President Xi Jinping of China called for joint development of an "Economic Belt along the Silk Road" and a "Maritime Silk Road of the 21st Century" during his separate visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia in September and October 2013. These were two major initiatives that China proposed consistent with the important strides agreed upon with regard to deepening of reform and intensifying the prospect of neighbourhood diplomacy during the Third Plenum of the 18th CPC Central Committee and the Meeting on Neighbourhood Diplomacy and the Central Economic Work Conference.
This metaphorical reference to the Silk Road deserves recalling the contours of this route that was a vital link for more than two thousand years between the Far East, South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Western Europe. It was also the access route to Africa. It started from China's Luoyang City, passed through Xi'an and Gansu and then slowly manifested itself in the western parts of Asia and then into the Mediterranean. It functioned as a bridge between the economies and the cultures of the Asian, European and African countries. For centuries, despite challenges, it also provided a dialogue platform between the countries through which it passed.
Today, our contemporary international arena with its complex international and regional landscape is dominated by our common quest for peace, development and cooperation.
This has been one significant reason for the multilateral arena relying on the term 'Silk Road' to symbolically expresses our need to establish peace, cooperation, openness, inclusiveness, mutual learning and resilience. Many initiatives and projects reiterated this concept: the United Nations during the 22nd General Assembly session of UNESCO in 1997 seeking dialogue and communication between the East and the West within the programme entitled 'The Roads of Dialogue - Systematically Learning the Silk Road', the NATO when it formulated its common computer and communication network plan for academic and scientific communities in the eight States in South Caucasus and Central Asia entitled 'The Virtual Silk Road', the United States Senate in July 1999 in their 'Silk Road Strategy Act' for Central Asia and Azerbaijan in 1999 when they convened the first Silk Road Summit. Iran and Japan have also drawn on this unifying concept. However, the one proposed by the current Chinese leadership is wider and more intensive both in scope and intent. It suggests greater dynamism based on constructive consensus.
The Chinese initiative identifies common understanding and the need for cooperation as the key engine of global growth and the essential driver for a world that has now evolved its own unique aspects of multi-polarisation and economic globalisation. It is this background that has prompted the Chinese President to point out that countries that are on this Silk Road should be aware of their commonalities. China believes that this will then assist in creating a harmonious Asia and a comprehensive rejuvenation of all Asian countries through an inter-active process. The Chinese leadership believes that the "Belt" and "Road" initiatives linking the past with the present and covering China and other countries, have a highly inclusive scope that will foster unity of purpose and commitment.
SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANISATION: The last ten years has seen China following region-based policies as well as policies on a global scale. It has consequently emerged not only as a dominant actor but has also gained maneuverability in its foreign policy. This has been reflected in its instrumental role in creating the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Since its founding more than 12 years ago, it has become an important umbrella organisation in the region not only for its Members but also for the Observers who use this facility for dialogue on outstanding challenges. The importance of SCO was highlighted in the latest meeting of its leaders held in mid-September in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. They discussed the possible future consequences of the continuing crisis in Syria, Iraq and Ukraine and the way forward for further economic development and promoting local business.
Analysts have pointed out that this approach towards foreign policy initiatives has urged China to form other frameworks for region-specific strategies like the China-Arab Cooperation Forum, China-Africa Cooperation Forum, China-Central and Eastern European Countries Economic and Trade Forum, the Cooperative Societies formed with India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
An example of the benefits accruing from such strategy is reflected in China's relationship with Africa. The bilateral trade volume of China, which has become the biggest commercial partner of Africa since 2009, is now approaching US$180 billion. China today also has more than one million citizens and over 2000 companies in that continent. China also ranks fourth in terms of foreign investments in Africa, which has become China's biggest foreign manpower and commitment project market. China has reached this dominant position in a short span of time.
