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

[AndrewJin]

Let's build it around the world!

 

[Meengla]

Wow! 'break-neck speed' is truly the right phrase for the transformation done by China. I don't think ever in human history a country has risen so high from so low in such a short timeframe. I mean think of what China was in 1949?!

PS. I remember decades ago, 'Made in Japan' was considered inferior (compared with Made in U.K). Then 'Made in Hong Kong' was considered inferior. And, till recently, 'Made in China' was considered inferior.

 

[AndrewJin]

This series of short documentaries presented One Belt One Road with numbers and statistics from Big Data.
Each episode is only 10-15 minutes in length with English subtitles.


Episode 1 Parcels From Faraway Places

Episode 2 Roads Leading To The World

Episode 3 Travel Through Cultures

 

[AndrewJin]

Episode 4 Running Energy

Episode 5 Stories Behind Food

Episode 6 The Silk Road, Here We Go!

Episode 7 Made-in-China, What's Your Choice?

@Gibbs @Kaptaan @Shotgunner51 @TopCat @UKBengali @el che @PaklovesTurkiye @Tipu7 @simple Brain @Götterdämmerung @Mista @eldarlmari @coffee_cup @waz @Arsalan @Dungeness @Two @bolo @Echo_419 @pts_m_h_2016 @Darmashkian @Pluralist @Khan_21 @AZADPAKISTAN2009 @PaklovesTurkiye @hellfire @Two @AViet @maximuswarrior @Huan @Darmashkian @endyashainin @Taygibay @LA se Karachi @911 @Cherokee @xyxmt @BDforever @Three_Kingdoms @T-123456 @somebozo @Maira La @vostok @senheiser @Nilgiri @terranMarine @Jlaw @Dandpatta @Philia @Hasan89 @pts_m_h_2016 @XenoEnsi-14 @Malik Abdullah @LadyFinger @Devil Soul @Zain Malik @waz

 

[AndrewJin]

There is another official documentary from CCTV Documentary Channel.
It has no English substitutes.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0eGJygpmOH7JqQC2PH09Rz8edoPZ61NJ

Some video clips

Colombo Port

China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone

Wind Energy Farm in Pakistan

Kaleta Dam in Guinea built by Three Gorge Dam Group

Suramadu Bridge in Indonesia

 

[onebyone]

China's belt and road is integrating countries in Asia, Africa and Europe into China's financial, industrial and infrastructure model into one global value chain
November 09, 2016

The ultimate purpose of the Belt and Road Initiative is deep economic integration through the development of global value chains. Importantly, the initiative is supposed to abide by market rules. Either geopolitical considerations were never taken into account or everything in the Vision and Actions document was carefully checked and revised to make it read like a business plan.

even in the milder forms of expanding Chinese soft power. Issued in March 2015 with the clunky title “Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road,” the paper offers a vision of greater economic integration between mutually complementary economies. Such integration is meant to promote the “orderly and free flow of economic factors, highly efficient allocation of resources and deep integration of markets.”

Global Value Chains

Patterns of international specialization and division of labor are particularly relevant in the age of global value chains. Today, very few products are manufactured in a single country. A country’s manufacturing imports are more likely to be intermediate goods—that is, commodities, components, or semifinished products that a country uses to make its own products. These could be final products or new segments in a global network of producers and suppliers. Global value chains can become so complex that imports can also contain returned value added that originated in the importing country. In China, nearly 7 percent of the total value of imported intermediate goods reflects value added that originated in China. For electronic goods, Chinese intermediate imports contain over 12 percent of returned Chinese domestic value added.

The Belt and Road Initiative is the first example of “transnational” industrial policy. “Formerly, all industrial policy was national,” he said. He has a point, as even the European Union, when it created an ambitious transnational framework of rules and institutions, tended to abandon industrial policy on the grounds that such a policy could not be reproduced at a transnational level.

The image of the original Silk Road is particularly misleading in this context, as indicated by the inclusion of the small code words “belt” and “road” in the names of the project’s two components. The land element is called a belt to pinpoint that its ultimate goal is the creation of a densely integrated economic corridor rather than a transportation network linking two points. The maritime road is meant to adapt sea transportation to new patterns of global trade.




Ernst and Young had a 32 page document looking at how business can leverage the belt and road initiative.

Chinese companies have built 46 cooperation zones [industrialization zones] in countries along the routes, while China's Ministry of Education has inked over 60 deals with those countries, according to Zhao.

In 2015, nearly half of the international students in China came from countries along the routes, Zhao added. Nearly 400,000 foreign students from 202 countries and regions came to study in China in 2015, data showed.

