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posted by mrpg on Monday March 25 2019, @12:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the marco-polo-would-be-proud dept.

Italy joins China's New Silk Road project

Italy has become the first developed economy to sign up to China's global investment programme which has raised concerns among Italy's Western allies.

A total of 29 deals amounting to €2.5bn ($2.8bn) were signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Rome. The project is seen as a new Silk Road which, just like the ancient trade route, aims to link China to Europe. Italy's European Union allies and the United States have expressed concern at China's growing influence.

The new Silk Road has another name - the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) - and it involves a wave of Chinese funding for major infrastructure projects around the world, in a bid to speed Chinese goods to markets further afield. Critics see it as also representing a bold bid for geo-political and strategic influence.

Also at Bloomberg and The Washington Post.

Related: China's Xi Jinping Negotiates $46bn Superhighway to Pakistan
China Plans $503 Billion Investment in High-Speed Rail by 2020
Chinese President Xi Jinping Pledges $124 Billion for One Belt, One Road Initiative
China's $1 Trillion Belt and Road Project Includes Military Cooperation With Pakistan


Original Submission

Related Stories

China's Xi Jinping Negotiates $46bn Superhighway to Pakistan 24 comments

China intends to invest $46 billion in infrastructure links to Pakistan:

The focus of spending is on building a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - a network of roads, railway and pipelines between the long-time allies. They will run some 3,000km (1,865 miles) from Gwadar in Pakistan to China's western Xinjiang region.

The projects will give China direct access to the Indian Ocean and beyond. This marks a major advance in China's plans to boost its economic influence in Central and South Asia, correspondents say, and far exceeds US spending in Pakistan.

[...] Some $15.5bn worth of coal, wind, solar and hydro energy projects will come online by 2017 and add 10,400 megawatts of energy to Pakistan's national grid, according to officials. A $44m optical fibre cable between the two countries is also due to be built.

The Great Game lives. Different players, same game. Equally large implications. Diplomacy game geeks, awake! Who are the players, and what's the play?

China Plans $503 Billion Investment in High-Speed Rail by 2020 20 comments

According to a report at Bloomberg , China plans a major investment in high-speed rail over the next five years: $503 Billion:

China plans to spend 3.5 trillion yuan ($503 billion) to expand its railway system by 2020 as it turns to investments in infrastructure to bolster growth and improve connectivity across the country.

The high-speed rail network will span more than 30,000 kilometers (18,650 miles) under the proposal, according to details released at a State Council Information Office briefing in Beijing Thursday. The distance, about 6.5 times the length of a road trip between New York and Los Angeles, will cover 80 percent of major cities in China.

The plan will see high-speed rail lines across the country expand by more than half over a five-year period, a boon to Chinese suppliers of rolling stock such as CRRC Corp. and rail construction companies including China Railway Construction Corp. and China Railway Group Ltd. Earlier this year, China turned to a private company for first time to operate an inter-city rail service on the mainland, part of President Xi Jinping's push to modernize the nation's transport network amid slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy.

China will also add 3,000 kilometers to its urban rail transit system under the plan released Thursday.

At the end of 2015, China had 121,000 kilometers of railway lines, including 19,000 kilometers of high-speed tracks, according to a transportation white paper issued Thursday. The U.S. had 228,218 kilometers of rail lines as of 2014, according to latest available data from the World Bank.

The Chinese government will invite private investment to participate in funding intercity and regional rail lines, Yang Yudong, administrator of the National Railway Administration, said at the briefing.

Compare that to what it would cost, and how long it would take, to create the same high-speed rail links between 80% of major cities in the USA. I suspect it would be considered a miracle if half the cases would make it out of the courts in five years. Think of the advancements in manufacturing that can arise when "here" and "there" are "nearby" instead of "far away".


Original Submission

Chinese President Xi Jinping Pledges $124 Billion for One Belt, One Road Initiative 25 comments

China's President has pledged $124 billion for a new "Silk Road" connecting Asia, Africa, and Europe:

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday urged major multilateral institutions to join his new Belt and Road Initiative, stressing the importance of rejecting protectionism in seeking global economic growth.

Addressing other world leaders at a summit on the initiative in Beijing, Xi said it was necessary to coordinate policies with the development goals of institutions including the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), ASEAN, African Union and the European Union.

Xi pledged $124 billion on Sunday for his new Silk Road which aims to bolster China's global leadership ambitions by expanding links between Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond, as U.S. President Donald Trump promotes "America First".

