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Behind the China’s so-called 21st Century’s Maritime Silk Road
Behind the China’s so-called 21st Century’s Maritime Silk Road
12/12/14
The Silk Road, or Silk Route, is a series of trade and cultural transmission routes
that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian
continent connecting the West and East
by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads, and urban
dwellers from China
and India
to the Mediterranean Sea during various periods of
time. Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of the
civilizations of China, the Indian subcontinent, Persia, Europe, and Arabia, opening
long-distance, political and economic interactions between the civilizations.
Recently, China
has made a major effort to boost its initiative on establishing the so - called
“21st Century’s Maritime Silk Road”. China
tries to sell this idea in almost every multilateral forum that its
participants attended and also at each and every bilateral meeting with other
countries. However, China's
goal in this initiative is very conniving that needs everyone’s utmost
vigilance.
The idea on establishing the “21st
Century’s Maritime Silk Road” was first officially mentioned in a speech
presented by China’s President Xi Jinping in Indonesia on March 10th,
2013 and later in an official introduction made by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang
at the 16th ASEAN - China Summit in Brunei on September 10th,
2013. It was also integrated into the content of the Platform for Action on the
in - depth and comprehensive reforms introduced at the 3rd Central
Conference of the Communist Party of China and in China’s 2013 Annual Report on
Government’s Tasks.
Since the beginning of 2014, China has launched a "campaign” to promote
the “21st Century’s Maritime
Silk Road” concept with the participation of
various political and scholarly circles of China in all possible forums and
through its massive propaganda machine.
At a National People’s Congress (NPC)
meeting in March 2014, in his speech, a delegate from Hainan
Province, China,
affirmed that China already
considers Hainan province, especially uses the so - called “Sansha City”
as the outpost for building “21st Century’s Maritime Silk Road”. Thus,
the political implications of this initiative of the “21st Century’s
Maritime Silk Road” is readily exposed. Obviously, the far - reaching and
profound intention of China
is to use the campaign to promote “the 21st Century’s Maritime Silk Road”
concept as a means to “legitimize” China’s
inappropriate announcement on the establishment of “the Sansha City”
in June 2012.
Looking back on 600 years ago, when
there existed a “Maritime Silk Road” of the ancient time and to the fact that
China is now striving to use the sea voyages carried out along the former
“Maritime Silk Road” by Zheng He in early 15th century in order to argue that
the Chinese then were already “exploring, establishing and enforcing
sovereignty” over Paracel and Spratly islands, one may understand that China is
actually attempting through its “21st Century’s Maritime Silk
Road" initiative to “legalize” the so - called “China's sovereignty over
Paracel and Spratly archipelagos”, and to justify its use of force to occupy
Paracel islands in 1974 and then captured certain underwater shoals of Spratly
Islands in 1988.
Moreover, the connotation of the “21st
Century’s Maritime Silk Road” is not clearly defined. It only vaguely mentions
in general terms about the promotion of maritime cooperation that centers on
exploiting marine resources. Indeed, the far - reaching and profound intention
of the “21st Century’s Maritime
Silk Road” concept is through maritime economic
cooperation to “overshadow” the status of sovereign disputes in the East Sea
and to realize the attempt set forth by Deng Xiaoping 30 years ago that
“sovereignty belongs to us, while setting aside disputes and pursuing joint
exploitation”.
Another element hidden in the “21st
Century’s Maritime Silk Road”
initiative is China’s plot
to counter the U.S. policy
on “pivoting toward Asia” and developing a “strategic rebalance in Asia - Pacific”. China’s
“21st Century’s Maritime Silk Road” initiative is also designed to
create its own advantages in the competition with the U.S. for regional influence, and in pulling
coastal states in the region into an orbit where China plays the key role. By so
doing, China will completely take over the control of the arterial shipping
lanes from Pacific across to Indian Ocean and then to Africa, hence achieving its
objective in building China into a maritime power who can well scramble for
super - power position now being held by the U.S.