Meanwhile, China was building more railways, highways and ports along the routes while sealing more MOUs with its neighbors and partners.

SOURCES- Carnegie Endowment, China National Development and Reform Commission, China Daily, EY


http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/11/chinas-belt-and-road-is-integrating.html

 

[JSCh]

Nov 10, 2016 @ 03:29 PM
Europe Finally Wakes Up To The New Silk Road, And This Could Be Big
Wade Shepard, Contributor

“They humiliated me a year ago,” began Karl Gheysen, the then-CEO of the Khorgos Gateway dry port on the Kazakh/China border, in November of 2015.

He then told me a story about a talk that he attempted to give to an audience of senior executives of big rail companies at a conference in Europe a year earlier.

“I started talking about Khorgos and Kazakhstan, and the general of the executives interrupted and said, ‘We’ve heard this before, for the last 15 years we’ve heard Kazakhstan this and Kazakhstan that. We’ve all heard about the Silk Road. Go back to your playground and make something, and when you have something come back here and show me the volume!’”

That about summed up the general attitude in Europe at that time towards the emerging network of economic corridors that had been dubbed the New Silk Road. Since the late 1990s, the governments of Central Asia along with a few upstart investors and think tanks had been promoting a vision of a reconnected Asia, but what had actually been developing on the ground was haphazard at best — a nascent dry port here, a new highway to nowhere there.


Continue -> http://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshe...y-wakes-up-to-the-new-silk-road/#1b89b2e27b5e

 

[beijingwalker]

Top Trump Advisor signals interest in possible cooperation with China's One Belt One Road Global Infrastructure plans
November 15, 2016

A top adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump has lashed out at the Obama administration's opposition to China's economic diplomacy, especially the decision to stay away from The Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

In an opinion piece in the South China Morning Post on Friday, James Woolsey, a senior adviser to Trump on national security and intelligence, called Washington's spurning of the China-led multilateral lender "a strategic mistake" and expected a "much warmer" response From Trump to President Xi Jinping's "One Belt, One Road" initiative.

The United States and Japan are the only two G7 countries that have not signed up to be AIIB members, a move viewed by Beijing as a sign of Washington's mistrust of the Chinese government and its ambition to exert bigger regional influence.

Analysts said that if Trump backed US membership of the AIIB and endorsed China's efforts to revive trade routes along the ancient Silk Road, it would be a big sign of goodwill from Washington to Beijing to pave the way for future agreements.

Former Chinese vice-commerce minister Wei Jianguo agreed, saying that while Trump labelled China a currency manipulator and threatened trade wars, he might have a more open attitude towards China-backed institutions and investment programs.

Wei Jianguo, China Center for International Economic Exchanges, now a deputy director of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, said that if Trump embraced the AIIB, more trade and investment deals could flow between the two economies.

Daiwa Capital Markets economists Kevin Lai and Olivia Xia said that if Trump aborted the TPP, China could avoid the risks of "being shut out of a massive trade deal." But it could also delay much-needed reforms in China.

"Without the threat from the TPP, China could continue to support inefficient state-owned enterprises to strengthen the state control and impose local-content requirements on multinational companies to keep jobs in China," they said.

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/11/top-trump-advisor-signals-interest-in.html

 

[Hakikat ve Hikmet]

If this is the case then Mr. Trump, the Casino Tycoon, is ironically sealing "winners take it all" mindset and embarking on "growth through sharing". Here, sharing means sharing with the USA, for no free lunches in his book...

 

[maximuswarrior]

Obama screwed up royally. Instead of viewing China a rival he could have joined the bandwagon. He didn't and now someone like Trump could surprisingly do a 360 and cooperate with China. This is welcome news.

 

[FalconsForPeace]

Connecting the Chinese city of Kashgar and the deep-water Pakistani port of Gwadar, the Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated a new trade route known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The creation of this modern day “silk road” is an indicator of China’s growing desire to increase its influence in the Middle East and Pakistan’s shift closer to China.

The first convoy of Chinese trucks, carrying goods to be shipped abroad, arrived a day before this week’s opening at the newly-renovated port of Gwadar, after travelling more than 2,000 kilometers from Kashgar in Xinjiang province in western China. Gwadar, which is located some 300 miles from the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, is a fuel hub as 20 percent of the world’s petroleum passes through the port city.

“CPEC is currently touted as a game changer for Pakistan, as it has the potential to forever alter the country’s economic trajectory,” Zeeshan Salauddin, Senior Research Fellow at Pakistan’s Center for Research and Security Studies, told The Media Line. “The $46 billion China has pumped into this pilot project for their much larger One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative not only indicates their confidence in Pakistan to start the massive process, but also relies on CPEC to be an unmitigated success.”