What is OBOR?

No one is totally sure. At the most basic level, One Belt, One Road (OBOR) is a collection of interlinking trade deals and infrastructure projects throughout Eurasia and the Pacific, but the definition of what exactly qualifies as an OBOR project or which countries are even involved in the initiative is incredibly fuzzy. "It means everything and it means nothing at the same time," said Christopher Balding, a professor of economics at Peking University. [...] According to Chinese state media, some $1 trillion has already been invested in OBOR, with another several trillion due to be invested over the next decade.

Fuzzier story at CNN. More at Wikipedia.

Related: China Plans World's Longest Tunnel
China to Spend $182 Billion on Network Infrastructure
China Invests $45 Billion in Megacity Project
China Finances and Builds $13 Billion Railway in Kenya
China Plans $503 Billion Investment in High-Speed Rail by 2020


Original Submission

Politics: China's $1 Trillion Belt and Road Project Includes Military Cooperation With Pakistan 25 comments

China's 'Belt and Road' Plan in Pakistan Takes a Military Turn

When President Trump started the new year by suspending billions of dollars of security aid to Pakistan, one theory was that it would scare the Pakistani military into cooperating better with its American allies.

The reality was that Pakistan already had a replacement sponsor lined up.

Just two weeks later, the Pakistani Air Force and Chinese officials were putting the final touches on a secret proposal to expand Pakistan's building of Chinese military jets, weaponry and other hardware. The confidential plan, reviewed by The New York Times, would also deepen the cooperation between China and Pakistan in space, a frontier the Pentagon recently said Beijing was trying to militarize after decades of playing catch-up.

All those military projects were designated as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, a $1 trillion chain of infrastructure development programs stretching across some 70 countries, built and financed by Beijing.

Chinese officials have repeatedly said the Belt and Road is purely an economic project with peaceful intent. But with its plan for Pakistan, China is for the first time explicitly tying a Belt and Road proposal to its military ambitions — and confirming the concerns of a host of nations who suspect the infrastructure initiative is really about helping China project armed might.

Related: China's Xi Jinping Negotiates $46bn Superhighway to Pakistan
China Plans $503 Billion Investment in High-Speed Rail by 2020
Chinese President Xi Jinping Pledges $124 Billion for One Belt, One Road Initiative
Gunmen Attack Chinese Consulate in Pakistan


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @12:04AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @12:04AM (#819235)

    Bastards, why can't they just blow shit up like we do?

    • (Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @12:10AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @12:10AM (#819237)

      They're building shit that we can blow up... win-win.

    • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @12:11AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @12:11AM (#819238)

      Because they want to conquer the world for a *long time*.

      And they want to make sure the *beach is safe to surf*

      But watch out for their weapons of mass reproduction. They are very small and easy to conceal.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by driverless on Monday March 25 2019, @03:36AM

      by driverless (4770) on Monday March 25 2019, @03:36AM (#819296)

      I was thinking that too. The US spends $ludicrous_amount on its military in an attempt to gain dominance, China spends it on trade. They've already gained unheard-of influence in Asia and Africa, look at things like Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka, which is now essentially a Chinese port/naval installation just below India, the Chinese essentially own Zambia (for Trump supporters, that's 1/3 of Nambia), Kenya, and Djibouti, a large chunk of PNG with its massive mineral resources, and so on. And all that for a tiny fraction of what the US spends on its military.

      Now they're eyeing up Europe...

  • (Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Monday March 25 2019, @12:10AM (12 children)

    by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Monday March 25 2019, @12:10AM (#819236) Homepage

    This would not have happened had the EU worked to provide greater prosperity for its existing citizens rather than embracing and forcing American-style imports of third-world scum to drive down wages and quality of life for the common citizen.

    Like America, EU had a pile of prosperity and good fortune and the greedy baby-boomers who infested their government fucking blew it. And like America, they will soon have to make the choice between unfucking themselves or civil war. Globalist Jews in positions of power did this to you and I. Now, we must fight to take our proud nations back.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by hendrikboom on Monday March 25 2019, @12:22AM

      by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 25 2019, @12:22AM (#819242) Homepage Journal

      According to David Icke, it's not the Jews. They're just as much victims as the rest of us are. It's the lizard people.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Monday March 25 2019, @12:23AM (7 children)

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday March 25 2019, @12:23AM (#819243)

      Wow. You're frightened of everyone aren't you?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @12:27AM (6 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @12:27AM (#819245)

        No, he likes Hungarians.

