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

[Stuttgart001]

Seems the persuasion of China works recently.

 

[TaiShang]

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that North Korea will be sending a delegation to next week's summit on President Xi Jinping's ambitious new Silk Road project.

Leaders from 28 countries will attend the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on May 14-15, an event orchestrated to promote Xi's vision of expanding links between Asia, Africa and Europe underpinned by billions of dollars in infrastructure investment.

"According to what I understand, the North Korean side will send an official delegation to relevant events at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that will shortly be taking place," spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily briefing.

He did not elaborate.

Despite Chinese anger at North Korea's repeated nuclear and missile tests, China remains the isolated state's most important economic and diplomatic backer, even as Beijing has signed up for tough U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang.

China has over the years tried to coax North Korea into cautious, export-oriented economic reforms, rather than sabre rattling and nuclear tests, but to little avail.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

https://www.yahoo.com/news/china-says-north-korea-sending-delegation-silk-road-085635612.html

China should also make sure that the developing plan to build a Northeast Asia super grid include North Korea rather than by-passing it.

There are currently two competing visions: One goes across North to South Korea and then into Japan; the other from China to South Korea via undersea UHVDC line and then into Japan.

 

[Stuttgart001]

China should also make sure that the developing plan to build a Northeast Asia super grid include North Korea rather than by-passing it.

There are currently two competing visions: One goes across North to South Korea and then into Japan; the other from China to South Korea via undersea UHVDC line and then into Japan.

Of course China would like to make NK linked to the rest of the world provided Kim agreed to open the door of his state.
But it is very hard to do that ,cause Kim's dictatorship would be of little probability to maintain, as soon as the door is opened , I am afraid.

That is why Kim Jong un's father withdrew all the corporations with SOR and China all of a sudden the second he realized the threaten brought by interaction of between North Korean with foreigners.

 

[TaiShang]

 

[TaiShang]

Vietnamese president kicks off China visit, to attend Belt and Road forum
Xinhua Published: 2017-05-11 14:58:34

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang and his wife arrive in Beijing on Thursday May 11, 2017. [Photo: cri.cn]

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang and his wife kick off a five-day state visit to China on Thursday, where he will also attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

The visit and attendance at the forum is made at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.

Quang's trip aims to maintain the development momentum of the cooperation between the two countries and parties, increase political trust and bilateral cooperation efficiency in economy, trade and investment, and popularize Vietnam's investment attraction policies for Chinese businesses, Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA reported on Thursday.

Vietnam supports initiatives and efforts to bolster economic and regional connectivity in the common interests of countries and the region, the VNA said.

Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang and his wife arrive in Beijing on Thursday May 11, 2017. [Photo: cri.cn]

Over the years, Vietnam and China have maintained regular high-level visits to advance their comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation.

The two countries have also expanded cooperation in various sectors -- including economy and trade, investment and tourism -- at ministerial and local levels.

While China remains the largest trading partner of Vietnam, Vietnam surpassed Malaysia last year to become the largest trading partner of China in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

According to Chinese statistics, two-way trade between Beijing and Hanoi reached 87.8 billion U.S. dollars in the first 11 months of 2016, an increase of 1.6 percent year on year.

In the same period, Vietnam's export to China amounted to 32.96 billion dollars, up 20.8 percent year on year, and its trade deficit with China fell by 31 percent.

 

[JSCh]

Science cooperation network in works
By Zhang Zhihao | China Daily | Updated: 2017-05-10 09:59

China aims to complete a cooperative network in science and technology for countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative by 2030, it was announced Tuesday.

The network will be indispensable to the development of science and innovation by the middle of this century, according to Bai Chunli, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who spoke at a news briefing in Beijing.

"Since the initiative was proposed in 2013, the academy has expanded its global cooperation and outreach," he said. "We're providing technological support and services to help countries tackle practical issues."

The academy has launched the International Outreach Initiative and is cooperating closely with the World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries, a UNESCO program based in Trieste, Italy.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences has signed more than 200 international cooperation agreements with 60 countries. In addition, more than 600 of its scholars are working with international organizations or major science publications.

It has also trained about 1,800 people from Belt and Road countries, focusing on common issues such as climate change, water security, green energy and disaster prevention and relief, Bai said.

"Many countries have fragile ecosystems, and China also has similar issues," he said. "Our research aims to help. At the same time, advanced technologies from other countries, like sandstorm prevention, can benefit us."

The academy is setting up nine overseas centers for science and technology cooperation and has launched more than 20 major science projects to address common challenges for Belt and Road countries, such as weather surveillance and environmental protection.

"These are parts of the academy's international science cooperation network, which focuses on strategic counseling, technology cooperation, training and the commercialization of scientific achievements," Bai said.

More than 30,000 foreign scholars visit the academy to take part in exchanges and cooperation every year, and 2,000 now work at the academy, in most academic fields.

China has attracted more than 1,500 foreign students from developing countries－in some cases offering scholarships. The Chinese academy plans to train about 500 master's and doctoral students a year, according to Cao Jinghua, director of international cooperation at the academy.

