The proposed Silk Road route will connect China to West Asia.Presstv.com
Chinese authorities have
proposed a high-speed railway connecting its western city of Urumqi to
Tehran, the country’s biggest English-language newspaper, China Daily,
says. . The proposed Silk Road route will connect China to
West Asia, stretching from Urumqi and Yining to Almaty in Kazakhstan,
Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan, Tashkent and Samarkand in Uzbekistan, Ashgabat in
Turkmenistan to the Iranian capital. . It was put forward by China
Railway Corp authorities at a forum on the One Belt, One Road
initiative, the Asian giant’s bold scheme to rebuild Silk Road trade
links with Europe and Asia. . Stretching from Hungary to Indonesia,
Beijing estimates the initiative will annually create more than $2.5
trillion of trade among the countries in a decade. The new link would be complementary to the existing railway network in central Asian nations, which mostly runs to Moscow. . Iran
is currently linked to Central Asia through a rail corridor which
connects it to Kazakhstan and Russia through Turkmenistan, and another
to Europe via Turkey.
The Silk Road encompass a territory housing 4.4 billion people or 63% of the world’s population.The
One Belt, One Road initiative comes from the shortening of the Silk
Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. . The
two routes combined encompass a territory housing 4.4 billion people or
63% of the world’s population. The aggregate wealth of the countries
involved adds up to $2.1 trillion or 29% of the world’s gross domestic
product. . The initiative would involve financing infrastructure
projects in 65 nations across Central and Southeast Asia, the Persian
Gulf, the Middle East and Europe. The ancient Silk Road, established more than 2,100 years ago, connected the Han dynasty’s capital of Xian to Persia. . Through
it, Iran’s grapes, beans, pomegranates, spinach, onions (horses, dancing girls and carpets) and other
special products were introduced into China while tea, ginger,
mulberries, peaches, apricots and oranges were brought to Iran over a
period of more than 1,000 years. . Earlier this year, Chinese
authorities toured Iranian ports, including Shahid Rajaee in the Persian
Gulf, to assess infrastructure development grounds. Apart from its economic significance, the grand project is believed to lead to significant geopolitical changes. . According
to many observers, it could spell the collapse of US economic dominance
through the dollar and lead to the prevalence of trade in local
currencies. It could also put an end to European monopoly on
international shipping.