        • (Score: 3, Funny) by PartTimeZombie on Monday March 25 2019, @12:42AM (5 children)

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday March 25 2019, @12:42AM (#819251)

          Fair enough. Hungarians are great.

          I couldn't eat a whole one though.

          • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Monday March 25 2019, @01:36AM (4 children)

            by Gaaark (41) on Monday March 25 2019, @01:36AM (#819262) Journal

            Make them into a goulash and freeze some for later!

            --
            --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
            • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday March 25 2019, @01:47AM (2 children)

              by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Monday March 25 2019, @01:47AM (#819266)

              Oh, I always wondered what goulash was.

              Learn something every day.

              • (Score: 2) by driverless on Monday March 25 2019, @03:39AM

                by driverless (4770) on Monday March 25 2019, @03:39AM (#819298)

                Goulash is Hungarian moulage.

              • (Score: 4, Funny) by Pslytely Psycho on Monday March 25 2019, @09:31AM

                by Pslytely Psycho (1218) on Monday March 25 2019, @09:31AM (#819408)

                With that username, wouldn't you rather have a good Ghoulash recipe?

                --
                Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
            • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday March 25 2019, @02:19AM

              by MostCynical (2589) on Monday March 25 2019, @02:19AM (#819278) Journal

              Do you have a special recipe book, or can I just adapt cat recipies?

              --
              "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @01:20AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @01:20AM (#819256)

      It wasn't really the EU itself that was forcing the import of replacement workers. The EU had set up this cute distribution plan of how incoming refugees were going to be distributed, and Mommy Merkel blew all that up by inviting everyone for a house party in Good Old Germany.

      That really got the migrants flowing: Germany has much better dole programs than most countries and lax law enforcement. Countries along the way just got swamped by the onslaught. And they came from everywhere, not just countries in conflict.

      Iranians were being flown in via Malaysia, they were to lose their passports before landing. The crashed plane's manifest made that apparent. A lot of Nafris and Black Africans came by boat. And if the boat was in danger, the poor Muslims just threw a bunch of Blacks overboard. All the while fucking do-gooders were publishing handbooks on how to travel overland and what benefits to claim. The migrants could just load those onto their smartphones and set off.

      The mass onslaught got stopped by three things: 1) Mommy Merkel got cold feet and paid Turkish president Erdoğan to close his borders 2) The Hungarians building a wall and defending their border and 3) The new Italian government knew that the armies of rescuers in the Mediterranean were attracting more migrants from shithole countries, and they started impounding vessels that arrived with boat people and charged their crew with human trafficking.

      I'll put primary blame on Merkel for this mess. That the EU didn't have the power to bring Germany in line and enforce the original distribution plan - well, the EU is a weak sauce joke. All the countries along the way, Greece, Bulgaria, Hungary and Austria are cursing Germany.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @03:25AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @03:25AM (#819292)

      Wish you could understand your enemy is capitalism, not parenthetical people.

      Everybody who wishes to increase the level of conflict in a world armed to the teeth with nuclear weapons needs to watch The War Game [themoviedb.org]. It's a long walk to the next gas station on this stretch of road.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @08:51PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @08:51PM (#819728)

      "Now, we must fight to take our proud nations back."
      E sti' cazzi?

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @12:32AM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @12:32AM (#819249)

    Our intercity transportation system and cities suck too.. maybe they can fix it, since our 'elite' dont seem to want to.. :-)

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by takyon on Monday March 25 2019, @02:42AM (1 child)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday March 25 2019, @02:42AM (#819286) Journal

      There’s Nothing Ridiculous About Trains Replacing Planes [slate.com]

      California’s project had little in common with its peers in France or China. “You hear a lot about best practices,” says Jeff Davis at the Eno Center for Transportation, a think tank in Washington. “This particular California project has a series of worst practices.” Those include:

      [...] • The determination not to engage French [pedestrianobservations.com] and Chinese [nytimes.com] engineers who offered to just build the damn thing for us. “The equivalent of Bangladesh saying they’d go to the moon with indigenous technology” is how Perl describes the general attitude. “We excluded all the learning and tech that happened elsewhere.”

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 3, Funny) by driverless on Monday March 25 2019, @03:44AM

        by driverless (4770) on Monday March 25 2019, @03:44AM (#819300)

        Having used the TGV, the French and Chinese are the first people I'd engage with to build a high-speed rail system. The French to design and start it, and the Chinese to finish it when the French go on strike because their California Ticket Resto has zinfandel on it.