"Talent forms the foundations for exchanges and cooperation," Cao said.

"We hope our programs will equip foreign students with the skills to make a contribution in their countries, which will benefit the initiative in the long run."

The Chinese academy will continue to expand the cooperation network based on its advantages, and eventually push it onto the world stage, he said.

So far, 22 countries have joined the academy's initial framework. "We welcome other countries' participation in the network and taking part in the construction of the Belt and Road," Cao said.

 

[onebyone]

Ahead of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on May 14-15, which Indonesian President Joko Widodo is expected to attend, CGTN's Aixinjueluo Bei spoke to the country's consul general in Shanghai to learn more about how the initiative can enhance infrastructure and e-commerce cooperation between the two countries.
After two years of negotiations, China confirmed in April that it will build Indonesia's first high-speed railway between Jakarta and Bandung. The project is the first of its kind in Southeast Asia. It is also the first time China has allowed a state-owned company, China Railway, to fully immerse itself in an overseas project, including design and construction.

VCG Photo
The railway is expected to be finished in 2019 and will shorten the traveling time between the two cities from more than three hours to 40 minutes.
“Economically, it will really boost growth between Bandung and Jakarta. And along this railway road it's expected to have four or five special (economic) zones so you can imagine the rapid development of the economy between these two cities,” said Indonesia's consul general in Shanghai, Siti Nugraha Mauludiah.

VCG Photo
China was Indonesia's ninth largest overseas investor in 2015, but today it is third after Singapore and Malaysia. While infrastructure building is sure to be a major subject going forward, Indonesia is also seeking cooperation with China in other industries, such as e-commerce.
“Look at China now, the small, medium enterprises are thriving because of e-commerce. And one thing from e-commerce that we have to learn is not only information technology but also how China develops the logistics industry, the distribution industry,” noted Mauludiah.

VCG Photo
The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce in China succeeded in bringing more than 100 Chinese investors to Indonesia in just 18 months with most of the projects involving infrastructure. But e-commerce is the next step, says the chamber's chairman.
To further develop infrastructure and e-commerce between China and Indonesia, the first Indonesia Week will be held on May 20-26 in Shanghai, with an Indonesia Infrastructure Investment Forum and an Indonesia Financial Sector Seminar.
https://news.cgtn.com/news/3d557a4d79677a4d/share_p.html

 

[Shotgunner51]

Tanzania - the Belt and Road Initiative and China-Tanzania Relations
11 May 2017, opinion By Dr Lu Youqing

As early as two thousand years ago, China opened up a network of trade routes both on land and at sea. The land route started from Chinese inland cities and reached the Mediterranean countries through Central Asia.

The maritime route started from China's South-East coastal areas and reached East Africa and Europe through Indo-China Peninsula, South China Sea Islands, the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. At that time, silk was the landmark export commodity of China, therefore, the two routes were named 'Silk Road'.

In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping launched a major initiative to jointly build "the Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road", which was to revitalise the two time-honoured land and marine for international trade. Later, China merged the two initiatives, and named it 'The Belt and Road'.

It was not empty talk. The 'Belt and Road Initiative' is a full set of visible and tangible measures. China aims at driving the relevant regions to realise common development and prosperity, speed up regional integration, narrow the development gap and increase complementarity of each country's advantage, in the five major areas of policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and people-to-people bonds.

Enhancing policy coordination

This is an important guarantee for implementing 'The Belt and Road Initiative'. We hope all participant countries will enhance political mutual trust, build a multilevel inter-governmental policy communication mechanism and dock their economic development strategies with each other. They are also expected to jointly work out plans and measures for regional cooperation, negotiate to solve cooperation-related issues, and provide policy support for the implementation of practical cooperation and large-scale projects.

Facilities connectivity

This is a priority area for implementing the initiative. On the basis of respecting each other's sovereignty and security concerns, countries along 'The Belt and Road' should improve the connectivity of their infrastructure construction plans and technical standard systems; jointly push forward the construction of international trunk passageways, including railways, roads, airways, oil and gas pipelines, cross-border power-transmission routes and cross-border communications trunk line networks.

Investment and trade cooperation

This is a major task in building 'The Belt and Road'. We should strive to improve investment and trade facilitation, and remove investment and trade barriers for the creation of a sound business environment.

We will discuss with countries and regions along the Belt and Road on opening free trade areas and industrial parks, so as to unleash the potential for expanded cooperation. In accordance with the principles of mutual complementarity and win-win outcome, we should deepen cooperation in agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries. We should increase cooperation in the exploration and development of coal, oil, gas, metal minerals and other conventional energy sources.

Financial integration

This is an important underpinning for implementing the Belt and Road Initiative. China hopes to make joint efforts to establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Brics Development Bank, set up and put into operation the Silk Road Fund as early as possible. We should build a regional financial risk early-warning system, and create an exchange and cooperation mechanism of addressing cross-border risks and crisis. We should give full play to the role of the Silk Road Fund and that of sovereign wealth funds of countries along the Belt and Road, and encourage commercial equity investment funds and private funds to participate in the construction of key projects of the Initiative.