Costing $46 billion, the “One Belt, One Road”, otherwise known as The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road. is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s linchpin project, aiming to affirm China’s paramount position in Asia and the Middle East. The CPEC part of it, expected to be completed in the next 15 years, also includes plans to create roads, rail and oil pipelines links, and will boost Pakistan’s economy, which is currently grappling with an acute economic crisis.

“This joint project represents a major shift in Pakistani policy,” Dr. Gareth Price, Senior Research Fellow at the Chatham House think tank in London, told The Media Line. “For decades Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have been the closest of allies.”

“But the tipping point came when Pakistan decided not to join the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iranian-supported Houthi rebels in Yemen,” Price added.

Pakistan, a Sunni-majority country which shares a 600-mile border with Shiite Iran, is the only Muslim nuclear power. The Saudis believe that if they ever felt threatened by a nuclear Iran, Pakistan would come to their aid. Saudi Arabia also gives Pakistan cheap oil and cash infusions in times of need.

The world powers’ nuclear deal with Iran, which possesses huge hydrocarbon reserves, has been a big game changer. Pakistan is going through a serious energy shortage and preserving good relations with a nuclear-constrained Iran in a rapidly shifting diplomatic environment is a strategic move.

Analysts say that Pakistan might be cozying up to China in an effort to reduce its dependence on support from the United States, especially as the India-friendly US President-Elect assumes office in January 2017.

CPEC is also a way for the world’s second largest economy to expand its influence in the Middle East and counter both US and Indian influence. China is the biggest importer of Middle Eastern oil, and its dependence on imported oil and natural gas fueled the Chinese President’s visits to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran last earlier this year.

As Chinese ships now use the Strait of Malacca, a narrow passage between the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, China is seeking convenient and reliable access to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. The proposed new route would give China the access it wants.

“Pakistan will inevitably need to improve diplomatic and trade ties with the Middle East in order to facilitate this plan (OBOR),” Salauddin said. “Gwadar city, for instance, already runs on electricity imported from neighboring Iran.”

“Pakistan will also need to present its case not as a competitor, but as an additional market, specifically catering to Central Asian states, as well as China and Russia, thereby opening doors and creating an interdependent system of inter-state economy with China-Pakistan at its core,” Salauddin added.

A serious problem threatening the success of CPEC is the fact the Gwadar port and many of the roads of the CPEC run are located in Baluchistan, the province where an Islamic State suicide bomber attacked a Sufi Shrine in November killing 52 people.

“China has problems with Islamic radicals in Xinxiang province,” explained Ailiya Naqvi, an analyst at the Pakistan Institute for International Affairs, to The Media Line.
According to Naqvi, both Xinxiang and Baluchistan are underdeveloped regions and this new economic partnership will not only create new infrastructure but also encourage investment and job opportunities, known to “put a lid on radicalism.”

For Price, CPEC is win-win for all those involved, with the exception of Pakistan’s long-time foe, India. “Part of CPEC’s infrastructure goes through the hotly contested Kashmir province. Things look okay now, but India is worried about what will happen if China decides to deploy military forces in the region to help Pakistan.”

Analysts are in agreement that massive Chinese investment will boost Pakistan’s economy but worry that Pakistan will become China’s client state, feeling like it has to align its policies with the economic giant.

http://www.themedialine.org/news/chinas-game-changing-route-middle-east/

 

[cirr]

New train links Ningxia, Kazakhstan

2016-11-16

YINCHUAN - A new train route connecting northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Kazakhstan has started operations.

The first train, carrying almost 3,000 tonnes of freight in 45 compartments, arrived in Alma-Ata, the largest city in Kazakhstan, from Ningxia's Shizuishan City on November 12.

The new route will greatly reduce delivery costs between Ningxia and Central Asia, according to Wang Feng, director of the Lanzhou Railway Bureau.

The train will only run once this year, but will operate on a regular basis in the near future, the bureau added.

Bordering Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is a major stop along the northern route of the ancient Silk Road. The opening of the new rail route is a key step to improving trade between China and Central Asia, which has been promoted under China's Belt and Road Initiative.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2...t_27398143.htm

 

[TaiShang]

ABB aims to cash in on Belt & Road
China Daily, November 17, 2016

Ulrich Spiesshofer, CEO of ABB Group. [Photo provided to China Daily]


ABB Group, the Swiss power and automation company, wants to form more partnerships with China's power, transportation and energy companies to develop engineering, procurement and construction projects along the Belt and Road Initiative, to further diversify its global sales, said its global head.

