The Great Game Changer: Belt and Road Intiative (BRI; OBOR)

[JSCh]

Chinese crop experts bring hope of boost to food supply
By Hou Liqiang and Liu Kun | China Daily Europe | Updated: 2017-05-19 10:09

Large harvests of Chinese crops planted in Africa have raised hopes on the continent of greater grain yields to combat food shortages, Chinese scientists say.

"Trial plantings of quality Chinese crop varieties, including wheat, rice, corn, sweet sorghum and grapes, in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Sudan and other countries have shown promising results," says Wang Qingfeng, director of the Sino-Africa Joint Research Center in Kenya.

He says the results have been especially good in Kenya. With about 6.7 hectares of demonstration farmland, the center has conducted trial planting of high-yield corn for three years after variety screening and research. The yield of sweet sorghum has increased by 40 percent in trial planting, while hybrid rice has yielded an average 6,000 to 7,500 kilograms per hectare, four to five times the yield of local varieties, he says.

A testing field at Maasai Mara University in Kenya. Provided to China Daily

Researchers at the center have collected some local varieties of rice, wheat and sorghum for gene sequencing to develop crops that could suit the local soil and climate, he says.

Further screening is still needed to determine the varieties for promotion after more comprehensive research into local environment and trial planting. But to help start production as soon as possible, the Kenya center has applied to China's Ministry of Commerce to establish a Sino-Kenyan modern agricultural demonstration and training center, he says.

The demonstration and training center will be responsible for screening and bringing in high-yield crop varieties, demonstrating latest planting techniques and training talents of agricultural production and product processing to improve the agricultural production capacity in Africa, says Wang.

The center has signed cooperation agreements with some Chinese agricultural companies, including Hubei Provincial Seed Group, to help in technology achievement transformation, demonstration and promotion and will seek cooperation with more companies.

China has helped African nations when their grain harvests have been affected by drought, but what the research center is doing represents a change to this aid strategy. The new model gives more "soft aid" that features technology and management approaches, says Wang, who is also deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Wuhan Botanical Garden.

"The change better meets the need of African people and could enhance understanding and trust of them with Chinese people and deepen the friendship," he says.

The research center, which was opened in September at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, focuses on biodiversity protection, remote resources sensing, microbiology and the promotion of modern agricultural practices.

It covers 4,300 square meters and comprises a botanical garden, state-of-the-art laboratories, herb ariums, greenhouses, administration offices and conference and accommodation facilities. The Chinese Academy of Sciences supports its management and has provided equipment worth more than $2.2 million.

Meanwhile, Chinese agriculture experts have also been making efforts to increase the yield of rice in Ethiopia.

With funding from the Chinese government, a base for rice experiments and demonstration was established in February in the Werer Agricultural Research Center in Northeast Ethiopia's Afar region, which is affiliated with Ethiopia Institute of Agricultural Research and is 278 kilometers away from the capital, Addis Ababa.

With high temperatures and abundant sunshine, Werer is crossed by the Awash River, the longest in Ethiopia, and is an area suitable for rice planting. The conditions, however, haven't been efficiently used. Rice is planted on dry farmland instead of paddy fields for only one season a year during the rainy season, making yields low, says Luo Xueyi, a Chinese expert who led construction of the base.

Rice has been grown in Ethiopia for more than 40 years, but only about 53,500 hectares of the crop is planted each year in the country with a population of about 99.4 million. With the population on the rise, grain requirements are increasing, while the yield of teff, the main ingredient for Ethiopia's traditional main food, injera, is only about 100 kilograms per hectare. Rice has been listed by the Ethiopian government as an important grain to replace teff and ensure food security, says Luo.

 

[Blacklight]

CHINA recently hosted 29 heads of state and government at the Belt and Road Forum, reinforcing the country’s claim to leadership of an emerging geopolitical and economic world order. The summit conference that also attracted representatives of more than 40 other countries and multilateral financial agencies was the clearest expression yet of China breaking out of its old foreign policy mould that had restrained it from attempting a global role.

29 heads of state & gov. + 40 gov reps = 69 Countries.

Can anyone list those 69 countries?