People-to-people bonds

This provides the public support for implementing the initiative. We should carry forward the spirit of friendly cooperation of the Silk Road by promoting extensive cultural and academic exchanges, personnel exchanges and cooperation, media cooperation, youth and women exchanges and volunteer services, so as to win public support for deepening bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

Started from scratch in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative has been growing healthily and gained much unexpected progress and outcome. It has won the support of more than 100 countries and international organisations, and has become an extensive international consensus.

It has been written into resolutions of many international bodies including the UN General Assembly and UN Security Council. Currently, we are building the economic corridor in Euro-Asia. We have also witnessed greater connectivity, growing trade and investments and steady progress in major cooperation programs.

Since January 1st this year, China-Europe Express Rail was launched and trains were seen crossing 8 countries within 18 days, making it a latest wonder along the Belt and Road. Upon hearing the news, President Magufuli said to me that this direct rail link between China and UK is a remarkable and imaginable achievement in the world. It is one of the greatest feat in the history of transportation.

Actually, building intercontinental railway networks is a part of the Belt and Road Initiative. It will greatly promote trade with China, which in turn will help the global economy to grow.

Mr Lu Jianing, chairman of the Far East Branch of Russian Academy of Science, said that the Belt and Road Initiative is different from other development programs of the west. It offers a better option for the world than the old globalisation under the control of US.

World development, security

It injects positive energy to global economy. Due to the deep impact of the financial crisis, the sluggishness of global economic recovery, plus downturn of investment and trade, the growth of major economies are slowing down. Meanwhile, protectionism, isolationism and unilateralism are on the rise. Tide is rising against globalisation. These trends pose a great threat to global economy.

It is at such a difficult moment for the world when western powers are struggling with their own economy, China launched the Belt and Road Initiative, which is like a warm current that brought new hope for global recovery.

The Belt and Road Initiative conforms to the trend featuring a multi-polar world, a globalised economy, diversified culture and informationised society.

Advocating the spirit of open up and cooperation, the Initiative is committed to maintain a liberalisation of international trade and an open world economy. It will enhance the confidence of all countries on cooperation, dispel the dark cloud of economic stagnation and inject new energy to global economic growth.

New economic cooperation model

It is a brand-new international cooperation model for many reasons. It champions the ideal of common development. It aims at seeking convergence of state interest, destiny and responsibility. It focuses on making a bigger pie for all and pursues win-win outcome.

It advocates cooperation based on equality. It upholds the principle of achieving shared growth through discussion and collaboration. All interests are well catered for. There is no hegemonic agenda or political conditions attached, granting full freedom of development to all participants.

It is by no means a China-only project. It is a public product offered by China to the world. It's applicable everywhere and will serve anywhere as a strong drive of economic growth. It reflects a long-term vision of China for global economy, and shows China's strong sense of responsibility and accountability as a major country in the world.

Political, economic re-balance

The old international political and economic order was set up by western powers based on their financial, technological and rule advantages. The old order limits the growth of developing countries and widens the gap between the South and North. The participants of the Belt and Road Initiative are mostly developing or least developed countries.

Through this initiative, China will share with them the dividend of its development and reform, as well as its experiences and lessons learned in growth. China will also transfer abroad its competitive production capacity and industries with comparative advantages. This will help narrow the gap between underdeveloped and developed countries, remove bottleneck problems in the development of relevant countries, and greatly improve their own production capacity.

Meanwhile, the initiative encourages cooperation and dialogues among participants, facilitate cooperation based on connectivity, resource-share and complementary advantages. This will create favourable conditions for regional collective rise. We can say that the Belt and Road Initiative is a self-help action featuring unity and self improvement of developing countries, which has a prospect of breaking the wealth disparity and imbalanced regional development in the past, and promote common and balanced development.

Promotes world and regional peace

The Belt and Road Initiative features peaceful development. It was initiated on basis of Five Principles of Peaceful Co-existence and was branded with 'Peace'. It is against exclusivism. It has no intention to form military alliance. It poses no security threat to any country or region. The initiative champions friendship and cooperation, emphasises the concept of Community of Shared Destiny.

It calls for an enhanced political mutual trust, enlarged open cooperation and will help to alleviate or even solve misunderstandings, differences or conflicts between countries. Today, the international community is troubled by growing non-traditional security threats including terrorism, illegal migration, famine, cross border crimes and environmental degeneration.

Yet the root cause of these problems are poverty and imbalanced development. Should they have decent lives? Who wishes to be a human bomb, flee from hometown, or kill each other? In this sense, this development brings security. Development also holds the master key to all global security challenges.

Priorities for intentional cooperation of the Belt and Road Initiative include economic development, job creation, poverty reduction, livelihood improvement, and environmental protection. It aims at common development, especially in those less developed regions, which in turn, will address the root cause of the security problems in front of human beings.