China has today become the steam engine of global growth. The trade volume between China and Central, Western and Southern Asian countries today exceeds US$ 370 billion - a 30.8 per cent increase in the last ten years. Within this period, according to Togrul Veli, Turkish economist, the amount of direct investment of the Chinese enterprises made in the Eurasian countries exceeded US$ 250 billion. This has been undertaken on the basis of Chinese interpretation of region-specific economic policies and configurations developed on the structural characteristics of the region.
Chinese scholars while stressing on regional cooperation being an important factor within economic globalisation have however pointed out that compared with those in Europe and North America, regional cooperation in Asia remains inadequate, as evidenced by the uneven development and poor connectivity among Asia's sub-regions. This poses a serious obstacle to deeper regional cooperation. It is this scenario that encourages China to believe that the "Belt" and "Road" initiatives, by linking Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and West Asia, will contribute to greater connectivity and complementarities across the sub-regions, and help the establishment and improvement of Asia's supply chain, industrial chain and value chain. Success within this parameter, it is underlined, will require linkages among participating States in harmonising planning, improving transport network infrastructure, facilitating investment, promoting trade settlement in local currencies and enhancing exchange between peoples. They believe that this will bring Pan-Asian and Eurasian regional cooperation to a new level and more capable in making their economies more dynamic and more resilient to fend off risks.
BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVES: Chinese politicians, policy planners and economists are also convinced that the "Belt" and "Road" initiatives foresee infrastructure development and systemic innovation, necessary for an improved business environment. It is felt that this is vital for an orderly and unimpeded flow of production factors and their improved distribution both in the development of landlocked countries and the remote areas of other countries. It is also argued that these initiatives will help to promote systematic innovation and the drive for reform in governance, increased capital flow and also lowering of costs and removal of trade and investment barriers. This, in turn, will strengthen people-to-people exchanges among all countries across multiple spectrums, strata and faiths and also encourage expansion of the groundwork of friendship among peoples and contribute positively to peace and development in Asia.
For the last three decades China has been targeting the opening-up of its eastern region to the developed world. Today, it is aiming to use this new initiative to gain access to the big market that exists in the Eurasian continent. This is being attempted along with emphasis on opening of the Chinese inland and border regions to enable the building of an economic corridor criss-crossing that country. At the same time, efforts are being made to speed up implementation of free trade agreements (FTAs) aimed at neighbouring countries and deepening possible maritime economic cooperation scheme with other countries. The Chinese political leadership thinks that the "Belt" and "Road" initiatives, by covering multiple provinces, autonomous regions and major municipalities in China's central, western and east coastal regions and being consistent with the country's regional development strategy, the new urbanisation strategy and the opening-up strategy, will serve as a big booster for the shaping of an all-directional opening of China and will also effectively intensify their foreign policy connectivity with the countries associated with the "Belt" and "Road" initiatives.
Chinese politicians and economists, while promoting this initiative, have been careful to point out that this latest effort does not intend to overlap or compete with existing cooperation mechanisms of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the Eurasian Economic Community or the ASEAN plus China process. They are reiterating that this latest initiative will only enrich and enliven these existing mechanisms and make them more effective and mutually reinforcing.
China has emphasised that in building the Economic Belt along the Silk Road, Russia will be an indispensable partner. Within this framework attention is drawn to the fact that several significant projects are currently in place between the two countries both in the energy and the communication network sectors. Accordingly, the Economic Belt along the Silk Road will also be complementary to the ongoing process of the Eurasian Economic Community and part of the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination.
BCIM-EC: The importance of the "Economic Belt along the Silk Road" and the "Maritime Silk Road" has been evidenced for South Asia through the initiative undertaken through the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC). These countries are trying through consensus to focus their priority in advancing multi-modal regional connectivity in transportation, telecommunication, and power and energy, trade and investment, sustainable development and people-to-people exchange. As correctly observed by former Chinese Ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jun, this effort based on 'economic complementarities' should 'enhance mutual understanding and trust and further unlock vast economic potential, and secure lasting peace, stability and prosperity for the people in the region'.
Muhammad Zamir, a former Ambassador and Chief Information Commissioner, is an analyst specialised in foreign affairs, right to information and good governance.
mzamir@dhaka.net