 

[Shotgunner51]

GREECE: EuroAsia Interconnector at centre of energy and telecom hub hopes
17 May, 2017

EuroAsia Interconnector, the subsea cable that will connect the electricity grids of Israel, Greece and Cyprus, with the capability of selling surplus energy to western European markets, has been deemed as an integral part of Greece’s plans to transform the country into a regional electricity and telecom hub

The 1,520 km ‘electricity highway’ project has just passed a landmark stage of its development programme, presently executing the final pre-work studies which have been co-financed by the European Union and will lead to the construction works starting this year with the aim of uniting all three national grids by 2022.

Several officials accompanying Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on his visit to Beijing to attend the ‘Belt and Road Forum’ over the weekend, reiterated Greece’s commitment to the interconnector project, in addition to other key energy infrastructure projects, such as oil and gas exploration and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

Already, Foreign Minister Nicos Kotzias warned Turkey a week earlier to de-escalate its military exercises in the Aegean and the Cyprus Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the eastern Mediterranean, saying that Greece’s energy security will be a new priority for the government in Athens.

This follows criticism that the Greece-Cyprus Defence Dogma, initiated by Andreas Papandreou nearly two decades ago, never really got off the ground and safeguarding Greek and Cypriot energy interest had been sacrificed in the face of attempts at improved relations with Ankara.

Tweeting after inaugurating the Greek Studies Centre at Beijing’s Foreign Studies University, Tsipras referred to his meetings with Chinese business executives, saying that strategic energy projects - such as an undersea power cable linking Athens and Crete in the context of the EuroAsia Interconnector - were discussed.

In posts on his @PrimeministerGR account, Tsipras said that he met with economic actors in Beijing, including Chinese electricity company executives.

“Among others, we spoke with executives of the Chinese Electricity Company about projects of strategic importance, such as the Athens-Crete energy link in the context of the EuroAsia Interconnector,” the tweet said.​

On the sidelines of the ‘Belt and Road Forum’, Tsipras met with the Chairman of the State Grid Corporation of China, that in December 2016 acquired 24% of the shareholding of the Greek Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO or ADMIE) in a deal worth 320 mln euros, which is the grid operator that will benefit from one of the three sectors of the EuroAsia Interconnector, that will connect Attica and Crete.

“The co-operation between EuroAsia Interconnector, the Greek IPTO and State Grid is of the utmost importance for the successful implementation of this strategic infrastructure project, as this is a leading electricity interconnection that is transforming Greece into a key regional energy hub,” said EuroAsia’s Chairman and CEO Nasos Ktorides said.​

Meanwhile, the project now includes a telecom facility, as Greece’s Digital Policy and Telecom Minister Nicos Pappas said that the EuroAsia Interconnector will also lay a parallel fibre-optic link between Israel and Greece.

“The prospect of upgrading the EuroAsia Interconnector from a purely energy link to one of energy and telecoms, with the addition of fibre optics, equates into upgrading the digital role that Greece can play in the wider region,” Pappas said earlier in Tel Aviv, during a meeting with his Israeli counterpart Avi Blasberger.
​

He said that the interconnector will be laid at a depth of 2,000 metres and will cost 3 bln euros, financed by the EU, the three partner nations and own funds.

One of the most significant deals signed in Beijing was that between Greek telco and Internet giant Forthnet and the Chinese company ZTE, in the presence of Prime Minister Tsipras and Digital Policy Minister Pappas. The agreement concerns an investment of 500 mln euros, about 350 mln of which will be invested over the next three years.

These deals raise hopes that Greece will be able to reach an agreement on its debt very soon.

Government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos said that “for us the main issue is the country to be included in the quantitative easing programme and anything that leads to a debt settlement that will open the door to the country’s inclusion is acceptable for us.” ​

He added that, ahead of the Eurogroup meeting on May 22, the primary surpluses must be defined in order a comprehensive agreement to exist because on this depends the size of the mid-term measures for the debt. He noted that the discussion will certainly open at the next Eurogroup meeting and expressed the wish that it will be completed in the specific meeting. “If we don’t succeed to complete the discussions on May 22 and some more days are needed, I believe it is not that terrible,” Tzanakopoulos concluded.

In a similar mood, Tsipras and IMF chief Christine Lagarde agreed on the need for debt relief during their meeting in Beijing, where Lagarde sent the message that if Berlin does not agree on a feasible fiscal ‘path’ then the IMF will leave from the programme. In this case the measures will not be applied, replied Tsipras.

According to Athens News Agency reports, Tsipras and Lagarde totally agreed on the need for a solution for the Greek debt now and the definition of the mid-term measures immediately. Such a development is necessary in order the growth potentials of the Greek economy to unfold.

