China's rent-seeking decades have yielded massive systemic corruption, and recent revelations of cases of power abuse have shaken the Communist Party to the core. The nation's unbalanced, uncoordinated, unstable and unsustainable development is threatening its very survival. President Xi Jinping has forged a party consensus that it's crunch time for China to sink or swim. What's more, he has raised the bar by launching a global infrastructural blueprint that puts China at the centre of the world through land and sea links. This is calculated to restore the Middle Kingdom's historical place in the world's pecking order in a new China Dream. In addition to reforms announced at the party's third and fourth plenums for a more balanced and equitable society, Xi has unveiled a vision of renaissance supported by a 21st-century New Silk Road. This consists of a maritime Silk Road linking Fuzhou on the east coast, through Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, to Nairobi in Kenya, then, traversing the Red Sea, on to Athens, ending in Venice. This route will connect to an overland "Silk Road economic belt" from Venice to Duisburg in Germany, through Moscow, Istanbul, Tehran, to Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, onwards to Urumqi in Xinjiang and all the way to Xian in the Chinese heartland. The ambitious blueprint harks back to the ancient Silk Road linking China to as far afield as the Roman empire. The maritime dimension recalls China's outreach to far-flung corners of the ancient world through Admiral Zheng He's massive trading fleets during the heyday of the Ming dynasty. Xi's Silk Road plan complements China's proposed Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific. It is also supported by a new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, to which China has pledged half of the US$50 billion initial capital. Twenty-one Asian and Middle East countries have signed an accord in support. This effort is further buttressed by China's Silk Road infrastructure fund of US$40 billion, which is expected to be open to public-private partnership. Admittedly, Xi's New Silk Road strategy remains short on details. Nevertheless, the vision becomes a little clearer with reference to China's long-mooted proposal to build a Eurasian high-speed rail network known as the "Third Eurasian Land Bridge". This network is slated to cross 20 countries in Asia and Europe, measuring some 15,000km. This will be 20 to 40 per cent shorter than any sea route via the Indian Ocean through the Malacca Strait, a choke point controlled by the United States Seventh Fleet. The plan envisages a branch line to start in Turkey and end in Egypt, thereby facilitating resource imports from Africa. China's maritime Silk Road initiative is equally strategic. The significance lies in the aim to pass through the Red Sea, avoiding the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, where events could happen beyond China's control. Finally, the picture would not be complete without considering a gigantic canal project under way in Nicaragua. The country's congress has granted the Cayman Islands-registered HKND Group, headquartered in Hong Kong, a 50-year concession to develop a 278-km canal connecting the Caribbean with the Pacific via Lake Nicaragua, at a cost of US$40 billion, to be completed in five years. The canal is three times longer and much wider and deeper than the Panama Canal, even after the latter's current massive upgrading. It is designed to accommodate super-large container vessels. China's confidence in bankrolling such grand infrastructural designs rests in its position at the centre of the global supply chain. This is exemplified by the fact that seven of the world's top 10 container ports are located in China. This situation is unlikely to change anytime soon. The New Silk Road plan will further entrench China's centrality. As a world-class financial centre with global connectivity and special status, Hong Kong will remain an integral part of China's New Silk Road infrastructural blueprint. Delays notwithstanding, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong express rail link will soon plug into the world's largest high-speed network, linking up with many dynamic mainland cities. As the world's centre of gravity moves from West to East, whether China manages to realise its ambitious New Silk Road vision will determine whether the China Dream of a new Asia-Pacific Century takes shape. Hong Kong, especially its students, should be well positioned to be a dynamic driver of this dream. Our talented youth could perhaps reflect on how much they really understand their rapidly changing motherland and how well equipped they are to compete in a new era when China is likely to play an even more central role. Andrew K. P. Leung is an international and independent China specialist based in Hong Kong
