Regional analysis:
- China - The New Silk Road. A power grab on Europe ?
Where?
Silk Road's land route; China →Kyrgyzstan → Uzbekistan → Tajikistan → Turkmenistan →
Iran → Turkey → Bulgaria → Romania → Serbia → Hungary → Austria → Germany
Silk Road's maritime route; China → Myanmar → Sri-Lanka → Pakistan → Oman → France
What?
– China has started a project called the new Silk Road past of the “Belt and Road
Initiative”.
– There are two approaches to newly define transports from China to the export
markets; a land route and a maritime route.
– Through large investments in infrastructure in other countries, China gradually gains
control in the countries which have problems to repay the loans they took from China
When?
a) Historically it is a long term, since the ancient Silkroad had connected China and t
he roman empire already.
b) China's Belt & Road initiative is rather a short term, borrowing the name “Silk
Road” for the project.
Who ?
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The Chinese.
The Trading partners → targeted consumer's market
Counties serving as hubs.
Countries with potential resources. → Pakistan, Greece...
How ?
– Offering loans to partnering countries.
– Thus, creating dependencies if these partners have troubles repaying debts.
– Investments in infrastructures ex- and internally, developing regions formerly
neglected.
Why?
– China is doomed being a mostly export oriented economy, to secure market access in
Europe (~750Millions of customers) to sell its goods.
– China must secure trading routes. The Silk Road being land based, makes it possible
to avoid passage ways on the sea road which could be contested or blocked by
adversaries.
– China doesn't have enough raw materials, especially in energy. They must import
80% of its oil (and also metals like aluminum)
Topography of China– The East is shaped by coastal flat-lands, very fertile with enough precipitation and
moderate (north) to warm (subtropical south) temperatures.
– Farther inland there are two large basins shaped by the two big rivers Yellow-RiverHuanghe and Yangtze-Kiang.
– The West is shaped by the highest mountains ranges, plus the largest outer-tropical
deserts in the world (Taklamakan and Gobi)
– The area is situated at more than 3000meters of elevation !
– China's crucial geopolitical interest is water supply. That is the reason for the
invasion of Tibet in the early 1950's, where seven of the world's largest rivers arise
from.
Population of China–
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Distribution: 94% live in the coastal low lands in the East, covering 25% of the land
The rest, 84Millions people, mostly minorities, live in the quite inhospitable West
The by far largest ethnicity are the Han Chinese, who solely live in the East.
The largest minorities are Tibethan and Uigurs, a muslim people who are violently
pushed to give up their culture (by laws or concentration camps)