(The Diplomat) Announced in 2013 on a stage at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the land-based portion of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative (the Silk Road Economic Belt) traces a line through Central Asia. The Chinese are far from the first to brand cross-regional trade visions under the Silk Road banner — although, as several speakers at a recent workshop hosted by George Washington University’s Central Asia Program stressed, the Chinese are the first to put serious money behind their efforts.
Alexander Cooley of Columbia University’s Harriman Institute contrasted the OBOR project with the sometimes-discussed, but more often dismissed, U.S. vision of a New Silk Road. The Chinese, Cooley said, are “actually committing hundreds of billions of dollars, the U.S… not much, if any.” Further, the Chinese have established several funding vehicles to support new infrastructure developments–from the Silk Road Fund to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). […]
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