China’s new Silk Road is all part of its grand strategy for global influence

The first freight train from China to the UK started its 12,000 mile journey from the industrial city of Yiwu in the east of China to London in January 2017. Part of China’s One Belt, One Road project to link east and west, it is all geared toward strengthening its global influence.

With 39 routes linking 16 Chinese cities to 15 European ones, the One Belt, One Road project includes a rail network that cuts across Central Asia to Iran, through Turkey to Russia, Poland and Spain.

The routes serve more than just trade. They are embedded in China’s strategy of building an international Asian society and its concerted geopolitical push across the whole of continental Asia.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: China's 'New Silk Road' brings great promise to eastern Europe http://www.europeansources.info/record/chinas-new-silk-road-brings-great-promise-to-eastern-europe-chinas-investment-in-influence-the-future-of-161-cooperation/

Carnegie Europe, 09.11.16: China’s Belt and Road: Destination Europe http://carnegieeurope.eu/2016/11/09/china-s-belt-and-road-destination-europe-pub-65075

ESO: Background information: China and Brexit: what’s in it for us? (ECFR China Analysis September 2016) http://www.europeansources.info/record/china-and-brexit-whats-in-it-for-us/

The Conversation, 01.03.17: China’s play for supremacy in Eurasia revives an old geopolitical vision http://theconversation.com/chinas-play-for-supremacy-in-eurasia-revives-an-old-geopolitical-vision-71753

---