One Belt, One Road: China intensifies economic diplomacy

China considers that the first step to going global is to go regional. Discussions and meetings of the Bangladesh Media Team with some relevant analysts and observers in Beijing and Yunnan give this impression.
As China reshapes its economic diplomacy under its president, Xi Jinping, considered to be the most powerful leader in the post-Deng Xiaoping era, the reinvigoration of the ancient Silk Route has drawn its focus.  In September 2013, President Xi outlined plans for its revival. Two massive trade and infrastructure networks -- the New Silk Road (also known as the Silk Road Economic Belt) and the Maritime Silk Road of the 21st country -- were unveiled then. And these proposed modern networks, after building and expansion of high-speed rail, motorways (roads), pipelines, ports and fibre-optic cables, stretching across the region, will be purported  to "break the connectivity bottleneck" that has seriously hindered development in many developing countries in Asia and even beyond.
China-led Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives incorporate one common goal: "One Belt and One Road".
Senior research fellows and concerned high officials in China hold the view that this initiative will help deepen economic cooperation between and among countries concerned, lying, in the process, on a "solid foundation" for enhancing their political and security cooperation.
  The economic rationale of these initiative is hard to contest. There is no denying that China and its neighbouring countries, in immediate proximity or somewhat   far afield, do otherwise put economic development as the foremost goal in their policy agenda. A positive perception of equitably shared prosperity in a win-win situation for all through the operationalisation of 'One Belt, One Road" initiative will, as China perceives it, certainly help solve security problems to a great extent in Asia. A simultaneous revival of the Silk Road in different forms, along its way, would mean not only more trade through 'networks' but also better relationship that would automatically follow. This is because of, what economists understand, opportunity cost.
This 'opportunity cost', however, will make sense only when 'competitive' industries of China and any other highly developing countries become closely knit with the geographical features, development needs and other special requirements -- that are acknowledged by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other existing relevant international bodies -- of the low-income countries under a rule-based mechanism or system. Building the 'belt' and the 'road', being distinctively different from the ancient Silk Road that was mainly focused on trade, will then foster conditions for an all-inclusive win-win situation. Furthermore, the need for flow of financial elements, information, technology and personnel (workforce) will also have to be accommodated, to a considerable extent, for the purpose of having pro-active and vibrant economic corridors connecting  with the 'revived' Silk Road in tendem with its modern version -- the Maritime Silk Road. This will be pivotal to realisation of common benefits, based on equality and mutual benefit and respect.
In this context, China's growing 'economic clout' does have some reasons, on real or perceived grounds, to raise concerns over its 'goals' and 'objectives', or to put it bluntly, 'ambitions' or 'expansion' of its 'sphere of influence', along with its markets. There lurks the fear about 'flooding markets' with Chinese goods, 'drowning' nascent industries' in relatively weaker economies, an uneven playing field for gaining access to technology by way of sharing technical know-how, as different from putting emphasis on 'laying tarmac  and iron', use of more non-national personnel (workers) than 'own citizens' in infrastructure and other related projects.
In this context, ensuring a win-win situation for all the countries along the proposed corridors of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st century Maritime Silk Road under 'One Belt, One Road' initiative, will largely hinge on pro-active efforts to encourage 'businesses' in all the countries involved, on an equitable basis, in addition to facilitating freer flows of labour, put fewer customs barriers in place to promote upholding rule of law on a predictable basis.
China, as the tenor of discussions of the Bangladesh Media Delegation with the officials, exporters and researchers in Beijing and Kunming indicated, is aware of the 'sensitivities' of all concerned including the USA and its other major 'partners', to its 'One Belt, One Road' initiative and their concerns, largely on perceived grounds, over it.
Beijing maintains that its initiative is different from the Marshall Plan in challenges and motivation, indicating that it has no intention of seeking influence and dominance in Asia. The initiative is meant for providing opportunities to other countries to develop themselves in order to achieve a 'win-win' situation for all. The initiative is open to all countries, irrespective of the nature of their polity and the stages of their growth and also regardless of their regime-types, to be voluntary partners in it.
China's new 'one belt, one road' initiative is 'far more ambitious than the Marshall Plan as it aims at the whole world'. That means that it will have a greater global impact. The total value of China's initiative, according to some estimates, could reach US$21 trillion.
China seems to be quite assertive now because of its rapid economic rise over the last three and a half decades. The participants from the Chinese side in a number of discussion meetings with the Bangladesh media team made it clear that China is quite firm on undertaking  operative actions on its initiative within its geographical territory, leaving the option open to all countries concerned to join the proposed economic corridors, alongside the 'One Belt, One Road' grand project. It would like to see the New Silk Road and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road completed by 2050.
The Western media, however, looks at China and its westward move for reaching out to its neighbours through multi-module connectivity and various cross-border networks through their own lenses. Reports on 'worries' and 'concerns' -- real or perceived ones -- over China's economic rise that is pilloried  as 'clout' or 'hegemony' find place, almost regularly, in most media in the West. China, as such media reports tend to suggest, will gain 'disproportionately' from the links. Is this because the most dominant power, notwithstanding its lingering woes -- political gridlock or economic malaise, is desperate to maintain the status quo - a 'unipolar' world?
From China's perspective, that is exactly what it considers to be the 'obvious' case. Its new economic 'might' and changing shift in global economic power matrix, favouring Asia, are the dynamics of the present-day world that some may find too difficult to reconcile with.
.............................................................
E-mail:moazzem.1992@gmail.com