the AsianInfrastructure Investment Bank along the Belt and Road economies after more membersjoin in, the NDB's vice president said on Sunday. (People's Daily)

First meeting of Mongolian, Russian and Chinese experts takes place

The first tripartite experts' meeting on the implementation of a program to establish Economic Corridor of Mongolia, China and Russia took place on 24 March in Beijing, China. The tripartite meeting was chaired by V.Enkhbold, Director of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the Mongolian side, Xiao Weiming, Deputy Director of Western Development Division of the China’s National Development and Reform Commission from the Chinese side and A.V.Zelenov, Deputy Director of Department of Asia, Africa and Latin America countries of the Ministry of Economic Development from the Russian side. (Montsame)

Uzbekistan embarks on journey
More than 2,000 years ago, China and Central Asia were linked by the Silk Road. Now a modern version of the ancient trading route is being built, and Confucius Institutes are spreading the Chinese language and culture throughout the region.Uzbekistan is a typical Silk Road country. Some of its oldest cities, such as Bukhara and Samarkand, became wealthy as a result of the fabled route and established close commercial relations with China. ChinaDaily



CENTRAL ASIA

U.S. Boosts Special Forces Training in Central Asia

The United States has stepped up its trainings of elite military units in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan over the last two years, U.S. government records show. At the same time, the U.S. has suspended training of units from Kyrgyzstan, previously one of the biggest recipients of such aid. According to Security Assistance Monitor data, the U.S. spent $115 million in security assistance in the region in fiscal year 2015, the last year for which complete data was available. The fate of these aid programs under the administration of President Trump is unclear. Trump has promised to slash foreign aid, but also a tougher fight against Islamist terror groups, which governments in Central Asia tend to use as a justification for the need for military aid. (Eurasianet)

MACRO ADVISER: Nazarbayev puts it all on red
Kazakhstan has a reputation for being very conservative in both monetary policy and budget management; so conservative indeed that the government has often been accused of focusing too much on drafting elaborate economic reforms and not enough on actually implementing them.
It has also been criticised for reacting far too slowly to changing events. For example, when the Russian Central Bank let the ruble fully free-float in early 2015, a move that severely impacted the Kazakh economy, it took the National Bank of Kazakhstan more than six months to follow suit.
So why has President Nursultan Nazarbayev's government abandoned its traditional conservative approach and gone for broke with a radical change to the budget and the way it manages the economy? (Intellinews)

Russian long-range bombers used in war games in Tajikistan
The Russian military says its long-range bombers have practiced hitting targets in Tajikistan during joint drills with the Central Asian nation. Russia's Defense Ministry said Tu-95 and Tu-22M3 bombers have flown missions to strike a "terrorist camp" in Tajik mountains as part of the four-day war games that ended Thursday. (Daily Mail)

Kyrgyzstan: Police Suggest Expelling Foreigners Without Courts
The Interior Ministry in Kyrgyzstan is pushing for new rules that would allow them to expel foreigners from the country without need for a court ruling, thereby streamlining the process.
Officials say revisions to the law are intended to target people violating migration laws. They come on the heels of the Kyrgyz authorities’ recent decision to summarily expel a Russian journalist from the country without clear legal justification. (Eurasianet)