Prospect of China-Tanzania cooperation under the framework

Beijing will host the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation this May. The forum aims at drawing up a blueprint for the future development of the Initiative, better docking each other's development strategies and translating cooperation into more concrete projects. China has invited the Tanzanian government to attend this Forum to discuss cooperation under the Initiative.

Tanzania was invited, not only because it is a historic and natural part of the Maritime Silk Road, and it is a landing point of the Belt and Road in Africa. More importantly, Tanzania was invited because of its special traditional friendship with China built since history.

In 2015, the Chinese government selected Tanzania as a pilot country for China-Africa capacity cooperation. Currently, China is the largest trade partner and project contractor of Tanzania, and a major source of FDI.

A large number of Chinese state-owned and private companies with strong capital, technical and management capacity are taking part in Tanzania's industrialisation. The outcomes of China-Tanzania cooperation can be seen in various sectors of the economic development and all the aspects of people's livelihood in Tanzania.

The Nyerere Bridge was built by a Chinese company. It is the largest cable-stayed cross-sea bridge. The project quality was highly commended by President Magufuli. Tanzanian National ICT Backbone Broadband Network, constructed by a Chinese company, has brought a leapfrog to Tanzanian network application from none to first-class.

It well bridged the digital gap between Tanzania and developed countries. The natural gas pipeline (Mtwara–Dar es Salaam Natural Gas Pipeline; MDNGP), laid down by a Chinese company, helped Tanzania to realise its dream of generating electricity with its own resources.

Besides, more Chinese invested projects will start production in the coming two months, including the largest ceramic factory in East Africa with Chinese investment of $80 million, and a modern steel plant with an investment of nearly $30 million.

It is fair to say that China-Tanzania capacity cooperation has born early fruit which has laid a sound foundation for the bilateral cooperation under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The highly complementary national development strategies is an internal impetus to push forward the Belt and Road Initiative. We can see from the promises made by President Magufuli during his presidential campaign, Tanzania's "Second Five-Year Development Plan" and the measures taken by the government in the past year, that, President Magufuli is leading Tanzanian people to forge ahead on the road of building a middle-income country by improving infrastructure, expanding economic and trade cooperation with foreign countries, promoting industrialisation, invigorating agricultural industry and other strategic measures.

The above-mentioned development strategies well-matched the concept and content of the Belt and Road Initiative. Furthermore, to better grow its economy, Tanzania must firstly well address three weaknesses, namely lack of technology, capital and skilled personnel. China has comparative advantage in these three areas and is willing to help Tanzania without any reservation because we truly wish to see our brothers live a better life. I also need to point out, starting from solving the problem of food and clothing, it took China less than 40 years since adopting reform and opening up policy to become the second largest economy in the world. China's development path, model and experience have a strong reference to Tanzania. In the process of jointly building the Belt and Road, we will share these experiences with the Tanzania to help avoid detours and move toward strength and prosperity.

Because of these special advantages and common interests between China and Tanzania, I firmly believe that the Belt and Road Initiative will further widen and deepen China-Tanzania cooperation and contribute to better economic and social development of Tanzania.

Dr Lu Youqing is the Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Tanzania.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201705110195.html

 

[Shotgunner51]

CEE pings loudly on China’s economic radar
By Elliot Wilson 08 May 2017

To ardent followers of China’s brand of economic diplomacy, it all seemed eerily familiar. It was November 2016 and a state-owned financial giant — in this case, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China — was trumpeting plans to roll out a vast new investment fund aimed at snapping up foreign assets and ploughing the nation’s cash into ambitious and faraway infrastructure projects.

But the target wasn’t the Middle East or the landlocked but resource-rich wastes of Central Asia. Nor was it sub-Saharan Africa or Latin America, recent recipients of so much of China’s largesse. This time, China’s leaders were going after a new quarry: the disparate assemblage of 16 nation states — some developed, ambitious and moderately wealthy; others mired in poverty or locked into a lower-middle-income holding pattern — that make up Central and Eastern Europe (CEE).

It seemed to catch the entire region on the hop, yet the announcement was all too real. Jiang Jianqing, chairman of ICBC, the world’s largest commercial lender by assets, was on record, pledging to channel up to €10bn ($10.9bn) into leading CEE retailers, food manufacturers and high-end technology firms. Infrastructure would also get a boost, with the new outfit, Sino-CEEF Holding, set to invest billions of dollars into new roads, rail lines, airports and power plants. Jiang was quick to emphasise the willingness of the region’s presidents and premiers to contribute generously to the new investment fund.

Nor is Sino-CEEF the only fund pumping mainland cash into regional projects. Back in 2015, a Warsaw-based investor, CEE Equity Partners, was handed $1.5bn by Export-Import Bank of China (Exim), one of a trio of China-controlled policy lenders, and told to go forth and invest. So they did. In the past 18 months the fund has bought shares in a raft of regional firms ranging from Slovakian lighting specialist JLR to Hungarian voice and data carrier Invitel Group.

