Authored by Pepe Escobar via The Asia Times,
China's Belt and Road Initiative - the New Silk Road - will spark the country's development and turn the dream into reality...
It all starts with Hong Kong as a major BRI financing hub.
Now that President Xi Jinping has been duly elevated to the Chinese Communist Party pantheon in the rarified company of Mao Zedong Thought and Deng Xiaoping Theory, the world will have plenty of time to digest the meaning of “Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.”
Xi himself, in his 3½-hour speech at the start of the 19th Party Congress, pointed to a rather simplified “socialist democracy” – extolling its virtues as the only counter-model to Western liberal democracy. Economically, the debate remains open on whether this walks and talks more like “neoliberalism with Chinese characteristics”.
All the milestones for China in the immediate future have been set.
- “Moderately prosperous society” by 2020.
- Basically modernized nation by 2035.
- Rich and powerful socialist nation by 2050.
Xi himself, since 2013, has encapsulated the process in one mantra; the “Chinese dream”. The dream must become reality in a little over three decades. The inexorable modernization drive unleashed by Deng’s reforms has lasted a little less than four decades. Recent history tell us there’s no reason to believe phase 2 of this seismic Sino-Renaissance won’t be fulfilled.
Xi emphasized, “the dreams of the Chinese people and those of other peoples around the world are closely linked. The realization of the Chinese dream will not be possible without a peaceful international environment and a stable international order.”
He mentioned only briefly the New Silk Roads, a.k.a. Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as having “created a favorable environment for the country’s overall development”. He didn’t dwell on BRI’s ambition and extraordinary scope, as he does in every major international summit as well as in Davos earlier this year.
But still it was implicit that to arrive at what Xi defines as a “community of common destiny for mankind”, BRI is China’s ultimate tool. BRI, a geopolitical/geoeconomic game-changer, is in fact Xi’s – and China’s – organizing foreign policy concept and driver up to 2050.
Xi has clearly understood that global leadership implies being a top provider, mostly to the global South, of connectivity, infrastructure financing, comprehensive technical assistance, construction hardware and myriad other trappings of “modernization”.
It does not hurt that this trade/commerce/investment onslaught helps to internationalize the yuan.
It’s easy to forget that BRI, an unparalleled multinational connectivity drive set to economically link all points Asia to Europe and Africa, was announced only three years ago, in Astana (Central Asia) and Jakarta (Southeast Asia).
What was originally known as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road were endorsed by the Third Plenum of the 18th CCP Central Committee in November 2013. Only after the release of an official document, “Visions and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Roads”, in March 2015, the whole project was finally named BRI.
According to the official Chinese timeline, we’re only at the start of phase 2. Phase 1, from 2013 to 2016, was “mobilization”. “Planning”, from 2016 to 2021, is barely on (and that explains why few major projects are online). “Implementation” is supposed to start in 2021, one year before Xi’s new term expires, and go all the way to 2049.
The horizon thus is 2050, coinciding with Xi’s “rich and powerful socialist nation” dream. There’s simply no other comprehensive, inclusive, far-reaching, financially solid development program on the global market. Certainly not India’s Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC).
Have BRI, will travel
It starts with Hong Kong. When Xi said, “We will continue to support Hong Kong and Macau in integrating their own development into the overall development of the country”, he meant Hong Kong configured as a major BRI financing hub – its new role after a recent past of business facilitator between China and the West.
Hong Kong’s got what it takes; convertible currency; total capital mobility; rule of law; no tax on interest, dividends and capital gains; total access to China’s capital market/savings; and last but not least, Beijing’s support.
Enter the dream of myriad financing packages (public-private; equity-debt; short-long term bonds). Hong Kong’s BRI role will be of the Total Package international financial center (venture capital; private equity; flotation of stocks and bonds; investment banking; mergers and acquisitions; reinsurance) interlinked with the Greater Bay Area – the 11 cities (including Guangzhou and Shenzhen) of the Pearl River Delta (light/heavy manufacturing; hi-tech venture capitalists, start-ups, investors; top research universities).
