China is building a literal and figurative New Silk Road to expedite commercial transportation among its global trading partners. A commercial train completed the longest train journey ever (25,750 km) in February, 2015, returning to Yiwu, China with olive oil, wine, and cured ham. The train had arrived in Spain in December, bringing Christmas toys and power tools, rather than silk. The trip was 29 days shorter than a sea journey, and 90% cheaper than sending the goods via air cargo. (Mark, p. 17)
Regional partners, such as the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation — China, Mongolia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and six former USSR nations, working with six major financial institutions, envision six corridors in the New Silk Road. China envisions a maritime silk road, as well, that connects Chinese ports with ones in littoral nations in the Indian Ocean that provide transit to East Africa and the Suez Canal. (Mark, p. 18-19)
The “Maritime Silk Road” seeks increased maritime cooperation, diplomatic and economic, among China and other ASEAN countries. Non-ASEAN countries, such as Sri Lanka and Cambodia, are interested in Chinese investment in upgrading their port facilities. Zhou Bo countered the assertion that the Chinese “string of pearls” had a military underpinning, stating that China’s two goals in the Indian Ocean are “economic gains and security of the Sea lines of Communication.” The Maritime Silk Road “is designed to make China the hub of a new order in Asia and the Indian Ocean region” and to counter President Obama’s pivot to Asia.
Ken Mark, The New Silk Road… Canadian Shipper, May/June, 2015, at 16-20.
Additional, Selected Resources
The New Silk Road Strategy: Implications for Economic Development in Central Asia. Washington: Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, 2015.
Xiangming Chen and Julia Mardeusz. China and Europe: Reconnecting Across a New Silk Road. European Financial Review (Feb., 2015).
Marcin Kaczmarski. The New Silk Road: A Versatile Instrument in China’s Policy. OSW Commentary, Number 161 (Sept. 2, 2015).
Simon Xu Hui Shen. Special Issue: New Silk Road Project. 32 East Asia 1 (March, 2015). SpringerLink
Mary B. Teagarden. The New Silk Road. 56 Thunderbird International Business Review 391 (Sept./Oct. 2014) (letter from the editor)
Lawrence J. Trautman. American Entrepreneur in China: Potholes and Roadblocks on the Silk Road to Prosperity. 12 Wake Forest Journal of Business and Intellectual Property Law (2012).
Hassan H. Karrar. The New Silk Road Diplomacy: China’s Central Asian Foreign Policy since the Cold War. UBC Press, 2009. KSL Stacks Third Floor JZ 1730.A55K37 2009
Ben Simpfendorfer. The New Silk Road: How a Rising Arab World is Turning Away from the West and Re-Discovering China. Palgrave-Macmillan, 2009. OhioLINK
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