Moreover, Lagarde noted that if German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble insists on the view that there is no need for debt relief and a feasible fiscal path after 2018 can’t be agreed, then the IMF will leave from the programme. Tsipras answered that in this case (if the IMF leaves from the programme) then the measures that will be voted in the Greek parliament in the week will not be implemented in 2019-2020

Returning to growth

In his address at the Forum for the One Belt One Road project, Tsipras said that it is becoming a crucial vehicle for expanding economic growth, trade and investment. It is crucial for maximising investment synergies and promoting trade, transport, energy and telecommunications networks, through projects that can have a big impact on national economies.

“Greece - after many years of severe crises - is returning to a growth path which opens up remarkable opportunities for investment and trade. My country is once again taking full advantage of its unique geopolitical identity as a country of Europe, the Mediterranean, the Balkans and the broader Black Sea region, but also as a maritime country with potential for advancing relations, far beyond its neighbourhood. In this framework Greece is expanding its role as an important regional hub in the fields of trade, transport, energy, telecommunications, logistics, culture and tourism,” the Greek PM said.​

“As a leading maritime country, looking for new trade routes, we see the great opportunities in the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. An increasing number of Greek shipowners build their ships in China, while our biggest port - the port of Piraeus where a very important investment by COSCO has been made - is becoming a global gateway to Europe for products coming from Chinese and other Asian ports, including through the Suez Canal. From Piraeus port, the merchandise can easily be transported by rail to many destinations in the Balkans and in Central Europe.”​

The president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, referred to the Prime Minister’s statements regarding the need for synergies, partnerships and dialogue so that the necessary investments are planned on a stable basis.

He also supported Tsipras’ proposal the Belt and Road Forum to be held again in the future as the first meeting was a success. Moreover, he referred to the prospects of the global economy and the possible risks.

Tsakalotos: exit programme in 2018

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said on Monday that the Greek government wants to exit from the bailout programme in 2018 with a solution for its debt burden.

“Our aim is to exit this program in 2018 […] to leave the extreme supervision and enter a different path. And for this other path we need a solution on debt so that it is sustainable, we need to tap the markets,” he told a parliamentary committee debate on the prior actions agreed with the country’s lenders.

The minister said the government does not claim to have achieved a “success story”, as previous governments have in the past, noting there are “many things in the agreement that will sadden people” but there are also “things for which we can be pleased about”.

“This is why we say the main battle is the fight against supervision,” he explained, adding that “there will be gray areas” even when the country completes its aid programme.

Finally, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Friday, in a statement from the G7 Finance Ministers’ Meeting taking place in Bari that “the ball is now in the court of Greece’s European partners, who have to keep their side of the bargain regarding debt relief.”

“They must now implement what was necessary from the beginning... In other words, in some way or another to relieve the debt burden on the Greek economy and its budget,” Sapin said, noting that all parties in the talks had expressed a desire to reach agreement before the Eurogroup on May 22.
​

European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici also expressed optimism that a deal will be found for Greece.

“I am confident the will is there and Greece will be able to turn the page on a too-long chapter of austerity and open a new chapter of growth and investment in a framework of stability,” he said. “After so many years of recession, the Greek people really need that."
​

The Eurozone countries and the IMF are expected to agree on the target for primary surpluses that Greece will have to achieve after 2018. Concerning debt, the Eurogroup wants to reach a decision on concrete relief measures that will satisfy the IMF to such an extent that it will be able to announce the same day that it will ask its governing council to approve a new program for Greece.

http://www.financialmirror.com/news-details.php?nid=35287

 

[Jlaw]

WHAT BELT AND ROAD SNUB MEANS FOR SINGAPORE’S TIES WITH CHINA

Lion City’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was not among the many heads of state invited to a summit for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s new Silk Road, suggesting Beijing is still smarting from a protracted diplomatic spat

By Bhavan Jaipragas - SCMP - 18 May 2017

Not invited: Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.​

China’s decision not to invite Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to last weekend’s Belt and Road Forum highlights the still-strained ties between the two countries, observers say, though officials in the Lion City have tried to shrug off talk of any diplomatic rift.

Of the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) members, only three countries were not represented by their heads of government at the high-level summit in Beijing: Singapore, Thailand and Brunei. Twenty-nine national leaders and the representatives of 28 other countries attended the two-day meeting to discuss the China-led initiative to rebuild the ancient Silk Road trade route through a network of new ports, railways and roads.

