Reviving the road to a thriving trade route

One Belt, One Road (the Belt is the land route and the Road the maritime one) is the new Silk Road, and it is spinning a web of connectivity across Central Asia and into Europe. Its ports, pipelines, railways, roads and airports are shaping a new trade route and reshaping the global economy.

Launched by President Xi Jinping in 2013, it's a vision that in its potential exceeds that of the Marshall Plan, though this comparison differs, for two reasons. The plan that helped Europe emerge from the ravages of World War II was Washington's way of rewarding friends. OBOR is nonpolitical. Second, it involves much more money. The Plan in today's value amounted to less than $100 billion. Some estimates put the value of OBOR projects currently being built at just under $1 trillion.

OBOR is reducing the Chinese economy's dependence on investment in infrastructure at home and allows it to export some of its vast excess capacity in steel and cement.