Why?

But why focus on a culturally diverse region stretching from the Baltics in the north to the Balkans in the south and from the elegant spires of Prague to Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, which boasts few major multinationals, suffers from human and capital flight and lacks much in the way of natural resources. What is China’s motive here? Why Central and Eastern Europe? Why now?

They are good questions. A booming bilateral trade relationship can hardly be the primary reason for China’s belated interest. Mainland exports to the CEE accounted for 2.7% of all Chinese exports in 2015, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), a data tool created by the MIT Media Lab in Massachusetts. Compare that with the US (the destination for 18.4% of all mainland exports in 2015) or the European Union or Japan, which respectively accounted for 16.2% and 6.2% of all Chinese-made goods.

It’s even harder to make a compelling case for ICBC’s investment pledge when you drill down to a sovereign level. Poland, the CEE region’s largest economy, accounts for around 0.6% of Chinese exports, reckons Tatiana Lysenko, chief emerging Europe economist at Standard & Poor’s. For the Czech Republic, the region’s second largest economy, that share falls to 0.2%.

“Generally,” notes William Jackson, an emerging-markets economist at Capital Economics, “CEE-China ties are a trifling matter. China makes up a small share of CEE exports and the CEE region makes up a small share of Chinese exports.” ​

In truth, China’s interest in a region that has, notes Chris Hartwell, president of the Centre for Social and Economic Research (Care), a Warsaw-based think tank, “spent 20 years re-orienting its trade links toward western Europe and away from [its former political masters in] Russia” is complex and nuanced.​

On a purely commercial level, China’s interest in Europe’s eastern reaches is easy to explain. Mainland exports to CEE countries totalled $63.8bn in 2015, according to the OEC, while the value of goods travelling in the opposite direction was $10.8bn. Thus, China’s export-to-import ratio with the CEE region that year was 593% compared to 355% with the United States, 228% with the UK, 218% with the EU and 211% with Africa.

That data is yet more eye opening when viewed at the sovereign level. The Czech Republic’s trade deficit with China was a whopping 8.9% of GDP in 2015. Other regional states have lower, but far from insignificant, trade deficits with the People’s Republic: Slovakia’s stands at 5.2% of GDP, Estonia’s is 4.5% and Poland’s is 4.1%. Compare those to the trade deficits that major developed nation states run with China, from the US (1.8%), to France and the UK (1.2%), to Germany (0.6%). Little wonder, notes Stefan Kawalec, founder of Warsaw-based financial consultants Capital Strategy and a former chief economic advisor to the Polish government, that “the CEE is a region worthy of China’s attention”.

Slowly, then, a picture begins to emerge. At a very basic level, China views the region through the prism of trade. CEE states have little in the way of energy reserves or natural stores of commodities to offer China but it is teeming with ambitious and low-to-middle-income economies that are in the main democratic and open to free trade.

And that makes them “natural destinations for Chinese capital, goods, investment and labour”, says Gu Hongfei, an associate at the central and Eastern European Centre for Asian Studies, a Budapest-based think tank that draws together academics from 12 CEE and Asian states. “For China, the region presents an opportunity to ease excess capacity at home.” ​

Others see a deeper vision at work, one that plays to the comparative advantages of both sides. Eastern Europe offers investors two genuine and compelling benefits: high levels of employee skill and low unit labour costs. China’s own labour costs are rising fast as its economy gets older and richer but thanks to its vast foreign exchange reserves, which stood at just over $3tr at end-March 2017, it boasts vast pools of accessible and fungible state capital.

This, says Care’s Hartwell, will result “not necessarily in a huge expansion of bilateral trade, but in an acceleration of investment from the Chinese side that will drive trade into the CEE, through it and beyond. China’s new emphasis on high-end technology, innovation and knowledge-based industries could be really beneficial for the CEE region. There is a nice symbiosis there and it could drive innovation for all of Europe.”
​

Capital Strategy’s Kawalec believes China is keen to use the region as an industrial base camp, manufacturing consumer goods and specialised high-end products at a lower cost before shipping them to wealthier western European markets.

Connecting the dots

Then there’s infrastructure. If there is one thing China does effortlessly well it is this. Mainland construction firms have in recent years built maritime toll bridges in Mumbai and highways in eastern Africa; future plans include new rail lines in Latin America, ring roads encircling Kazakh cities and a giant road and rail system linking western China with the Pakistan port city of Gwadar.

So it makes sense to fund and build infrastructure projects across Central and Eastern Europe, particularly when, as Capital Strategy’s Kawalec notes, they help “facilitate the transport of Chinese-made products to European markets”. Or, to put it another way, to convey goods made by mainland-owned factories located within European Union-area CEE states to the likes of Germany and France.

China’s interest in the region varies from state to state, experts say. Larger regional economies such as Poland and the Czech Republic, boasting developed-world-level infrastructure, have less need of mainland cash to fund roads and tunnels. But Hungary, a country that has benefited in the past from Chinese aid and which is currently struggling to see eye-to-eye with the EU, is more likely to welcome mainland capital with open arms.