The Singapore delegation was led by national development minister Lawrence Wong, while Thailand was represented by foreign minister Don Pramudwinai and four other cabinet ministers. Brunei, the tiny but oil-rich kingdom ruled by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, was represented by second foreign minister Lim Jock Seng.

In an interview with travelling Singaporean media, Wong revealed that the invitations were decided by China. It was the first official acknowledgement that Lee was not invited. In sharp contrast, regional counterparts including Malaysia’s Najib Razak, Indonesia’s Joko Widodo and the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte prominently highlighted their participation in the summit on social media. Lee’s office did not respond to This Week in Asia’s queries on the matter.

The Philippines' Rodrigo Duterte, Indonesia's Joko Widodo and Malaysia's Najib Razak in a photo shared on Najib’s Twitter account.​

Smaller nations with less-established diplomatic ties with Beijing also sent their heads of government to the summit. These included Fiji, Chile, Greece, and Hungary.

Britain sent finance minister Philip Hammond, the government’s de facto number two, while the US delegation was led by White House adviser Matt Pottinger.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a Southeast Asian foreign policy expert, said in the case of some countries like Thailand, heads of government were probably left off the guest list because of their peripheral geographical location in the sea and land routes linking China with the rest of Asia and Africa.

PROTRACTED SPAT

But while nearly half of the 57 countries were not represented by their heads of government, foreign policy experts said Lee’s absence was conspicuous as it provided clues on the extent of the fallout following a protracted diplomatic spat between the two countries over the past year.

$55b trade route, and a rekindled China-Pakistan love affair

Xue Li, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences think tank, said China’s decision not to invite the Singaporean leader reflected a growing belief in Beijing that the Lion City sought only economic benefits from China, while “relying on the US for security”.

“China is gradually recognising this and therefore doesn’t really care if the Singapore PM attended or not,” Xue said.

Michael Tai, a Singapore-China watcher at Cambridge University, said the non-invite showed the city state had “not patched things up with Beijing since last year’s Non-Aligned Movement Summit incident”. He was referring to the public exchange of words between Stanley Loh, the Singaporean envoy in Beijing, and the state-linked Global Times newspaper over a report on the city state’s position on the South China Sea dispute during last year’s Non-Aligned Movement Summit.

Nine Singapore military vehicles at a container terminal in Hong Kong, where they were seized by customs. Photo: AP
​

Bilateral ties hit another low in November after Hong Kong customs seized nine Singapore military vehicles en route from exercises in Taiwan to the Lion City, citing a breach of local laws on the shipment of strategic commodities. The vehicles were returned two months later, but China used the episode to voice its displeasure at Singapore’s longstanding policy of conducting military exercises in Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province.

Hong Kong to return seized armoured vehicles to Singapore

After the vehicles were returned on January 24, Singaporean officials declared that their behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts had helped to fix the months-long diplomatic turbulence between the two countries. Lee, in an interview with the BBC in March said “both sides handled it carefully and there had been a satisfactory outcome”. But the non-invitation to the weekend summit showed he and other Singaporean leaders were not on the same page as Beijing on the state of bilateral relations, some observers said.

“What we can deduce is that China is laying its unhappiness over these issues with the Singaporean head of government, who happens to be Lee Hsien Loong,” said Chong Ja Ian, a Chinese foreign policy expert at the National University of Singapore.

WATCH: Belt and Road - What, when, why, how?

The incident was not the first time Lee, the son of Singapore’s founding premier Lee Kuan Yew, has come under pressure from Beijing. Months before taking over as premier in August 2004, Lee triggered a furious reaction from China after he made a private visit to Taiwan and offered to mediate between the leaders of the self-governing island and Beijing. China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province, portrayed the gesture as an interference in domestic affairs and temporarily suspended high-level diplomatic exchanges.

The senior Lee, who died in 2015 aged 91, is widely recognised as the architect of an adroit foreign policy that embraces all major powers. He maintained close ties with senior Chinese leaders even after he retreated from public life following a near five-decade political career.

Can China really deliver Malaysia’s Singapore slayer?

“The current administration in Singapore is different from the generation of Lee Kuan Yew,” said Xue, the Chinese foreign policy expert. “They are used to dealing with China from their Western perspective that is being a teacher of China, rather than a follower of China,” he added.

