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Russian perspective on 'Belt and Road' Initiative

By Alexander Vorontsov (CCTV.com)

Updated: 2016-03-03 20:22:33

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Russian perspective on 'Belt and Road' Initiative

China and its Belt & Road initiative should be elaborated on against a background of the broad Eurasian and world policy dynamic picture.

Different states national interests have led to the appearance of competing global integration projects. Concerning the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), United States President Barack Obama has emphasized the new trade union would be a rival by nature and character.

He said, "We can't let countries like China write the rules of the global economy. We should write those rules, opening new markets to American products."

Beijing's "One Belt - One Road" initiative presents an alternative cooperative approach.

Simultaneously the Republic of Korea has put forward the Eurasia Initiative - mega-projects to form "economic blocs covered by Eurasia and even NAFTA."

Comparing the concepts in order to understand "whose road is a more realistic one," our answer would be in favor of the Chinese side.

The reasons are: Seoul's conception looks too ambitious while insufficiently practical, since ROK President Parke Geun-hye has already confessed that she had a lack of time to realize it.

Nonetheless China demonstrates a more consistent stance for the "Belt and Road" initiative, and holds incomparably larger resources.

The reasons that forced China to move ahead on a huge and expensive project look more grounded. Beijing recognizes the US "pivot to Asia and rebalancing" strategy as an attempt to hedge China in order to undermine its "peaceful rise".

Beijing fulfills the work thoroughly. The special economic committee was established to research the design into specific issues as well as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

The AIIB looks as an efficient tool to realize the ambitious infrastructure program. Its important specific features are not only a remarkable financial fund, but real openness and inclusiveness.

57 founding member countries have already signed on, and among them, 23 are from regions outside of Asia. For today, China has elaborated on and divided nine routs of the new Silk Road: six land ones and three corridors on the sea.

Recently, Beijing had taken practical steps, including a test cargo train delivering to Western Europe via a number of routes that gives hope that Beijing's geopolitical turn westwards would be more vigorous economically and politically.

That will be provided by constructive work and China's practical steps towards its neighbors, including mutually beneficial investments, logistics and other projects. However, the main purpose of the "Belt and Road" program is to find the most mutually beneficial and economically efficient models including transportation lines.

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