Balkan focus

Another likely target for China is the Balkans.

“China wants Serbia to become a key logistics and transportation hub that can be used to convey Chinese-made goods to Europe and to open markets that might be closed or restricted,” says Care’s Hartwell. “China really has been targeting the underbelly of Europe in the Balkans, and Serbia is probably one of the largest recipients of Chinese tied aid. The Balkans seem to be more of a multiplier for them in terms of infrastructure.”​

Standard & Poor’s Lysenko believes the need for China-originated infrastructure capital is greatest not in the non-EU western Balkans but in the Black Sea states of Bulgaria and Romania.

Focusing on poorer markets that mainstream capital often bypasses, rather than scattering cash to the wind in the hope that some of it will stick, makes good sense. After all, China is a newcomer to a region long dominated and influenced by Russia and the big economic beasts of western Europe. Infrastructure capital is also flowing into the region from Russia (which is funding two new €12.5bn reactors at a nuclear plant on the Hungarian stretch of the River Danube) and the EU, which is half way through a three-year plan to channel €21bn into Europe-wide (including CEE) infrastructure projects. In the short run at least, China will not have everything its own way.

OBOR — wrapping soft power around hard assets

Encircling this entire discussion is an acronym that may come to define the 21st century. China’s vastly ambitious One Belt, One Road plan, or OBOR, is often misunderstood, in large part because few outside China (and possibly very many living within its borders) do not, or cannot, grasp the project’s ultimate intent.

Whether you view it as a genuine game-changer, a paper tiger or just a handy phrase designed to give China’s globalisation plans focus and definition, no one can accuse it of lacking ambition. OBOR spans 65 countries, 60% of humanity, and more than 25% of the world’s GDP. Its overland route, which starts in the Chinese capital, stretches eastward through Central Asia and Russia — whose own trade ties with China have improved markedly in recent years — and Poland, culminating at the great Dutch port of Rotterdam.

Paul Sheard, chief global economist at Standard Poor’s, believes OBOR is all about “wrapping soft power around hard assets”. He says it speaks to China’s desire to achieve multiple goals, from increasing its global reach and influence, to boosting returns on its external financial assets, to winning over foreign markets and making them reliable and stable conduits for its capital and exports.

In this sense, Central and Eastern Europe is very much part of China’s long term plans. A strong CEE region is cricial to the OBOR project and thus crucial to China’s long term interests. Viewed in this light, the decision by major Chinese lenders such as ICBC and Exim to pump capital into a region far from the country and traditionally under the political, financial and cultural aegis of Russia, Germany and the EU makes an awful lot of sense. Chinese cash may never quite come to dominate the CEE region. But it is here to stay.

http://www.globalcapital.com/article/b12x6f3qxkkt4l/cee-pings-loudly-on-chinas-economic-radar

 

[Shotgunner51]

Polish PM sets off for China
11.05.2017 14:52

Poland’s PM has set off for China to invite local investors to co-finance the Polish government’s flagship economic projects such as a central airport and railways.

Prime Minister Beata Szydło. Photo: KPRM

As Michał Owczarek reports, the prime minister will also attend the first Belt and Road Summit held by the Chinese government to promote closer economic cooperation and connectivity between regions.

“The Chinese seek huge projects, preferably ones that will relieve them of as much cash as possible in one spot; and building a central Polish airport could come in very handy here, especially that it could embrace traffic with China,” said Tomasz Pisula, the president of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency.​

http://www.thenews.pl/1/6/Artykul/306444,Polish-PM-sets-off-for-China

 

[Shotgunner51]

Chilean President on state visit to China from May 12-15
Posted By: Web Editor on: May 11, 2017

SANTIAGO/BEIJING – The presidents of Argentina, Chile and Uzbekistan will pay state visits to China and attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation later this week.

Argentinean President Mauricio Macri will visit China from May 14 to 18; Chilean President Michelle Bachelet will visit from May 12 to 15; Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev will visit from May 11 to 15.

The three presidents are among the at least 28 heads of state or government who will attend the forum in Beijing, according to state-run Xinhua, the highest-profile international meeting on the Belt and Road since China put forward the initiative in 2013.

Last November, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in the Chilean capital of Santiago for a state visit to the Latin American country.

Chile established diplomatic ties with China in 1970, the first country in South America to do so. Meanwhile, Chile was the first Latin American country to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with China, and the first one in Latin America to acknowledge China’s full market economy status.

Bilateral trade volume has grown fourfold since the FTA went into effect in 2006. China is now Chile’s largest trading partner, its largest export destination and the largest buyer of copper products.

Currently, Chile is China’s second largest source of wine imports, with bottled wine exports to China up by 46 percent in 2015. The two countries have signed a number of quarantine agreements on cherries, blueberries and avocados.