Tai, the Cambridge-based observer, said the new Silk Road could drive a permanent wedge between the two countries. “The Belt and Road promises to bring regional connectivity on an unprecedented scale, which could soon undercut Singapore’s most important asset – her position as the premier trade and financial centre between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea,” he said.

‘ALL WEATHER FRIENDS’

Singaporean officials meanwhile have maintained the city state is committed to a strong relationship with China. Wong, who led the Singapore delegation at the summit, said the city state could play a role as a key financial hub for the Belt and Road Initiative. The city state has assets under management of US$1.8 trillion, and last year was the top destination for foreign direct investment linked to the new Silk Road. In a forum in Beijing last week, senior Singaporean diplomat Tommy Koh said the Lion City was one of China’s “all weather friends”. “The bottom line is this: Singapore will never allow its relationship with any major power to harm China,” he said.

WATCH: Chinese President Xi hosts Belt and Road forum

He was refuting comments by the Chinese foreign policy observer Ruan Zongze that Singapore was aligned with the US despite publicly claiming it was not. Officials have also sought to use a series of diplomatic engagements between the two countries this week to downplay talk of strained ties. Senior Communist Party official Zhao Leji met with Lee on Tuesday during an official visit to Singapore. Wong is chairing the World Cities Summit Mayors Forum in Suzhou starting on Thursday. The two-day event is organised by the Singapore government.

And on Friday, Chee Wee Kiong, the permanent secretary of the Singaporean foreign ministry, will co-chair a scheduled China-Asean meeting with Chinese vice-foreign minister Liu Zhenmin. Singapore is the designated coordinator of China-Asean relations.

At home, some online commentators said the episode crystallised the constant exhortations by the late elder Lee on the vulnerability of small states. Lee in 2009 had said “a small country must seek a maximum number of friends, while maintaining the freedom to be itself as a sovereign and independent nation”.

Father smart, son a US brown noser.

 

[cirr]

 

[onebyone]

New Sino-European freight train route starting from Shenzhen opens

Photos taken on May 22, 2017 show the first freight train of China Railway Express from the city of Shenzhen to European countries at Yantian Port in Shenzhen, south China's Guangdong Province.

Freight train X8428, with a total traveling length of 9900 kilometers and bound for Minsk of Belarus, departed from Shenzhen's Yantian Port on Monday, marking the opening of a new Sino-European freight train route starting from Shenzhen.

(Xinhua/Mao Siqian)

 

[onebyone]

 

[Beast]

OBOR start the ball rolling....

 

[onebyone]

 

[onebyone]

Wade Shepard ,

CONTRIBUTOR

I travel to emerging markets around Asia and report on what I find.

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Wade Shepard

Europe-bound train pulling out from the Khorgos Gateway dry port on the Kazakhstan / China border.

The markets of Europe and Asia are being drawn more closely together via an array of enhanced land and sea trade routes that are part of a multinational, multi-faceted development that has been vaguely dubbed the New Silk Road. China took a leading role in building this trade network with its 2013 Belt and Road initiative (BRI), which is touted to pump $150 billion per year into mostly emerging markets in dozens of countries throughout Asia, Africa and Europe for the purpose of bolstering connectivity, security, and, by extension, prosperity.

In the spring of 2015, I began traveling the various routes of the New Silk Road to see what was really happening on the ground. Two years and more than 30 countries later, I’ve compiled a list of key takeaways from this endeavor — part two of which is below.

Read part one here: I Spent Two Years On China's Belt And Road, And This Is What I Found.


The BRI spearheads a new type of foreign policy

Declaring the ‘buddy-buddy’ type of foreign relations which consists of countries forming strategic bonds with select other countries as “outdated geopolitical maneuvering,” China instead pursues diplomatic and economic relations with pretty much any taker — aiming to “forge partnerships of dialogue with no confrontation and of friendship rather than alliance,” as put by Xi Jinping himself.

The hallmark of China’s 21st century foreign policy so far has been its brash disregard for the established geopolitical divisions of the world. Concurrently, China is building political and economic partnerships with Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Azerbaijan and Armenia, the U.S. and North Korea, the EU and Russia. China doesn’t flaunt its morals or embargo countries for diverging from its ethical standards.
Politically indiscriminate, China seemingly doesn’t not care if you’re a democracy, a dictatorship, a monarchy, a theocracy, or even a borderline failed state. If you’re willing to step up to the table and do business, China is your friend — well, just so you don’t meddle in what China posits as its “internal affairs.”