That ties up with Xi’s emphasis on innovation; “We will strengthen basic research in applied sciences, launch major national science and technology projects, and prioritize innovation in key generic technologies, cutting-edge frontier technologies, modern engineering technologies, and disruptive technologies.”
The integration of the Greater Bay Area is bound to inspire, fuel, and in some cases even mould some of BRI’s key projects. The Eurasian Land Bridge from Xinjiang to Western Russia (China and Kazakhstan are actively turbo-charging their joint free trade zone at Khorgos). The China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor. The connection of the Central Asian “stans” to West Asia – Iran and Turkey. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) from Xinjiang all the way to Gwadar in the Arabian Sea – capable of sparking an “economic revolution” according to Islamabad. The China-Indochina corridor from Kunming to Singapore. The Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) corridor (assuming India does not boycott it). The Maritime Silk Road from coastal southeast China all the way to the Mediterranean, from Piraeus to Venice.
Yiwu-London freight trains, Shanghai-Tehran freight trains, the Turkmenistan to Xinjiang gas pipeline – these are all facts on the ground. Along the way, the technologies and tools of infrastructure connectivity – applied to high-speed rail networks, power plants, solar farms, motorways, bridges, ports, pipelines – will be closely linked with financing by the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the security-economic cooperation imperatives of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to build the new Eurasia from Shanghai to Rotterdam. Or, to evoke Vladimir Putin’s original vision, even before BRI was launched, “from Lisbon to Vladivostok”.
Xi did not spell it out, but Beijing will do everything to stay as independent as possible from the Western Central Bank system, with the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) to be avoided in as many trade deals as possible to the benefit of yuan-based transactions or outright barter. The petrodollar will be increasingly bypassed (it’s already happening between China and Iran, and Beijing sooner rather than later will demand it from Saudi Arabia.)
The end result, by 2050, will be, barring inevitable, complex glitches, an integrated market of 4.5 billion people mostly using local currencies for bilateral and multilateral trade, or a basket of currencies (yuan-ruble-rial-yen-rupee).
Xi has laid China’s cards – as well as the road map – on the table. As far as the Chinese Dream is concerned, it’s now clear; Have BRI, Will Travel.
It starts with Hong Kong. I wonder why they are doing so well? S/
Because they arent a democracy.
There's no nation more joined at the hip to the US and providing the US military more money than China.
Because European nations will ditch EUCCP by 2030 and reindustrialize their sovereign states... which means no more buying cheap crap made in China, nor manufacture everything there.
US will do something similar starting 2024.
The US whites will bring a REAL nationalist president after Trump.
The Silk Road will become Ebony Foothpath, as China will pivot to Africa.. trying to sell beads to monkeys and get cheap resources.
Good luck with that.
If Xi's planned economy turns out OK, it will be the first one.
At least they HAVE a plan, giving implicit hope for the future, focused as it is on capital formation for major construction projects and trade -- unlike the PNAC.
follow the money...
who've been the holders?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Infrastructure_Investment_Bank#Members
Reading comments on the internet makes the tens of millions dead not seem so terrible anymore. Go China go!
Just please stop boiling your dogs alive. Kill all the people you want. Just leave the dogs alone.
The U.S. selling out it's manufacturing base to China = War.
Sooner or later, the only end to the road of Central Bank legerdemain and the strangling of the middle-class is war. All China has to do is nuke Hawaii and say "what will you do now?".
The capital-rich technical and infrastructure achievements in the BRI sphere are stunning. The vision and purpose is to be admired and respected.
By comparison, the incredible LACK thereof in my left-coast community is to be derided. Stupid, brainwashed hippie politicians champion "Bike Lanes," rainbow-painted sidewalks and a little 200-foot bridge, the construction of which has taken 30 years to get underway and is slated to cost more than $120 million dollars, assuming it ever gets completed, bogged down as it seems with deranged ideology, incompetence and corruption. (And meanwhile, Mayor and Council are off enjoying a taxpayer-paid junket to China, ostensibly on a "trade mission." Dear God, please give them inspiration, because they sure as hell have none of their own.)