China has become an important market for Chilean cherries, blueberries, apples, grapes and a variety of seafood such as salmon. Chinese products with good quality and competitive prices are also popular among Chilean consumers. For example, Chinese-made cars have taken up a considerable share of the Chilean auto market.

China’s first RMB clearing bank in Latin America was opened in Chile in June this year, setting up a platform to upgrade financial cooperation between China, Chile and the rest of Latin America.

http://santiagotimes.cl/2017/05/11/chilean-president-bachelet-starts-state-visit-to-china-today/

 

[Shotgunner51]

New Uzbek President Goes To China Looking To Expand Bilateral Ties
May 11, 2017 15:21 GMT Bruce Pannier

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirzyaev will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top Chinese officials, as well as with representatives of leading Chinese companies.

Shavkat Mirziyaev has arrived in China to pay his first official visit to that country as Uzbekistan's president.

The visit lasts through May 13, after which he will attend his first major international conference as Uzbek head of state when he stays on in China for the May 14-15 One Belt-One Road forum.

Mirziyaev is due to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top Chinese officials, as well as with representatives of leading Chinese companies.

According to Asad Khojaev, the head of Mirziyaev's press service, Uzbekistan and China will sign around 100 agreements worth an estimated $20 billion in Beijing.

China is already one of Uzbekistan's leading trade partners and a key investor in projects in Uzbekistan.

Chinese companies helped construct the Pap-Angren railway, a 123-kilometer-long line from eastern Uzbekistan to an area not far from the capital, Tashkent, a $1.9 billion project financed in part by China's Export-Import Bank.

China has also helped fund and construct three gas pipelines from Turkmenistan to China that run through Uzbekistan. And Beijing has signed contracts with Tashkent for Uzbekistan to eventually supply up to 10 billion cubic meters of gas annually through those pipelines.

Mirziyaev signaled early on in his presidency that he would be seeking closer economic cooperation with other countries to help invigorate Uzbekistan's flagging economy.

China has proven to be a prime source of foreign investment and loans, not just for Uzbekistan but for all the Central Asian states. However, Beijing has already helped fund most of the major projects that link Central Asia to China, including roads, railway lines, and oil and gas pipelines, and Uzbek businessmen accompanying Mirziyaev might find fewer opportunities for cooperation with China than during the last decade.

Press releases ahead of Mirziyaev's trip made just passing mention of talks on security cooperation, though this is likely to be a key topic in Mirziyaev's conversations with Chinese officials.

Uzbekistan has a short (approximately 160 kilometers long) border with Afghanistan, and Beijing is said to be increasingly concerned about Muslims from China's western Xinjiang Autonomous Uyghur Region appearing in the ranks of Islamic extremist groups in Syria and Iraq.

According to some reports, as these groups are being forced out of these two Middle Eastern countries, many of the Central Asians and Uyghurs in these extremist organizations are making their way to Afghanistan.

China and Uzbekistan are both members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, along with Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan (and soon India and Pakistan). That organization has commitments to cooperation in countering terrorism.

Mirziyaev served as Uzbekistan's prime minister from 2003 to 2016, so he has been to China several times before and is already acquainted with some Chinese officials.

Beyond improving trade ties with China, Mirziyaev might also be seeking to maintain and strengthen the political ties between the two countries. China has become a linchpin in Uzbekistan's foreign policy, helping Tashkent fend off Western criticism of rights abuses in Uzbekistan and serving as an important counterweight to former colonial master Russia.

https://www.rferl.org/a/uzbekistan-president-china-visit/28480763.html

 

[samsara]

China aims to triple rail freight with Europe by 2020

Link seen as foundation of Belt and Road economic expansion

By Shunsuke Tabeta, Nikkei staff writer - May 12, 2017 8:00 am JST

China is expanding rail freight to and from Europe to support more than just its IT industry.​

CHONGQING, China -- China aims to nearly triple rail freight shipments to and from Europe by 2020, an international logistics executive here told The Nikkei, making the transport link a backbone of economic growth in the Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which steers economic policy, aims to run 5,000 freight trains between China and Europe in 2020, up from 1,800 in 2016.

Toward that goal, China must not only export more to Europe, but also work toward economic development with the other countries along the Belt and Road routes, said Zhou Shulin, chairman of the supervisory board at major international shipper Yuxinou (Chongqing) Logistics. Zhou sees railroads as fundamental to that economic development.

Rail freight could bring building materials to Central Asian countries along the Belt and Road route where infrastructure construction is growing, such as Kazakhstan, Zhou suggested.

He added that cross-border e-commerce probably would drive demand for rail shipping as well, as economic growth in Belt and Road countries would let consumers there buy more goods from Chinese companies such as Alibaba Group Holding, raising exports.

China also aims to import more from Europe. There was almost no demand for such imports when the Chongqing railway opened in 2011, but recent years have brought more shipments by rail of European high-end cars and auto parts. Yuxinou is considering bringing in lumber from Russia and northern Europe as well, Zhou said.

He added that he would like to partner with Japanese companies for their cold-storage shipping technology, which could pave the way for importing salmon and other goods from northern Europe.