With the Belt and Road we’re not looking at a dimetric partitioning of global power that will see China leading a contingent of allies against the United States; we’re not looking at any type of Orwellian, east vs. west showdown. We’re looking at China solidifying ties with every player possible as a way of gaining the leverage necessary to enhance its own autonomy, economic prowess, supply chains and security. As what amounts to the BRI extends around the world, we’re going to see a geopolitical makeup where nearly all countries have one thing in common: a deeply intertwined partnership with China, a common link which Chinese leaders tout as a recipe for peace.

The BRI will pave the way for China’s economic transition

China is in a state of mass transition: The country no longer wishes to merely be the world’s factory, the wellspring of cheap, “Made in China” junk. Rather, the country is opting — meaning, investing billions of dollars and the political will of the central government — to become one of the world’s epicenters for high-tech R&D and high-end, high-value manufacturing.

While many critics have posited that the BRI is just a more streamlined way for China to dump its perceived excess of commodities, such as steel and cheap consumer goods upon the markets of the world, the view from the ground is a little different. While certainly large amounts of building materials and low-quality consumables will pour out from China along the five emerging routes of the BRI, what will be far more significant is the off-shoring of Chinese companies and manufacturing operations. Low-end manufacturing and dirty energy production are becoming less and less viable in China: large swaths of the country are maturing beyond their industrial adolescents, the wage advantage in the east and central regions is dwindling, and the public is no longer uninformed and passive about pollution. China sees the writing on the wall, and the BRI is one of the mechanism that the country is employing to keep the tether tied to its enterprises as they inevitably go off-shore.

Meanwhile, China is going all-in on building up its high-tech sector. The country is moving up the manufacturing value chain, is buying up western technology in droves, has companies designing some of the most high-tech products available today, and legions of factories starting their own brands.

In some ways, China and the west are switching positions. The low-level manufacturing operations that the rise of China was built upon are now being dispersed around the world — even being re-shored to the U.S. and Europe — while the high-tech, high-end manufacturing that was once the forte of the west is being gobbled up by China. So China is now making iPhones, drones and green energy technologies, while the west is going back to making t-shirts.

 

[onebyone]

The BRI makes Europe relevant again

Every road has a beginning and an end. When looking at the BRI we must not only look at China but also at Europe, the place where all of these enhanced Silk Road trade routes ultimately lead to.

At a time when many European countries are either economically stagnant — or even in periods of contraction — and the U.S. is looking more and more inward, the possibility of new political and economic horizons carries significant potential. The BRI is making Europe relevant again, one trans-Eurasian rail line, financial district and revitalized port at a time. The initiative invariably ties the often slow-moving, bureaucratically hamstrung, and cash-strapped continent in the west with the high-paced, emerging superpower to the east who just happens to have more money to spend than any other country on earth.

While the BRI does increasingly open the gates of Europe to Chinese products and M&A, it also opens the gates of China for European producers. It is a mistake to think of the BRI as a one way street. As China’s middle class continues exploding, disposable income continues rising, and buying power goes through the roof, China has become one of the most targeted markets on the planet. The fact that the BRI opens up enhanced ways for companies to get their products to China is a potential that Europe is finally waking up to.




There are currently 39 rail lines which directly link 15 cities in Europe with upwards of 20 cities in China. The type of goods that these trains are best suited for are precisely what Europe produces and are just what the rising middle class in China is hungry to buy. European pharmaceutical, automotive, luxury, agriculture, and high-end food industries are starting to leverage these new transport routes. BMW, for example, is already shipping cars to China by rail from Duisburg and Land Rover has shown interest in potentially using the newly established London to Yiwu train.

Yes, China doesn’t play fair. Yes, China rigs the system to give domestic enterprises an advantage over foreign companies. Yes, European markets are far more open and transparent than those in China.
But the BRI also offers Europe economic and infrastructural opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t exist — opportunities which, if leveraged properly, could help boost Europe back up on its pedestal.