    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Monday March 25 2019, @05:59AM (1 child)

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Monday March 25 2019, @05:59AM (#819351) Homepage Journal

      U.S.A. is open for business! The world is witnessing the resurgence of a strong and prosperous America. There has never been a better time to hire, to build, to invest and to grow in the United States. America is open for business and we are competitive once again. When the United States grows, so does the world. American prosperity has created countless jobs around the globe and the drive for excellence, creativity and innovation in the United States has led to important discoveries that help people everywhere live more prosperous and healthier lives. I went to Davos to represent the interests of the American people, and to affirm America's friendship and partnership in building a better world. America First does not mean America alone. America hopes for a future in which everyone can prosper, and every child can grow up free from violence, poverty and fear. We support free trade, but it needs to be fair and it needs to be reciprocal. In the end, unfair trade undermines us all.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @03:16PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @03:16PM (#819553)

        “Most people tell little lies. They would be ashamed to tell big ones. They would never credit others with such great impudence as the complete reversal of facts. Even explanations would long leave them in doubt and hesitation, as any trifling detail would dispose them to accept a thing as true. All good liars know this and, therefore, stop at nothing to achieve this end.”

        "Mein Kampf"

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @01:45AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @01:45AM (#819265)

    Who is wearing the blindfold?
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo_(game) [wikipedia.org]

  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Bot on Monday March 25 2019, @01:48AM

    by Bot (3902) on Monday March 25 2019, @01:48AM (#819267) Journal

    EU let Italy in, knowing pretty well our political class would have dragged us down, so it was insane to have common market without common fiscality, but who cares because finally ITA cannot control their lira and boost exports at the expense of citizens savings.

    EU requires strict containment of public debt, itself the greatest scam of modern times, Italy struggles, puts jewels on sale, EU hasn't got enough money themselves so stuff is bought by chinese who got a foot in the door.

    Then EU talks about 2 speed Europe, Europe talks shit on newly elected ITA government daily, while Italy puts more money in EU than what they get from EU contributions. Unless you count immigrants as resources. Strange negative cash flow resources, but OK. EU boycotts the new government for political reasons as those bureaucrats are going out of work with their parties next months. FRA and GER make their own agreements in Aachen...

    Enter xin ping pong, who wants to make deals around here.

    Italy unravels the red carpet. Color me surprised.

    "b-but they are antidemocratic! promote slavery!" - the unelected EU commission who BTW was instrumental in transforming a common EU market in a free for all, open borders, luna park. And talk about slavery to the guys in Amazon's warehouses, see if they have some tips to share.

    In practice Italy and China will do what is permitted by the italo-american deep state which ruled here (and a bit in USA too) since we lost WWII, so I wouldn't worry much more than usual, say, orange alert.

    --
    Account abandoned.
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by RamiK on Monday March 25 2019, @02:45AM (2 children)

    by RamiK (1813) on Monday March 25 2019, @02:45AM (#819288)

    One of the subjects covered in the globalization documentary concerning the tomato puree industry The Empire of Red Gold is how the Italians were one of the first if not the first westerners to trade tech and machinery with the Chinese as Mao's China stabilized and started opening up to global trade.

    On the USA end, the film also covers the Bracero program [wikipedia.org], the labor struggles, how tech changed things for the industry and the Mexican workers and where it all led the US and China. Specifically, it discusses the role of the Chinese state-owned/operated conglomerates and their presence in the African market as compared to the dwindling share of American companies globally.

    Overall, a good introduction and case study to how all the labor, tech and globalization issues interact that explains Italy's participation in Belt & Road.

    --
    compiling...
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @06:48PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @06:48PM (#819680)

      what @#$% globalization documentary?

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @04:32AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 25 2019, @04:32AM (#819324)

    Follow the money.

    Follow where it goes.

    Follow how the loans will not be able to be paid back and suddenly China owns that shit.

    China has done this in dozens of other places in the world.

    They need oil and fresh water ports. They are buying them. They own 49% of Venezuelans oil output. You can see how well that is working out for them!

  • (Score: 1) by Improbus on Monday March 25 2019, @05:07PM

    by Improbus (6425) on Monday March 25 2019, @05:07PM (#819626)

    I am sure they will love you long time ... and you think the Americans are bad. Oh, boy.

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