One belt one road

The Belt and Road initiative will also open up development opportunities for China just as China itself is further opening up its markets to the world.

SYDNEY: Australia, the United States, India and Japan are talking about establishing a joint regional infrastructure scheme as an alternative to China’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative in an attempt to counter Beijing’s spreading influence, the Australian Financial Review reported on Monday, citing a senior U.S. official. The unnamed official was quoted as saying the plan involving the four regional partners was still “nascent and ”won’t be ripe enough to be announced’ during Australian Prime Minister…

BEIJING: China and Sri Lanka should focus on strengthening cooperation over key investment projects, Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday told his visiting counterpart from Sri Lanka, amid strong local opposition to some major Chinese-invested schemes. In July, Sri Lanka signed a long-delayed $1.1 billion deal to lease its southern Hambantota port to China, ignoring an appeal by opposition parties to debate the pact in parliament. The $1.5-billion port, close to the main shipping route from Asia to Europe and likely to…

TEHRAN: A Chinese state-owned investment firm has provided a $10 billion credit line for Iranian banks, Iran's central bank president said Saturday. The contract was signed in Beijing between China's CITIC investment group and a delegation of Iranian banks led by central bank president Valiollah Seif. The Iran Daily said the funds would finance water, energy and transport projects. Iran is vital to China's trade ambitions as it develops its trillion-dollar "One Belt, One Road" strategy aimed at dramatically boosting…

LAHORE/SHANGHAI: Zhang Yang, a businessman from Chongqing in southwest China, is searching online forums for fellow stout-hearted entrepreneurs willing to cast aside security concerns and join him on a scouting mission to Pakistan. Zhang, 48, is one of a growing number of Chinese pioneers sensing an opportunity across the Himalayas in Pakistan, where Beijing has pledged to spend $57 billion on infrastructure projects as part of its “Belt and Road” initiative. Numbering in thousands, this second wave of Chinese arrivals…

BEIJING: India has expressed its clear objection to join China's "Belt and Road Forum" - also known as 'One Belt, One Road'-, sparking debate of OBOR status after India’s refusal, but a state-run Chinese daily has termed Indian move a "partly a show" for domestic politics aimed at piling pressure to get Beijing's "special attention". "India hopes that it can shape bilateral relations more actively, and expects China to give special attention to the interests of India. But this is not how countries interact," an editorial…

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday said China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is an integral part of China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) vision. “OBOR is a testimony of visionary leadership of China and attracting the entire world,” he said while talking to media persons on board. China’s OBOR initiative has six proposed corridors and China Pakistan Economic Corridor is termed as the most important corridor among them. This corridor is about securing China’s trade routes and allowing it to position itself…

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping urged world leaders to reject protectionism on Monday at a summit positioning Beijing as a champion of globalisation, as some countries raised concerns over its trade ambitions. Xi addressed almost 30 leaders on the second day of a forum on his new Silk Road plan, an infrastructure project Beijing hopes will revive ancient trade routes from Asia to Europe and Africa. "Globalisation is encountering some headwinds," Xi told leaders from Spain to Turkey, Russia and Pakistan at a…

BEIJING: British finance minister Philip Hammond said on Sunday Britain is a natural partner for China's new Silk Road program, and as it leaves the European Union (EU) it wants more trade with the world not less. China is one of the countries Britain hopes to sign a free trade agreement with once it leaves the EU, and London and Beijing have been keen to show that Britain's withdrawal from the bloc will not affect ties. The two countries have in recent months announced closer cooperation in areas such as financial…