I'm the author of Ghost Cities of China. I'm currently traveling the New Silk Road doing research for a new book. Follow by RSS.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/wadesh...g-chinas-belt-and-road-part-2/2/#18c94b838991

In some ways, China and the west are switching positions. The low-level manufacturing operations that the rise of China was built upon are now being dispersed around the world — even being re-shored to the U.S. and Europe — while the high-tech, high-end manufacturing that was once the forte of the west is being gobbled up by China. So China is now making iPhones, drones and green energy technologies, while the west is going back to making t-shirts.

 

[Jlaw]

What I learned by reading this is a westerner baizuo with too much time on hand.

 

[Han Patriot]

This is guy is quite objective. He refuted the Western media that the ghost cities are empty, he travels and meet the people on the ground, talk to them and understand what they think.

 

[Shotgunner51]

China, Arab countries sign satellite navigation declaration
Source: Xinhua| 2017-05-24 19:59:44|Editor: Mengjie

SHANGHAI, May 24 (Xinhua) -- A declaration on BeiDou cooperation between China and Arab countries was signed Wednesday, helping Arab countries benefit from China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS).

China's self-developed BDS is compatible with other satellite navigation systems and aims to provide services to Belt and Road countries and regions from the end of 2018, completing deployment of 35-satellite constellation around 2020 to provide global services.

"The declaration will provide policy support for satellite navigation cooperation on both sides," said Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhang Ming at the first forum on BDS cooperation between China and Arab countries.​

Zhang expressed his hope that with the aid of delegates a "space silk road" could soon be built to help China-Arab cooperation.

Wang Li, chairman of the China Satellite Navigation System Committee, said that based on present cooperation and the needs of Arab countries, both sides agreed to boost major project cooperation and conduct joint research on satellite navigation application in fields, including intelligent transportation, land mapping, precision agriculture and public security.

The forum also featured training sessions on the BDS.

A second forum on BDS cooperation between China and Arab countries will be held in an Arab country in 2019.

Proposed in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative, comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along and beyond ancient trade routes.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-05/24/c_136311779.htm

 

[JSCh]

China Focus: Chinese banks join global payments innovation to facilitate B&R construction
Source: Xinhua| 2017-05-24 17:02:13|Editor: Mengjie



BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- An additional 11 Chinese commercial banks have joined a global payments innovation (gpi) initiative to offer faster, more transparent and traceable cross-border payments for Chinese companies, a press conference announced Tuesday.

The initiative was launched in December 2015 by SWIFT, a global member-owned cooperative that provides financial messaging services. Since then, nearly 110 banks operating across more than 200 countries and regions, including almost all Belt and Road countries, have joined the initiative.

This announcement brings the number on Chinese banks taking part to 13, which together represent an estimated 80 percent of Chinese cross-border payments. The Bank of China (BOC) and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) had already joined the initiative.

"China Railway Engineering Corporation has many overseas projects under construction, especially in Belt and Road countries. Cross-border payments are made almost daily. But slow processing time and the lack of visibility of the payment status have always been a problem," said Li Guang, an accountant from China Railway Finance Company.

Alain Raes, CEO for APAC and EMEA at SWIFT, said at the press conference, that fast, transparent and traceable payment services will better support the trade and supply chains under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The new payment services will revolutionize the industry by combining real-time payment tracking with the speed and certainty of same-day settlement for international payments, he said.

More than 20 global transaction banks have begun using or implementing the SWIFT gpi service, with another 50 in the pipeline. Hundreds of thousands of payments have already been sent across more than 85 country corridors, according to Raes.

SWIFT gpi will also allow over 400 Chinese institutions to carry out safe and reliable transactions with over 11,000 institutions that are using the SWIFT network globally.

Improved connectivity and more products and services denominated by the Chinese yuan will help China with its RMB internationalizationn agenda, the chief executive said.

"As one of the earliest banks to participate, BOC has played an important role in rule setting, pilot testing and long-term planning. In January, BOC became one of the banks worldwide to go live. Currently, gpi business has been undertaken in 66 domestic and overseas BOC branches and 11 major currencies, with rapid growth of channels and customer coverage," said Wu Jianguang from BOC.

SWIFT gpi allows commercial banks to improve the quality and efficiency of cross-border payments, enrich and optimize the global clearing network, and improve customer service for international payments, said Peng Hua from ICBC.

Strengthening financial connectivity between countries is an important key to the Belt and Road development.

At the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held on May 14 to 15, a joint communique was issued vowing to jointly work on a long-term, stable and sustainable financing system; enhance financial infrastructure connectivity, by exploring new models and platforms of investment and financing and improving financial services.