China pushes for revival of Silk Road to boost trading links with neighbours
The ancient Silk Road trade route is being revived in the hope it leads to the 'Chinese Dream'
The Silk Road evokes a resplendent past of trade uniting ports and people, cities and cultures. Now, China is pursuing an ambitious back-to-the-future plan to revive such ancient trading links with its neighbours, stretching south and north, extending all the way to the eastern Mediterranean.
A year ago, President Xi Jinping - as part of his vision to achieve the "Chinese Dream" of a rejuvenated Chinese nation - called for a revival of the 2,000-year-old land-based Silk Road and the maritime silk route that was charted later.
Over the past two months, China has extended financial muscle to back the mantra, including the setting up of a bank and a new fund. It plans to invest billions of dollars on improving infrastructure and industrial and financial cooperation with emerging markets that lie along the routes; one will pass overland through Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Iran and end in Austria; the sea route will link Chinese ports to Belgium's port of Antwerp.
The "New Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" will build roads, railways, ports, airports and railways across Central and South Asia.
Gao Hucheng, China's commerce minister, said the two new economic cooperation blocs - if the idea took off - would cover more than 60 per cent of the world's population and one third of its economy.
On paper, the idea appears compelling to China and its companies, and to neighbours hungry for investment. On the ground, however, there are likely to be bumps and detours in the roll-out of these routes, prompted by suspicions of Chinese political ambitions and local sentiment. The larger arc of geopolitical rivalry cannot be ignored.
