Extending The New Silk Road To West Asia And Africa

Incredible potential for growth exists in Africa and West Asia! This report explains projects that are proposed and those underway, make proposals for a new level of connectivity and economic infrastructure for the region, and discuss the economic outlook and financing required to bring these programs to life.

Examining Chinese-North African relations through the lens of President Xi Jinping’s Silk Road grand strategy, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of emerging strategic and economic partnerships in the Maghreb region. China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in modern history. This book argues that the BRI framework is vital in understanding the shifting balance of power within the Maghreb region and between the North African countries, the EU, the US, and China. It is argued that an increasing interdependence can be observed between China and the Maghreb in energy, construction, infrastructure building, political ties, trade and investments, financial integration, people-to-people bonds, and defence. The author reveals the complexities and challenges of Beijing's BRI, exploring how this synergy will shape the Maghreb in the future. Additionally, the book argues that the balance of global politics will be critically affected by these emerging partnerships. The book will be of particular interest to students and academics focused on interstate dynamics and foreign policy in the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region, but in its global ramifications the book is also much-needed reading for those working in International Relations, Politics and Economics, and Public Policy.

This book focuses on China’s experience in development over the past 70 years and its significance, as well as building a community with a shared future for mankind. The book consists of a collection of papers contributed by researchers from many countries, covering the topics of world order, a community with a shared future for mankind, “the Belt and Road” initiative, exchange and mutual learning between civilizations, China Model, China and the World, multi-bilateral relationship, sustainable development.

Take an intrepid journey through the history of the Silk Roads with this brilliant reference book. Traversing snowy mountain passes, vast, forbidding deserts and stormy seas, these ancient trade routes were about much more than the movement of goods, they paved the way for an unprecedented period of cultural exchange, diplomacy and conflict creating a legacy that continues to affect global geopolitics in the 21st century. Forged over millennia through a desire for enterprise, the Silk Roads have had an profound influence on Eurasia and beyond, connecting cultures, languages, customs and religions. And with China now working to reopen this ancient trade network, the time is right to shine a new light on its history and impact. This edition has been updated with an expanded chapter on China's efforts to reopen this ancient trade network through the Belt and Road Initiative and the many impacts it has had along the way, from its ambitious infrastructure projects to new cities emerging along its route to the growth of a digital silk road, Geordie Torr examines the profound impacts of the revival of the world's greatest trading route. With helpful timelines and useful information boxes, The Silk Roads gives you everything you need to master the history of this world-changing region.

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • Far more than a history of the Silk Roads, this book is truly a revelatory new history of the world, promising to destabilize notions of where we come from and where we are headed next. "A rare book that makes you question your assumptions about the world.” —The Wall Street Journal From the Middle East and its political instability to China and its economic rise, the vast region stretching eastward from the Balkans across the steppe and South Asia has been thrust into the global spotlight in recent years. Frankopan teaches us that to understand what is at stake for the cities and nations built on these intricate trade routes, we must first understand their astounding pasts. Frankopan realigns our understanding of the world, pointing us eastward. It was on the Silk Roads that East and West first encountered each other through trade and conquest, leading to the spread of ideas, cultures and religions. From the rise and fall of empires to the spread of Buddhism and the advent of Christianity and Islam, right up to the great wars of the twentieth century—this book shows how the fate of the West has always been inextricably linked to the East. Also available: The New Silk Roads, a timely exploration of the dramatic and profound changes our world is undergoing right now—as seen from the perspective of the rising powers of the East.

Since China announced the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, the Gulf States have regarded it as a means for diversifying their national economies in order to reduce dependence on oil revenues and to achieve their national development strategy. The Persian Gulf region has a significant role in the successful implementation of BRI. Emerging strategic, diplomatic and financial partnerships will enable China to control the flow of its exports to world markets. The BRI has five major goals: Policy coordination, facilities connectivity, free trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds. Facilities connectivity, which focuses on transportation and energy infrastructure, is the initiatives priority. The integration between the national development plans of Gulf monarchies, the economic reconstruction plans of Iraq and Iran, and the new economic goals of Saudi Arabia, with Chinas Belt and Road vision have converged to bring forward opportunities. The implementation of the new Silk Road strategy will unleash a regional infrastructure boom by connecting China with Asia, Europe, and Africa by land and sea, boosting renminbi internationalization. Nevertheless, there are challenges that could complicate the envisaged bilateral partnerships. Saudi Arabia: The strategic synergy between the BRI and Saudi Vision 2030 has forged a joint economic development path, but external conflicts (Yemen, Iran) could derail plans. Iran: While Tehran has a special geographical status in West Asia, Washingtons decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear agreement might create Sino-Iranian trade barriers. The UAE: In July 2018 bilateral relations were elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership. The synergy between the BRI and UAE Vision 2021 is multifaceted trade, energy, infrastructure and logistics, financial services, military ties, tourism and cultural cooperation but very complex. Most of the Gulf States are governed by monarchies, are at the primary stage of industrialization, and are susceptible to US and European influence. The challenges Chinas ascendancy poses for the US, and the inevitable geopolitical fight back, in conjunction with Gulf regional turbulence, mean that the BRI project will face substantive challenges in the years ahead.

The Silk Road was the contemporary name for a complex of ancient trade routes linking East Asia with Central Asia, South Asia, and the Mediterranean world. This network of exchange emerged along the borders between agricultural China and the steppe nomads during the Han Dynasty (206BCE-220CE), in consequence of the inter-dependence and the conflicts of these two distinctive societies. In their quest for horses, fragrances, spices, gems, glassware, and other exotics from the lands to their west, the Han Empire extended its dominion over the oases around the Takla Makan Desert and sent silk all the way to the Mediterranean, either through the land routes leading to the caravan city of Palmyra in Syria desert, or by way of northwest India, the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea, landing at Alexandria. The Silk Road survived the turmoil of the demise of the Han and Roman Empires, reached its golden age during the early middle age, when the Byzantine Empire and the Tang Empire became centers of silk culture and established the models for high culture of the Eurasian world. The coming of Islam extended silk culture to an even larger area and paved the way for an expanded market for textiles and other commodities. By the 11th century, however, the Silk Road was in decline because of intense competition from the sea routes of the Indian Ocean. Using supply and demand as the framework for analyzing the formation and development of the Silk Road, the book examines the dynamics of the interactions of the nomadic pastoralists with sedentary agriculturalists, and the spread of new ideas, religions, and values into the world of commerce, thus illustrating the cultural forces underlying material transactions. This effort at tracing the interconnections of the diverse participants in the transcontinental Silk Road exchange will demonstrate that the world had been linked through economic and ideological forces long before the modern era.