The comment above by "God Emperor" is just sarcastic and nasty: much of his post can be ignored. However, that said, an important point not mentioned in the Chinese document is the disruption that looms due to energy shortage. The Chinese must recognize that the clock is ticking and make every effort to accomplish as much as possible while energy is still relatively abundant, because we really have little more than a decade left before conditions become very difficult for us all.
On that note, Canada should be making every effort to push through West Coast pipeline expansion, because with the imminent collapse of the American financial system leaving that country incapable of paying its bills, access to alternative markets will be a matter of Canadian national security. Unfortunately, much of what's needed in terms of public policy seems so beyond and averse to the debt-loving, capital-sucking lawn ornaments in Ottawa that Canada's shared path down the American drain seems inevitable.
That simply is not true....There will be enough natural gas reconstituted as LNG for a very long time. Hence our port builds. We will not collapse until after 2050. Didnt you just read the article? China will not under any circumstances pull the plug until its ready...which it will be by 2050 barring world war 3.
@ Aurum4040: I'm not sure if you're being tongue-in-cheek, or actually believe what you say. Your assertion could reflect different sources and context. (From what I gather, for example, the oil and gas sector in North America is in serious trouble, with scary-fast depletion, sector-wide overstatement of reserves, tanking EROEI and a mountain of unpayable debt. Practically the only thing holding it up right now is dumb capital managed by fools and/or crooks.) In real terms, everything is set to become dangerously more expensive, hence the dominant influence of this consideration in American foreign policy.
The Chinese miracle is based upon infinite supply of cheap slave grade labor harnessed by brute force of authoritarianism and a heaping helping of gargantuan debt. Simply beating our distorted version of capitalism with our own game.
Debt enabled by communism versus America's communist revolution enabled by debt.
Utopia is near at hand. It just doesn't include 95% of us in it.
Poverty and division will lead to war, between nations and within them. The winners will be the owners of the means of production who will live in relative peace and coexistence after we have eliminated ourselves, all wants and needs supplied by the technology that WE ultimately paid for.
The capital-rich technical and infrastructure achievements in the BRI sphere are stunning. The vision and purpose is to be admired and respected.
It's built right on top of a charnel house of 40 million corpses... Keep loving that view. SMFH..... Statute of Limitations on Genocide in the Modern Era... Soon as We Forget or Never Knew. You people make me fucking sick....
By comparison, the incredible LACK thereof in my left-coast community is to be derided.
Speaking of government worshipping tools. You're free to pack up all your shit and go worship the Overlords of Mass Murder in Sheeeeeenaaaaa.
*PUKE*
Yeah, America has such a peaceful history, especially the last 50 years.
"Puke," indeed! The name Clinton alone should induce nausea.
Can you say "Exceptionalism?"
Yeah, America has such a peaceful history, especially the last 50 years.
The equivocation game again. SMFH....THIS post is about the glorious communist party making lofty promises standing on top of 40 million corpses. Feel free to post an article on American atrocities and I'll be more than happy to chime in over there. You don't get to deflect a genocidal spree by the sitting communist party that makes German Nazis look like naughty daycare minders in comparison or dredge up stupid American shit as if the Chinese massacres are irrelevant.
You're free to pack up all your shit and go worship at the feet of your commie overlords dude.
Modernized by 2035
Runs out of water 2036
They never really left.. Not speaking about ze english degenerated tools.
Is it wet?
Xi's 3 hour speech scared me a bit. These guys are athiest Marksists still. They think that capitalism is a stage. They are fuct up
You believe that capitalism is the end product of human evolution? That if people are allowed unlimited time and freedon that capitalism will be the end result? Wow!
Capitalism is already unwinding in America as China's form o economics, a mix of managed capitalism and socialism, marches on.
How can China be socialist when there is no social safety net for people/families?
Back of the "dialectical materialism" class for yu!
