Marco Polo in reverse: China pledges $40bn for new Silk Road

Published time: November 08, 2014 14:47 Get short URL

Reuters / StringerReuters / Stringer
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Asia, China, Economy, Europe, Global economy, Globalization, Infrastructure, Pol
itics, Robert Bridge
Beijing says it will spend $40 billion to revive the historic Silk Road and conn
ect China with Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe - but this time, China w
ill be the global power flexing its economic muscles.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said the ambitious project is designed to "break th
e connectivity bottleneck" in Asia, state media quoted him as saying during a me
eting in the Chinese capital with leaders from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Mongo
lia, Myanmar, Pakistan and Tajikistan.
"Such a framework accommodates the needs of various countries and covers both la
nd and sea-related projects," Xi said, adding that Asian nations are ready to "t
o get on board the train of China's development."
The Chinese leader made his comments ahead of a separate summit of the Asia Paci
fic Economic Cooperation (APEC) organization, also being held in Beijing.
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China's President Xi Jinping (Reuters / Parker Song)China's President Xi Jinping
(Reuters / Parker Song)
Xi first raised the idea of a New Silk Road Economic Belt in September 2013 in an
effort to gain easier access to global markets. The plan incorporates both a lan
d route and a sea route.
The land-based Silk Road is expected to start at Xi an, the capital of Shaanxi pro
vince, located in northwest China, eventually heading southwest across Central A
sia, the Middle East and Europe, Xinhua news agency reported.
The Maritime Silk Road is planned to start near Guangdong on the South China Sea
and move to the Malacca Strait and the Indian Ocean. From there it will travers
e the Horn of Africa, heading into the Red Sea and Mediterranean. Both the land
and maritime trade routes will end in Venice, a trading powerhouse in the times
of medieval adventurer Marco Polo, when Europe sought to open up trade routes to
Asia.
The project shows China s newfound desire to invest in projects outside of mainlan
d China.
Previously, China focused on attracting foreign investment, but now the shift is
being made -- China s more and more encouraging its capital to go abroad, Feng Yuju
n, senior researcher at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relat
ions in Beijing, told Bloomberg Businessweek.
China will also create along the new Silk Road 20,000 centers devoted to trainin
g "connectivity professionals" over the next five years, Xi said.