Chinese 'Silk Road' Initiative to Diminish US Role in Eurasian Region
OPINION
By welcoming India and Russia to participate in its "One Belt, One Road" project, Beijing dealt the final blow to Washington's idea to create a US-controlled New Silk Road in Eurasia.
MOSCOW (Sputnik), Ekaterina Blinova — By involving India and Russia in its "One Belt, One Road" project, China has dealt a final blow to ambitious New Silk Road initiative, launched by the United States in 2011.
American experts stress that China's infrastructure initiative was started as a response to the challenge of the US strategy of maintaining its influence in Asia. Indeed, in 2011 Washington announced the idea of developing a New Silk Road project in order to create a "new North-South transit and trade routes that complement vibrant East-West connection across Eurasia," the US Department of State official press release read.
Commenting on the issue, then Secretary of the State Hillary Rodham Clinton elaborated that the US-backed New Silk Road would bolster economic development and cross-border trading in Central and Southern Asia and beyond. The project was meant to increase the role of the United States in the region, posing a threat to China's geopolitical interests.
While the US experts were weighing pro et contra of building Eurasia's regional hub in Afghanistan, the newly elected Chinese President stepped in with his two programs. It was a "pretty bold move," stressed Chris Johnson from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
"Xi Jinping sees a huge gaping hole in terms of trade and economic opportunities that the US has so far failed to take advantage of [in the region]," the expert underscored in 2013, as quoted by the Washington Post.
It should be also noted that the ongoing unrest in Afghanistan negatively affected Washington's initiative, since China excluded the potentially explosive region from its projects since the very beginning.
Xi Jinping's new "charm offensive" approach to foreign policy allowed the country to improve its relations with neighboring states and solidified China's role in the region.
Also, under Xi, China also strengthened its positions on the world arena. Sino-Russian further rapprochement combined with rising role of BRICS in Eurasia has also facilitated Beijing's New Silk Road project development.
On February 2, during trilateral talks between the Chinese, Indian and Russian Foreign Ministers, China's FM Wang Yi called upon New Delhi and Moscow to join Beijing's "One Belt, One Road" strategy to create an economic corridor across Eurasia. It seems that the move dealt a final blow to Washington's idea to create a US-controlled New Silk Road in Eurasia, undermining both its political and economic influence in Asia.
发表于 2015-2-4 16:45
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