If... you'd been paying any attention atall ...to the last hunnerd years -or so- of human history,
you'd know by now that we practice TWO forms of "socialism" on this here earthly orb. Now "socialism" in the former "third world" countries is a way of getting naive peeples to work hard in order to fund the imperial dreams of their local elites... who in turn are in thrall to their imported "directors" sent by the international finance capitalists...
and they know that ... in order to build a happy and prosperous tomorrow - for their children - they must forgo being burdens pon THE STATE... so that that particular[yur fave socialist paradise goes here....] STATE can get on with it's plans to become the HQ of the moneychangers, from which they can launch their FINAL ASSAULT pon the hated peeples of the...
other form of socialism - in the so-called 'developed world'... where the dweebs have been successively dumbed down so as to willingly accept our "capitalist paradise" form of socialism... working hard for peanuts and a steadily declining standard of living... so as to provide the rentier class... their 'rent bouys'... and coloredfolk/LBGT clientele with sufficient guaranteed income as to be free to foment 'permanent class struggle' pon those very same tax farmed feeble minded goiems...
see - it's all good. Now relax... and enjoy the final ride to the tumbrils!
If you think that Americas' "form of economics" is anything other than "a mix of managed capitalism and socialism"...
yu be marchin to a defective drummer. Jus like Pepito here... in charge of drummin up dimwits dumb enuff to smoke the "BRI Brix ... or the OBOR bong.
For over a century now... Wall St has been exporting "socialism" to places that it had sufficiently stripped of wealth and sovereignty to place their peeples in a position of hopeless lassitude - such that they would accept the imposition of talmudist-bred "revolutionary" change...
while imposing its' vicious monopolistic "capitalism" predations pon a hapless liberty-lubbin lumpenproletariat of once-prosperous peeple who's ancestors moved to the new world to get away from the moneychangers makin a mockery of justice in the ol one...
only to find themselves ONCE AGIN speedily delivered into the hands of crypto-currency conmen who cry "hate crime" whenever anybody dares blow the whistle upon their grim guillotining of ACTUAL FREE ENTERPRISE... free expression... free anything cept free rides for their dupe 'peeple o color' and the fifth columnist who pimp that ride with them!
Power to the Peeple! Peeple of the Debt/Usury/Interest portion of humanity that is! Permanent Revolution... till the last shred of evidence that humans were ever anything but cattle to be butchered by their kabbalist talmudist masters ... has disappeared from this sorry ol earth...
and the thoughts of XI/Lenin/Marx/... and the whole legion of 'YOU DIDN'T BUILD THAT ' are finally free to reign over the rump of humanity allowed to remain in dumb servitude to the new Jerusalem.
Kind sorta exactly the way the once mighty pen of Pepito scrawls to the directions of his new masters now.
We don't have capitalism... We have corporatism....
It's actually called fascism. Check it up...
Socialism has no future (historically)
Socialist shithole by 2075
What's your problem with atheists? Atheists don't go around bugging others with their evangelizing and trying to convert others to their lack of belief in imaginary gods. Moreover, atheism has nothing whatsoever to do with politics or political philosophies.
Since when is socialism/communism NOT a religion?
China is not competing with capitalism or socialism. China is a fascist nation competing with a fascist West. Merger of government and corporations. It's difficult to know who to root for -- the snake or the alligator.
root against China. they are the most dangerous. and i suspect you'd rather live in the West over China. so......
I would rather be a westerner living in China than a westerner living in the west.
China isn't as good for the Chinese. There's some sort of social engineering that goes on over here (in China) which, at least for now, you can safely ignore as a foreigner, but for Chinese, it can affect your ability to get and keep a job, get married, or get an apartment.
OTOH, police don't pull people over and rob them. In fact, you almost never see police at all unless there is an actual crime or a traffic accident.
LTER, I don't know what you mean about them being dangerous. Is it the way they invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, and used their air power to smash Libya, and sent terrorists all over Syria and other points in central Asia? Or was that somebody else?