Ulrich Spiesshofer, its chief executive officer, said with three years of development, the Belt and Road Initiative has proved to be a practical tool driving the growth of both global and Chinese companies.

Countries such as Turkey, Russia, Pakistan and India as well as countries in the Middle East and Africa all have demand in their markets to improve their power and infrastructure sectors, which is attractive to these companies.

The initiative has brought new opportunities in overseas projects for Chinese EPC companies. Chinese companies signed about 4,000 overseas EPC contracts in 60 countries and regions along the route of the initiative in 2015, while the total contract value reached $93 billion, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce.

ABB has provided tailor-made traction motors for the 95 trains designed by CRRC Tangshan Co Ltd for line 2 of the Izmir metro in Turkey.

The company also offered a 220 kV main substation solution to Sinopec for its EPC project in Atyrau Refinery, Kazakhstan, as well as supplying a 6,000 metric ton per-day cement processing line in Saudi Arabia for China National Building Material Corp and 420KV switchgears to China Machinery Engineering Co for its project in Angola's Soyo power plant.

EPC projects are a common form of contracting arrangement in the construction industry.

"We have deployed more than 30,000 employees across the world to help global cooperation which is an advanced platform for us to integrate the business with many sectors in different countries, not only in the fields of power or regional connectivity, we are also proficient in providing maritime equipments and solutions to our customers," said Spiesshofer.

The Swiss firm employs 18,000 people in China and operates 40 local firms across a sales and service network in 147 cities.

Claudio Facchin, president of ABB's power grids division worldwide, said ABB has partnered with Chinese companies to complete more than 1,000 projects over the past decade, which has significantly supported both industrial and infrastructure development.

"The power sector is undergoing unprecedented change both from a demand and supply perspective, with the influx of renewables being a major game changer. This not only requires the grid to become more flexible and reliable but also to be more intelligent and automated," said Facchin, who was previously stationed in Beijing and responsible for the company's operations in China and North Asia.

He said the company is providing key technologies for incorporating clean energy into conventional grids. For instance, its high-voltage direct-current technology can ensure efficient and reliable long-distance electricity transfer. ABB worked on the Xiangjiaba-Shanghai electricity transmission link which transfers enough clean energy across more than 2,000 kilometers to serve the needs of nearly 24 million users using HVDC technology.

ABB has more than 110 HVDC projects worldwide. It has been involved in 26 HVDC projects in China so far.

 

[TaiShang]

China opens int'l tax service hotline
Xinhua, November 19, 2016

China opened an international tax service hotline on Friday in Shanghai, to boost the Belt and Road Initiative and international tax service exchange.

The hotline was launched at the 12366 Shanghai international tax service center, which was set up in January with the aim of conforming to international standards.

The Shanghai tax service center and hotline aim to support the Belt and Road Initiative, China's free trade zones, the overseas investment of Chinese enterprises as well as international economic cooperation, said Wang Jun, director of the State Administration of Taxation, at the opening ceremony.

A high-end international tax service platform will contribute to global investment and growth and a fairer and more open tax service system, said Wang.

The Shanghai center should strive to be a bridge for international taxation exchange and cooperation, he added

 

[ahojunk]

Hamburg Summit to focus on Belt and Road Initiative
2016-11-16 16:14 | Xinhua | Editor: Mo Hong'e

China's Belt and Road Initiative will be a key focus of the Hamburg Summit in Germany on Nov. 23 and 24, said Lars Anke, chief representative of Hamburg Liaison Office China.

Initiated by the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce, the Hamburg Summit is a major Sino-European economic conference that aims to boost exchanges and tap business opportunities for entrepreneurs from both countries, according to organizers.

German and Chinese companies are increasing bilateral trade and investment in light of the initiative and also seeking cooperation opportunities in ports, transportation and industrial automation, Anke told reporters Tuesday in Shanghai.

So far, over 550 Chinese companies have set up offices in Hamburg and more than 700 Hamburg businesses are engaged in trade with China. In 2015, Hamburg port handled 2.5 million container units (TEU) from and to China, a third of all handled in the German port.

Chinese companies have also increased investment in Germany, according to Peter Rothen, consul general of Germany in Shanghai.

Chinese companies have showed strong interest in Hamburg's digital market.

In June, Spearhead, a Beijing-based company, acquired mobile advertising platform Smaato from Hamburg for 148 million U.S. dollars. In April, Shanghai-based Youzu Interactive acquired Hamburg-based game developer Bigpoint with the aim of jointly building a global marketplace for online and mobile games.

Dutch chipmaker NXP is currently selling its high-tech semiconductor plant in Hamburg to a consortium consisting of Jianguang Asset Management and Wise Road Capital.