Western leaders to skip China's New Silk Road summit

[Sully3]

I dont see why Big western states would attend this when the new silk road is about africa and central asian states. Europe already has the infrastructure in place to connect these roads they are waiting for china to finish the infrastructure projects so the connectivity can actually take place.

 

[Keel]

Their loss? Representatives of only those states are likely to attend this summit which are benefiting from OBOR project. Others may not bother.

Of course. Read my comment again please.

In addition:

" The summit, scheduled to be held on May 14 and 15 in Beijing, will be China’s major diplomatic event this year as it pushes ahead with President Xi Jinping’s flagship “Belt and Road Initiative” to launch a series of infrastructure projects across Asia, Europe and Africa.

Top leaders of 28 countries had confirmed they would attend the summit, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Turkish President Recep tayyip Erdogan, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Vietnamese President tran Dai Quang and Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Wang said on Tuesday."

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/dipl...state-confirm-attendance-chinas-belt-and-road

This report has disclosed some of the BIG names who will be attending
Who are the "western" leaders that we need?

It is ignorant and childish to have said the Philippino President is the only honourable guest to attend the summit.

 

[LeGenD]

Of course. Read my comment again please.

In addition:

" The summit, scheduled to be held on May 14 and 15 in Beijing, will be China’s major diplomatic event this year as it pushes ahead with President Xi Jinping’s flagship “Belt and Road Initiative” to launch a series of infrastructure projects across Asia, Europe and Africa.

Top leaders of 28 countries had confirmed they would attend the summit, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Turkish President Recep tayyip Erdogan, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Vietnamese President tran Dai Quang and Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Wang said on Tuesday."

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/dipl...state-confirm-attendance-chinas-belt-and-road

This report has disclosed some of the BIG names who will be attending
Who are the "western" leaders that we need?

It is ignorant and childish to have said the Philippino President is the only honourable guest to attend the summit.

Those are mostly Asian states.

My point is that a summit is likely to attract (relevant) audience. If some Western states are not partaking, then this implies that OBOR is not important to them.

 

[8888888888888]

It is now election year in most Europe countries so most likely too busy.

 

[Star Expedition]

Those are mostly Asian states.

My point is that a summit is likely to attract (relevant) audience. If some Western states are not partaking, then this implies that OBOR is not important to them.

There are real politicians in other countries, I don't think so.
Then why people are so expecting the right response?

Too many people here care about western countries.
They just believe they are ruled by them and should be.

 

[EndangeredSpecies]

Who are the "western" leaders that we need?

You need USA, Germany, France, UK, Canada, Australia, Switzerland. None of them have any interest in your road and belt. Road which is only functioning for half of the year.

 

[Star Expedition]

You need USA, Germany, France, UK, Canada, Australia, Switzerland. None of them have any interest in your road and belt. Road which is only functioning for half of the year.

To some people,they just can't live without those powers.
To Chinese, the earth will go on without anyone.

 

[beijingwalker]

You need USA, Germany, France, UK, Canada, Australia, Switzerland. None of them have any interest in your road and belt. Road which is only functioning for half of the year.

Above mentioned countries have almost sold their last piece of underwear to China, they won't play any significant roles in the future global economy except for US.

 

[kingfeiq]

You need USA, Germany, France, UK, Canada, Australia, Switzerland. None of them have any interest in your road and belt. Road which is only functioning for half of the year.

Its cooperation rather then depend on the western powers .

 

[Place Of Space]

Those are mostly Asian states.

My point is that a summit is likely to attract (relevant) audience. If some Western states are not partaking, then this implies that OBOR is not important to them.

OBOR is a movement forward to west direction. Obviously East Asia, Southeast Asia are the most active areas in economy, South Asia is catching up with closely. The above places are the major areas they can cooperate.
China is the Engine of OBOR in the East end, China need another Engine in the West end. Who will be capable of the Engine in the West end? EU is experiencing a crisis, this is very troublesome situation.

 

[TaiShang]

Western Europe is in the receiving end of the OBOR. So far, there have been more than 39 direct rail links established with Western Europe via Central Asia and Russia. Hence, with the top leadership joining or not, Europe is in the game. It is almost half of the game.

The EU salivates over the OBOR, what they are concerned about is the potential dividing effect of the OBOR if China decides to negotiate the member states individually.

If you really want to see the level of coordination, check out the cooperation between the AIIB and EBRD.

For those with brains the size of a chicken, of course, a political show of high-leaders talking big would mean everything. But, for those who really know how this thing works, what is going on behind the scene among the bureaucracy/experts is what really matters.

If China is doing trade with Spain, France, Germany, Holland, Denmark, England via rail lines, this means POLITICAL WILL that actually results in concrete action on both sides.

Please stop being so simplistic of counting the number of heads of states. Silk Road conference is almost like a forum, hence, it would be inconceivable every single of them joining. Besides, most European leaders are their hands all full before they worry about coming to the forum and delivering a speech there.

Nonetheless, all of the developed European countries are to be represented at quite high level, if not at the highest.

US, Canada or Australia not joining (for the genius above) does not rally matter (it would be funny if Trump joined, in fact) because the Silk Road has NOTHING to do with North America or Australia. Silk Road is all about Eurasia.

 

[My-Analogous]

Those are mostly Asian states.

My point is that a summit is likely to attract (relevant) audience. If some Western states are not partaking, then this implies that OBOR is not important to them.

Read the link and many European is attending including Italy, Switzerland, Hungary, Spain and other. By the way who is representing us?