Edit: PS, the women are better, too
No good guys in the world, LTER. Root for the guys who are going to win. Hint: It's not us.
Root for your own country.
No one can win under Jewish supermacy, 'about all (white, chinks, negros) point finger at those mofo kikes? Once the JQ (jewish question) solved, nothing can't be negotiated
China is a fascist nation competing with a fascist West
China does their planning out in the open. The West does their planning secretively, for example at Davos.
China's planning is aimed at a "greater good," the West's planning is all about continued private corporate control i.e. Oligarchy and Plutocracy.
All economics are Earth + Labor = Goods. Goods make prices. The "road" is opening up more land and earth, and allowing movement of goods. It will work. Meanwhile, what sort of planning has the West done that is beneficial. TPP? Forever War to benefit MIC?
Deng's axom: "It doesn't matter whether a cat is white or black, as long as it catches mice.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping_Theory
(((Finance Capitalism))) is an especially bad form of economics, as it takes rents and usury. Finance Capitalism is parasitical. The Chinese form of Capitalism is improving productivity, improving the commons, and improving human capital.
China's planning is aimed at a "greater good," the West's planning is all about continued private corporate control i.e. Oligarchy and Plutocracy.
Err... shirley yu write in jest!
Such a blatantly transparent effort to ONCE AGIN elucidate the bizarre notion that a 'GOOD PANDA' VS 'BOOBOO BEAR' Dichotomy of east west geopolitical fanatasizing
is gonna produce anything but howls of laughter here...
must indeed be tongue in beak! This jus in, Poindexter...
"international finance capital" owns n operates yur fave socialist paradise ... as it clearly owns yur apologist sock puppet ass...
https://storify.com/SuaveBel/israel-s-new-asian-allies
https://storify.com/SuaveBel/from-giants-to-pygmies
China's planning is aimed at a "greater good,"....
SMFH.... they stacked 40 million corpses to get here. "The Greater Good," this is like praising Charlie Manson because after his killing spree he decided to build a community for his children.
God Almighty....... the pure shit and drivel and ignorance on display is staggering......
China does their planning out in the open....
Where do you guys get this shit from? Seriously? You literally believe every bit of drivel from a mass murdering commie commisar because your loathing of your own government runs that deep?
Un-fucking-real.
Let me tell you how Chinese "visionaries" build shit. They talk a good game, then they lie, steal and cheat you fucking blind while you're busy drooling over the great pitch you just heard. They skimp on construction materials, cut corners, bribe inspectors, rig bids, connive, cajole, coerce; cook their books, do some heavy turd polishing... and presto. Your dream palace made of twigs, mud, spit and shit. But you paid top dollar and it looks spliffy as fuck. Just don't lift the curtain or go poking around the foundation....
God Almighty help us....................
This is gonna run long in the tooth, but apparently some of you really need this, cause you're just not getting it. So... I just sat through Only The Brave... showing on screens right now in Hong Kong about the firefighters that died few years back. I was surveying the audience and thinking... do they even get it? Do they get any of this? I watched a crew of Hong Kong firefighters "fight" a hill fire burning right across Lantau Island once. It went something like this... they arrived late... took their sweet time getting up to the fire... then spent a few hours haphazardly looking good but really doing very little.... then all sat down for pork noodles delivered in a stack of styrofoam boxes which they then left neatly scattered across the stretch of the scorched hill. They just don't give a fuck. Protect trees? Nobody gives a fuck. There's a scene in Only The Brave where the Granite Mountain Crew protect a 2000-year old tree from an encroaching fire. I laughed and laughed at the thought of Chinese risking their lives for a fucking tree. Not in a million years.
Get this through your thick skulls. In Asia.... appearance is everything, and substance is nothing. Let me repeat this... Appearance is everything... and substance.... nothing. So vendors happily sell you fake shit. As long as it appears real... who gives a flying fuck. Nobody. You'll see Hong Kong cops on patrol all over the city... appearing to fight crime... but not really doing a goddamned thing. Office stiffs working till 9pm to please the boss... but sleeping at their desks or wanking to porn or doing whatever the fuck. Appearance is everything. Substance is nothing. Nothing. Fake college degrees? They don't care. As long as they appear to be educated.