The railway between Chongqing and Duisburg, Germany, was opened as a major freight artery linking China and Europe. It was meant to export computers, printers and other information technology products, Zhou said. Around a third of the world's computers are made in Chongqing, and most are shipped to Duisburg by train for export to Europe and elsewhere. The railway came to support the growth of the IT industry in China's economy.

The railway became a broader export means for China, the "world's factory," beginning in 2013, when President Xi Jinping introduced the Belt and Road Initiative. It began supporting economic development for other inland areas, such as by shipping coffee beans from Yunnan Province. Shipments of machinery, garments and everyday goods grew, and in 2016, IT products made up only about half of gross shipping volumes.

Yuxinou Logistics was formed in Chongqing by a joint investment from rail operators and logistics companies in countries including China, Germany, Russia and Kazakhstan. It has worked to streamline customs procedures, mainly in China and Germany. It handles distribution by rail freight between Chongqing and Europe, and apparently accounts for about 80% of rail shipping between China and Europe on a value basis.

(Nikkei Asian Review)

 

[samsara]

Indonesia plays it cool in competition for China’s OBOR money

By Fedina S. Sundaryani - The Jakarta Post

Jakarta | Fri, May 12, 2017 | 08:30 am

Economic talk: Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Thomas Trikasih Lembong
discusses Indonesia's investments during a visit at The Jakarta Post on Feb. 20. (JP/Donny Fernando)​

Indonesia is playing its cards close to its chest in its effort to convince China to sink more money into the archipelago through the ambitious One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative, by offering limited projects in only two to three regions deemed most suitable for the new Silk Road.

In the OBOR summit, slated for next Sunday through Monday, China will gather 29 countries to upgrade the legendary Silk Road trade route into an advanced global trade network, by investing heavily in infrastructure connecting Asia, Africa and Europe.

Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) chairman Thomas Lembong confirmed that Indonesia would only offer infrastructure projects in a limited number of regions as the government had found that a lack of focus could make Chinese investors hesitant.

While declining to mention the exact regions as the matter still needs to be discussed in a meeting at the office of the Coordinating Maritime Affiars Minister on Friday, he noted that Indonesia would focus on maritime projects encompassing transportation, telecommunications, tourism, industrial estates, energy and power.

“We have a vision that during the summit, we will propose integrated projects worth tens of billions of US dollars. However, the government must first pick out two or three priority regions,” he said on Wednesday.

Since its establishment in 2013, the OBOR initiative has seen more than US$50 billion of Chinese investment. It could funnel investments, worth between $313 billion and $502 billion, into 62 Belt-Road countries over the next five years, Hong Kong based analyst at Credit Suisse Group AG Shen Hu wrote.

While Indonesia has been a member of the OBOR program since its establishment in 2013, it has so far only reaped $5 billion to $6 billion in infrastructure investment from the initiative. The figure is much smaller compared to its peers; Pakistan has received $62 billion, while Malaysia has received $32 billion, said Thomas.

The government hopes to change this with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s attendance next week. He will have to compete with 28 heads of state, including those from six other ASEAN members and 12 European countries.

Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) deputy chairperson of international relations Shinta Widjaja Kamdani urged Indonesia to be more proactive as $359 billion of investment is needed under the 2015-2019 midterm development plan (RPJMN), with state-owned firms only able to fund 63 percent.

“We have toll roads, sea ports, airports and power plant projects that are in line with the OBOR program. The government must find a way to offer these projects with enticing investment schemes,” she told The Jakarta Post.

Economist Ari Kuncoro from the University of Indonesia agreed with the government’s decision to offer only a few regions, but said the country needed to carefully assess the decision. “There should be a clear road map on how we want to join. Indonesia needs to offer a conscientious concession for mutual benefits,” he added.

The OBOR program is suitable for cities that were covered in the old trade route between China and Indonesia, such as Sabang in Aceh, Medan in North Sumatra, Batam in Riau islands and Pontianak in West Kalimantan.

However, Ari suggested that they not be specifically offered to OBOR, but also to Japan and the United States, all of which have interest to grow as the world’s leading economic hub.

-----

Stefani Ribka contributed to this story

 

[onebyone]

rian wang | May 12, 2017 |

China has lent $100 billion so far for One Belt and One Road projects.

The Hassyan clean coal project in the United Arab Emirates received two loans worth $2.3 billion, a gas transporter based in Azerbaijan secured $600 million and Pakistan won $400 million. Other debtor countries include Oman, Indonesia, Bangladesh, India and Tajikistan.

Thomas Hugger, chief executive officer and founder of Asia Frontier Capital Ltd., expects Pakistan to gain “significantly” from the initiative, thanks to the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor, which has lured $46 billion in investment commitments from China. “Besides Pakistan, the Central Asian economies especially Kazakhstan should benefit. Iran, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Myanmar can also benefit.”

http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2017/05/chinas-one-belt-one-road-loans-up-to-100-billion-in-total.html