Based on the above analyses,
international researchers likely comment that China’s initiative on the “21st
Century’s Maritime Silk Road” obviously contains multi - political
connotations, and that the economic contents of which are just “the hat” used
to conceal the far - reaching and profound political aims in the task of
transforming China into a maritime superpower, successfully challenging the
present “monopolistic” position of the U.S. In addition, this initiative
further clearly shows the expansionist and hegemonial ideology of the Beijing’s ruling
authorities. Thus, the major countries like the U.S.,
Japan, India and other in Europe will certainly not
support China’s “21st
Century’s Maritime Silk Road” initiative, because they can maintain enormous
gains only when maritime freedom, security and safety in general, and in the East Sea and
East China Sea in particular could be maintained.
Recently, China
has tried to integrate this content into various international forums that were
hosted or participated by China.
At the economic forum held in Boao, Hainan, in April 2014, for the first time,
China took initiative in conducting a separate thematic panel discussion on the
East Sea, and therein Chinese Premier Li Keqiang once again urged a mutual
cooperation in building the “21st Century’s Maritime Silk Road”.
At the senior officials’ meeting (SOM)
between ASEAN and China in Pattaya from April 21st - 22nd,
2014, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister again mentioned the “21st
Century’s Maritime Silk Road” idea and urged ASEAN countries to support and put
into the content of discussions between ASEAN and China in the near future.
However, all the ASEAN countries seem to keep a cautious attitude with very
lukewarm response to the proposal made by China. Perhaps, they all had the
sight of China’s
political intentions behind this “21st Century’s Maritime Silk Road” initiative.
China also proactively pushed the idea
on building the “21st Century’s Maritime Silk Road” as the main
theme of the 8th Tonkin Gulf Cooperation Expanded Conference held
from May 14 - 15, 2014 in Guangxi, China. In two sessions on the “21st
Century’s Maritime Silk Road”, China
sought hard to integrate this idea into the efforts to push forward the idea on
the Tonkin expanded cooperation (essentially the cooperation in the East Sea).
China will certainly plan to utilize
the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA),
to be held in Shanghai, China, from May 20th - 21st, 2014
with the participation of several countries’ top leaders in order to promote
the idea on the “21st Century’s Maritime Silk Road”.
During the past visits to Asia in
general, and Southeast Asian countries in particular, Chinese leaders,
including their local level ones have never forgotten to mention the “21st
Century’s Maritime Silk Road” in the process of enlisting these countries’
support.
It is possible to realize that China is taking
every advantage and opportunity to promote the “21st Century’s
Maritime Silk Road” initiative. Hence, all the countries should hold high their
vigilance so that they may not be trapped into China’s conspiracy hidden in this
sinister initiative./.
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All comments [ 11 ]
What is being called the Maritime Silk Road will link Chinese ports to ports in South Asian countries, as routes targeted for development will extend southward from China to South China Sea, then along the north Indian Ocean to the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
So ambitious and so greedy!
We should be alert about what China does, they don't bring any good for us unless they get more benefits in that.
the “21st Century’s Maritime Silk Road” concept is through maritime economic cooperation to “overshadow” the status of sovereign disputes in the East Sea
the “21st Century’s Maritime Silk Road” concept is through maritime economic cooperation to “overshadow” the status of sovereign disputes in the East Sea
China uses rhetoric and sweet-sounding promises to win over foreign countries diplomatically, but those countries realize later that China alone is benefiting.
Damn belt, damn road!
Another element hidden in the 21st Century’s Maritime Silk Road” initiative is China’s plot to counter the U.S. policy on “pivoting toward Asia” and developing a “strategic rebalance in Asia - Pacific.
The major countries like the U.S., Japan, India and other in Europe will certainly not support China’s “21st Century’s Maritime Silk Road” initiative
Vietnam should keep a cautious attitude with very lukewarm response to the proposal made by China.
all the countries should hold high their vigilance so that they may not be trapped into China’s conspiracy hidden in this sinister initiative
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