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THIS WEEK'S SILK ROAD HEADLINES
Among this week's publications on the New Silk Roads (NSR), two items stand out. The first is a report by the International Crisis Group [Central Asia’s Silk Road Rivalries] analyzing how the Chinese NSR and the Russian Economic Union are impacting the Central Asian geopolitical and geo-economic landscape not only in the context of rivalry between China and Russia in the region but also rivalry among Central Asian countries. Central Asia is indispensable for the land-based NSR as it connects China to the rest of Eurasia and functions as a testing ground for Chinese ideas, the report argues. The analysis points to numerous challenges for China, Russia, and the Central Asian countries on the way to realizing their respective regional and global ambitions.
Second there is a publication by the New York Times [For China’s Global Ambitions, ‘Iran is at the Center of Everything’]. This article points to the historical importance of Iran as a trade hub between East (China) and West (Europe) and how the New Silk Road has the ambition of revitalizing that past. Iran provides China with a shorter and more secure route to European markets than other alternatives can offer. The Iranians welcome the idea of cooperation with or even dependence on China as it gives them access to markets in a global geo-economics partly dominated by China.
Mohammadbagher Forough
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