Press review China's new silk road

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvXROXiIpvQ 

Many new infrastructures in different developing countries all have one thing in common, their destination. Originally, the idea of a new silk road appeared in September 2013 in a speech from Xi Jinping in Kazakhstan. The head of state spoke out for strengthening and supporting good understanding between peoples and economic development. To achieve this, Xi Jinping promotes the joint establishment of an economic belt along the silk road,  which will improve means of communication, transport networks, trade, population movements as well as cash transfers. In Indonesia, a month after his speech in Kazakhstan, the head of the Chinese government mentions the idea of a new maritime silk road to go along with the economic belt on land. 

Both projects will later be combined and recognized as the Belt and Road Initiative or BRI with a potential of 4 to 8 trillion dollars from Chinese investment. The economic belt part consists of 6 corridors containing railroads, pipelines, new built roads and high-speed trains.

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The maritime silk road consists of a chain of seaports stretching from the south China sea to Africa. The BRI as the advantage of linking multiple industrial centers such as power plants, oil refineries, mines and fiber optic networks to charm other countries to join as they perceive the project as a full package deal. Over 60 countries have already signed agreements for small or big infrastructure projects linking them to the BRI. 

Countries with development stagnation join this project hoping for economic growth and to become a good business partner with China. If we take the example of Pakistan, China built a new industrial port in the fishing village of Gwadar connected by highways and a railway leading to China making the China-Pakistan economic corridor a critical point where the economic belt and the maritime silk road meet. The economic spin-off for Pakistan were significant and notable in their GDP growth improvements.  

For the other side, China secured a new road for oil and gas from the middle east. From all these projects, Chinese construction companies are growing very fast and their influence is expanding. 7 of the top 10 global constructions contractors are now Chinese companies. The great strength of this project comes from the financing granted by the Chinese banks. Because this funding involves contracts for Chinese companies: whether to build infrastructure or equip them. In the railway sector for example, the idea is not only that the railways are built by Chinese companies, but also that Chinese trains run on them. Also, instead of the western standard lengthy studies and consultations about the investment projects which adds up delays, China’s flexibility regarding regulations about foreign investment is making it easier for them to convince other less democratic countries to join the BRI.  

We can see an increased risk on the BRI countries due to Chinese diplomacy known as the debt trap. It consists in erasing, reducing or rescheduling the debts contracted with China by countries involved in the projects in exchange for territories or their silence on human rights violations. China already took control of the Pakistani and Sri Lanka ports since the countries couldn't pay the initial loan. We can also note that almost all ports and other transport infrastructure under construction could be used for commercial and military use. As a start to new types of deployments, China established its first overseas military base in Djibouti in 2018. In brief, even if China isn't getting reimbursed regarding the loans it still achieves important strategic geopolitical goals by taking control of the infrastructure. 

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