I'm working on a series of tests and all my students are trying to goad me into giving them perfect scores. They want to appear to be masters of the subject matter and don't really give a fuck if they can't understand it, execute it or apply any of it. They just don't care. An applicant was happily telling me how she could cheat her way to perfect test scores to get a coveted job at a top Hong Kong employer. I've never cheated on a test in my life, even when the opportunities presented themselves. I'm not wired that way. But this is exactly how all of them are wired. Lie, steal, cheat. As long as it looks like Honesty, Integrity and Uprightness. Is this sinking in yet? Are you fucking paying attention?
So... back to those American jackass firefighters who wasted their lives putting down... *gasp*.... wildlife fires... good look finding a HongKonger who's applying for that job. Social status... negligible... risk premium... maximum... Gucci Factor.... minus 100.... Pfffffff...... Remember that girl I just told you about who proudly shared her cheating story with me. I told her I was going to see this movie. She asked me what it was about it. I explained the premise to her. She curled her lip and without any pause whatsoever she sneered, "They're stupid," when I ended, "They died serving their community."
THAT's the fucking China you're worhipping. They're servile lickspittles, kowtowing mediocrities who worship nothing but the appearance of wealth without really having any.
When people tell me how "successful" Hong Kong is I always tell them this. Hong Kong has wealth, but it has no prosperity. None. All the money in the world can't buy you charity, gratitude, kind-heartedness, empathy, humanity. Or blue skies for that matter. Trees? They don't give a shit. Until tress can shit gold bricks, the Chinese won't fucking care. Hong Kongers are tolerable because after 150-years of British rule has worn off the sharp edges. But theyr'e still Chinese.
Is any of this sinking in? Naaaaah.....
Back to distopia..........
Substitute 'Thailand' for 'China' (or anywhere in eastern Asia) and the story is identical.
Asians are (smiling) sociopaths.
Scratch the smile part..it only applies to SE Asia and even here they are getting rare
Obviously you have not lived - much less engaged in commerce - in China.
Here is an article that looks at how China has recently expanded its global military presence:
https://viableopposition.blogspot.ca/2017/09/chinas-military-expansionis...
This move is a game-changer and will give China's Navy access to much more of the world.
Good link....
and indeed - |link| it is. The chain is being expanded yearly. I got to see how it goes in the former British colony of Ceylon a while back... where, on the southern coast can be seen...
an airport almost empty of all traffic and bodies - for now...
a seaport which is supposedly for the development of trade with the east... and for pr purposes a "commercial development" ... in real life a massive naval port for the Sino expansion which will be soon relieving Merika of its duty call of patrolling the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Wonder how long it takes for Russia to lose Siberia to China? 15 years?
LoL, not going to happen, they'll take Alasaka before that happens. :D :D
How do you write "Vladivostok" in Mandarin? Should start practicing now.
Chinese prounounce sth like this : Fu la di wo si to ke
their pictograph Hanzi is this : ???????
It's apparent that you've not familiarized yourself with the phrase
"winner takes ALL."
China = new HQ of international finance capitals' pirate empire. RUsso fanbouy SP's such as yurself =under the bus.
Western world = under the bus.
This is a mass extinction of the R haplogroups
event... brought to yus by the freendly folks at TOPS Freendly Markets!(TalmudistOverlordsPursinSupremacy)
thanks for playin tho.
Some things are inevitable. The Chinese need their 'living space' and some fetching young ladies for all those ronery young Chinese boys that will never have a partner in life. So unless the last few generations have turned out to be really, really gay, Siberia makes an attractive place for them to start a new life. Go north young man, go north!
At some point, the Chinese will make the Russians the proverbial 'offer they can't refuse.' The British couldn't hold Xiang Kong forever, could they.