The New Silk Road: The Global Ambitions of the Chinese & American Fears

In the aftermath of the second century BC, the golden age of the Silk Road came to light to connect the world with a network of trade routes from China, through Central Asia, India, Persia, Iraq, the Levant, Anatolia and Egypt, all the way to the European continent.
In light of the fact that silk was the most important commodity to be transported through this giant road network, this road was then called the “Silk Road”. However, silk was just a commodity among a set of commodities produced by China to economically conquer the whole world, such as: iron, copper, tea, and ceramics. There are also other commodities such as paper and gunpowder that have completely changed the shape of civilization and other commercial commodities.
It is worth noting that the Silk Road served as an important passageway for the dissemination of ideas, religions and cultures among peoples. It was also a major passageway for invaders and conquerors throughout history, such as: Alexander the Great, Qutayba bin Muslim, Genghis Khan, Timurlenk and others. There was also a maritime Silk Road starting from the coast of China and across the Indian Ocean, passing through India, Yemen and the coasts of Africa.
There is no doubt that the Silk Road made China the largest economy in the world for nearly 2000 years, until the United States seized the economic leadership from China in the late nineteenth century.
In the midst of the twenty-first century, China is trying to revive the Silk Road so as to regain its past glories, so can China get back the lead from the United States?
It has become clear that the “Belt and Road” Initiative is a serious attempt aimed primarily at expanding China’s political influence and actively seeking to establish markets for Chinese exports to take the lead in bringing the largest project in human history to light. We are talking here about a project whose cost is approximately $8 trillion.
Who can foresee this unprecedented cost? It’s a truly massive project, undisputed! It includes 147 countries and 30 international organizations.
In September 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative, noting that the initiative consists of two routes: sea and land.
The land route aims mainly to link China to Europe, through Central South Asia and the Middle East, which means linking the entire ancient world.
On the other hand, the sea route aims mainly to link China with Southeast Asia, India and the Arabian Gulf, and with them Africa and Europe, by sea. The project is expected to be completed in 2049, and this year will be the year to celebrate the centenary of the People’s Republic of China founded by Mao Zedong in 1949.
Let’s think a little about when and where the initiative will be announced:
It is known that the announcement comes six months after Xi Jinping took over the presidency of China. This absolutely stresses that China’s legitimate dream and ambitions to reach the world summit on or before the centenary if possible are looming over it.
As for the place of the announcement, it was in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, as the country that will be a major station in the land Silk Road.
It is worth noting that it is not the first time that China has attempted to restore the ancient Silk Road, as the earliest attempt was in May 1996.
Accompanied by delegations from 40 countries in Iran to witness the defining moment of the announcement of the new Silk Road linking China to the Mediterranean with a railway network, Chinese Prime Minister Ping described the project as the Silk Road of the twenty-first century and the fruit of such repeated attempts. This clearly confirms to us how important the road is for China and its economy, as we will show below:
What is the importance of the project for China?
It is recognized that the “Belt and Road” initiative brings enormous strategic benefits to China for several factors. First, the road will address the problem of development in China, by which we mean the East of China, which is developed from the West, which is still dependent on agriculture. The road project will also balance development among all parts of China, and all regions will be equal.
Second, the road will give China, at the global level, international influence and momentum around the world, especially after activating the “debt trap” diplomacy through which China can exercise pressure against the countries that join the Silk Road to become one of China’s most important supporters at the international level, as confirmed by Philippe Lecourt, a senior researcher at Harvard University.
There are many countries that have agreed to Chinese loans, such as: Sri Lanka, Kenya, Pakistan and others, and other countries have rejected this principle, such as: Egypt, Nepal, Eswatini and others.
Moreover, Greece, which is considered one of the most important stations of the Silk Road, objected in 2018 to the European Union’s condemnation of China’s human rights record. It is normal for China to look for its own interest, and it is also normal for China to find itself in a clash with international competitors who will go against its ambitions and work hard in various ways to disrupt the functions of the land and sea Silk Road.
As long as there is a country’s interest, it will often conflict with the interests of other countries, and that conflict may escalate and turns into the so-called cold war, such as this new cold war between China and its competitors at the international level.
It is very possible for governments to change everywhere in the world, but it is noticeable that the changes of governments in the recent period – specifically from August 2021 to August 2022 – combine two prevalent things. First, these countries are important stations on the Silk Road. Second, the new governments have problems with China. We do not need to remind you that the repetition of coincidences does not make them coincidences, but rather carefully studied matters.
As of August 2021 to the present day for almost a year, the withdrawal of United States troops from Afghanistan has caused instability, and Afghanistan has become a source of tension and turmoil in a strategic region deep in Asia in the heart of the Silk Road. Several months later, in January 2022, Kazakhstan, the country where the Chinese president announced the “Belt and Road” initiative, witnessed stormy demonstrations and protests. These demonstrations were so sweeping that they did not end until the armies of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) led by Russia were forced to intervene militarily. About a month later, the Russian-Ukrainian crisis began. We are all aware of Ukraine’s strategic position at the intersection of the land and sea Silk Roads. As a result of that crisis, the overland Silk Road that reaches Europe has been almost completely interrupted.