You need USA, Germany, France, UK, Canada, Australia, Switzerland. None of them have any interest in your road and belt. Road which is only functioning for half of the year.

Do some research before comments. But since you are troll so there you go
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/dipl...state-confirm-attendance-chinas-belt-and-road

 

[Keel]

Those are mostly Asian states.

My point is that a summit is likely to attract (relevant) audience. If some Western states are not partaking, then this implies that OBOR is not important to them.

@My-Analogous @ post 27 has somewhat answered it, my friend

But there should be more for western countries to explore, or at least do their own bit of promo albeit competitions on same categories from China would be keen. There are many good quality heavy equipment manufacturers, engineering and construction companies, nuclear or green-energy companies from the west like those from Germany and France ... etc should consider participating

Also read:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-silkroad-summit-idUSKBN17K0FL

Tue Apr 18, 2017 | 6:16am EDT
China to gather friends for biggest summit of year on New Silk Road

By Ben Blanchard | BEIJING

China will gather its friends and allies together for its biggest diplomatic event of the year in May, a summit on its New Silk Road plan, with most Asian leaders due to attend but only one from a G7 nation, the Italian prime minister.

President Xi Jinping has championed what China formally calls the "One Belt, One Road" or OBOR, initiative to build a new Silk Road linking Asia, Africa and Europe, a landmark program to invest billions of dollars in infrastructure projects including railways, ports and power grids.

China has dedicated $40 billion to a Silk Road Fund and the idea was the driving force behind the establishment of the $50 billion China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced on Tuesday a list of those attending the conference, including some of China's most reliable allies - Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Indonesian President Joko Widodo are coming too, all generally good partners of China.

"One Belt, One Road is to date the most important public good China has given to the world, first proposed by China but for all countries to enjoy," Wang said.

"The culture and historical genes of One Belt, One Road come from the old Silk Road, so it takes Eurasia as its main region," he said, adding that representatives of 110 countries would attend.

While China says the New Silk Road is not political, it has run into opposition from India due to a section of it in Pakistan, known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, where some projects run through the disputed Kashmir region.

Wang dismissed those concerns, saying the Pakistan project had no direct connection to the dispute and India was welcome to participate in the New Silk Road.

"Indian friends have said to us that One Belt, One Road is a very good suggestion," he said.

Nevertheless, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not on the list of leaders attending.

Wang also made no mention of any attendance of officials from Japan, South Korea or North Korea, all countries with which China has strained ties. Nor was there mention of Australia, a strong U.S. ally that has close trade links with China.

The list included only one leader from the Group of Seven (G7) industrialised nations, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni.

Diplomatic sources in Beijing said China had hoped for at least some senior Western leaders to attend, including British Prime Minister Theresa May, to burnish the plan's credentials and make it less China-centric.

British finance minister Philip Hammond will come as May's representative, while Germany and France are having elections at the time and will send high-level representatives, Wang said.

Wang confirmed Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as among 28 leaders coming, along with the Spanish, Greek, Hungarian, Serb and Polish prime ministers and Swiss and Czech presidents.

"This is a positive, cooperative agreement, and we don't want to politicize it," Wang told reporters when asked if China was upset at the absence of most major Western leaders.

"This is an economic cooperation forum, an international cooperation platform that everyone is paying attention to, supports and hopes to participate in," he said.



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China is sensitive to any suggestion that what it sees as its benign intentions do not have a receptive global audience, especially in Western capitals.

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China was privately upset in 2015 after most Western leaders rebuffed invitations to attend a big military parade marking 70 years since the end of World War Two. Western leaders were unhappy that the guest list that included Putin and wary of the message China would send with the show of strength.

While China has portrayed the New Silk Road as a genuine effort to share the bounty of China's economic development and to fund infrastructure gaps, many Western countries are concerned about a lack of detail and transparency in the project and are suspicious about China's broader political intents.

Diplomatic sources said the presence of Putin and other leaders from countries with dubious human rights records, like the Philippines and Central Asian states, had contributed to a reluctance among Western leaders to attend.

Still, at a time of uncertainty about the U.S. place in the world following President Donald Trump's pledges to put America first, China sees an opportunity to become more of a global leader and has found a receptive audience for its New Silk Road.

Leaders from countries that would appear to have little, if any, connection so far to the plan are coming to the summit, including Chile and Argentina.

"Everyone wants to be China's friend now with Trump in office," said a senior Asian diplomat in Beijing.

A senior Indonesian government official said China was aiming for a "spectacular" summit.

"The Chinese are gunning for ... global leadership so I think this OBOR summit is going to be huge," the official said.

(Additional reporting by John Chalmers in Jakarta; Editing by Robert Birsel)

You need USA, Germany, France, UK, Canada, Australia, Switzerland. None of them have any interest in your road and belt. Road which is only functioning for half of the year.

Again as I said it's their loss for not participating but in fact some of them have sent their reps to present at the summit. Read the above reports by SCMP and Reuters please!

 

[TaiShang]

Currently, the most significant geographical area for the Silk Road is Eastern Europe. It is via Eastern Europe that China will have greater influence over Western Europe/the EU.

Western Europe is the toughest nut to crack open because their strong subjugation to the US. But, slowly, the nut is having cracks. This is a long game.

 

[rott]

To some people,they just can't live without those powers.
To Chinese, the earth will go on without anyone.

I am wondering if this guy has any "whiteman's" picture on his alter.