Economy
Related: About this forumBehind Chinas $1 Trillion Plan to Shake Up the Economic Order
VANG VIENG, Laos Along the jungle-covered mountains of Laos, squads of Chinese engineers are drilling hundreds of tunnels and bridges to support a 260-mile railway, a $6 billion project that will eventually connect eight Asian countries.
Chinese money is building power plants in Pakistan to address chronic electricity shortages, part of an expected $46 billion worth of investment.
Chinese planners are mapping out train lines from Budapest to Belgrade, Serbia, providing another artery for Chinese goods flowing into Europe through a Chinese-owned port in Greece.
The massive infrastructure projects, along with hundreds of others across Asia, Africa and Europe, form the backbone of Chinas ambitious economic and geopolitical agenda. President Xi Jinping of China is literally and figuratively forging ties, creating new markets for the countrys construction companies and exporting its model of state-led development in a quest to create deep economic connections and strong diplomatic relationships.
The initiative, called One Belt, One Road, looms on a scope and scale with little precedent in modern history, promising more than $1 trillion in infrastructure and spanning more than 60 countries. To celebrate Chinas new global influence, Mr. Xi is gathering dozens of state leaders, including President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, in Beijing on Sunday.
It is global commerce on Chinas terms.
Mr. Xi is aiming to use Chinas wealth and industrial know-how to create a new kind of globalization that will dispense with the rules of the aging Western-dominated institutions. The goal is to refashion the global economic order, drawing countries and companies more tightly into Chinas orbit. . .
Mr. Xis plan stands in stark contrast to President Trump and his America First mantra. The Trump administration walked away from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the American-led trade pact that was envisioned as a buttress against Chinas growing influence.
Pursuing protectionism is just like locking oneself in a dark room, Mr. Xi told business leaders at the World Economic Forum in January. . .
Along with the economic boost, tiny Laos, a landlocked country with six million people, is a linchpin in Beijings strategy to chip away at American power in Southeast Asia. After Mr. Trump abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership in January, American influence in the region is seen to be waning. The rail line through Laos would provide a link to countries that China wants to bring firmly into its fold.
Each nation in Mr. Xis plan brings its own strategic advantages.
The power plants in Pakistan, as well as upgrades to a major highway and a $1 billion port expansion, are a political bulwark. By prompting growth in Pakistan, China wants to blunt the spread of Pakistans terrorists across the border into the Xinjiang region, where a restive Muslim population of Uighurs resides. It has military benefits, providing Chinas navy future access to a remote port at Gwadar managed by a state-backed Chinese company with a 40-year contract.'>>>
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/business/china-railway-one-belt-one-road-1-trillion-plan.html?
Related video: https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017438745
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)China is taking over the economic world without any threats or wars.
elleng
(130,732 posts)'we're' giving it up.
msongs
(67,360 posts)LonePirate
(13,408 posts)elleng
(130,732 posts)MattP
(3,304 posts)pansypoo53219
(20,952 posts)nitpicker
(7,153 posts)yurbud
(39,405 posts)This is the beginning of an economic order that the US can't dominate.
If they figure out how to shake loose from the petrodollar too, we will no longer be the world's only superpower.