In April 2022, Pakistan experienced an unexpected political change when Parliament impeached Prime Minister Imran Khan, known for his close ties to both Russia and China. At that moment, Imran Khan pointed the finger at the United States of America, claiming that it was responsible for removing him from power, especially with the election of Shahbaz Sharif, the leader of the pro-Western opposition, whose first decision was to reject Chinese loans, and that Pakistan is a major station and a strategic transit center because it owns “Gwadar” Port, which China spent $74 billion in order to develop, in addition to being the port where the land and sea Silk Road intersect.
The land Silk Road starts from western China, specifically Xinjiang Province, and crosses the whole of Pakistan, and the sea Silk Road starts from Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka, also known as Magapura Mahinda Rajapaksha Port.
In the same regard, in May 2022, Sri Lanka announced that it had failed to pay its foreign debts, which amounted to more than $45 billion, including $8 billion to China. Previously, in 2017, Sri Lanka was forced to hand over the strategic port of Hambantota to China for 99 years after it failed to pay its debts to Chinese companies.
Sri Lanka has entered a dark tunnel with the increase of popular protests, which escalated to the storming of the presidential residence and the removal of the Sri Lankan president from power.
CIA chief Bill Burns on Wednesday blamed “dumb bets” on high-debt Chinese investment as a factor in Sri Lanka’s economic collapse, saying it should serve as a warning to other nations. However, the Chinese newspaper Global Times accuses some Western countries, foremost of which is the United States of America, of exploiting the Sri Lanka crisis for their own benefit rather than actually helping the country.
Japan witnesses unusual events!
On July 8, 2022, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was one of the most important Japanese political figures and had the longest term as prime minister after World War II, was assassinated. Abe was known for his right-wing nationalism and did not apologize for the Japanese invasion of China, and he aspired to establish a strong Japanese army, which upset China with its hard-line stance. This is clearly evident in the scene of Chinese popular reactions after the assassination of “Abe”, despite the Chinese government’s attempts to limit these reactions.
The unusual incident of the assassination in Japan, along with the sensitive timing, poses many mysteries about the reasons behind Abe’s assassination, and not only the reasons, but also the consequences that negatively affect Japanese and regional politics in an already inflamed region, in the South China Sea.
Some believe that the assassination could be for purely personal reasons, and this is confirmed by the official investigations of the Japanese police, but it could also be for the benefit of one of the major tycoons in the region.
On the one hand, China could benefit from the assassination that took the life of a Japan’s most hardline figures, Abe. On the other hand, the US could benefit from this incident through working hard on mobilizing sympathetic Japanese public opinion to support more drastic plans against China with the aim of achieving Abe’s dream of amending the Pacifist Constitution of Japan, and having a military army facing China, especially with his party winning the elections two days after his death. This is reiterated by the new government’s policy, which has taken decisions that threaten China’s security from the Chinese point of view, including deploying a thousand (land-to-sea) missiles on the islands of Japan, and increasing their range until they reach the coast of China.
Although Japan is not a country on the Silk Road, but the dramatic event is very influential for China, and this is because Japan is one of the most remarkable competitors and traditional enemies of China, and a significant member of the Quad Alliance, which includes Japan, Australia, and India led by America to besiege China in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
The port of Mombasa is located in the second largest city and the main port of the African Kenina, and the strategic station that collects all the sea route before reaching to Europe via the Suez Canal.
What happened in Kenya?
Kenya experienced the same upheaval as Sri Lanka. Kenya’s debts amounted to more than $70 billion, and public protests erupted and reached at the height of the presidential election campaigns, and this is what presidential candidate William Ruto took advantage of when he pledged in June of 2022 to cancel foreign debt, and he pledged to expel the Chinese who get national jobs in their own country. “Don’t worry about the foreigners doing this business, we have enough planes to deport them!” he declared.
In August 2022, Ruto actually won the election, and this constituted a severe blow to Chinese interests and its ambitious “Belt and Road” project.
The station of the new Chinese Silk Road, in addition to what happened in Taiwan, Iraq and the Baltic states that withdrew from the cooperation agreement with China, and many other events; All of this confirms that there is a cold and hot war between China and America.
In the end, will we witness the inauguration of a Chinese Silk Road which enables China to control the economy and global commercial markets and turn into an internationally sovereign country, or will the obstacles, coups and political changes led by the US and its allies through which the Belt and Road project pass be capable of ending the Chinese dream of expansion, growth, control and then retreating to its natural and geographical borders?!

Khaled Zein Eddine
Editor-in-chief of the European Arab International Journal.
Member of the International Federation of Journalists in Brussels.
Member of the Polish Press Syndicate.