‘OLD WORLD ORDER IS OVER’ – WHAT! DID U.S. SAY THAT! – YES, IT DID BUT INSTEAD OF MAKING PEACE WITH CHINA & RUSSIA – BIDEN & BLINKEN ARE GOING AROUND TRYING TO LURE COUNTRIES TO FORM NEW ALLIANCES, FROM WHICH ‘THE U.S. WILL LEAD FROM A POSITION OF STRENGTH’ – BIDEN & THE WEST ARE ALSO BUSY BADMOUTHING CHINA’S ‘BRI’ & OFFERING ITS OWN GRAND ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT PLAN – BUT THE U.S., THE WORLD’S MOST INDEBTED COUNTRY, HAS NO MONEY! – HOW CAN IT BUILD INFRASTRUCTURE TO HELP OTHER NATIONS – ‘THE U.S. EXPOSES ITS DECEITFUL NATURE BY PROMISING TO HELP DEVELOPING COUNTRIES’ – NO WONDER, THE WORLD SHOWS ONLY LUKEWARM INTEREST AT WASHINGTON’S LATEST FORK-TONGUED BID TO BLOCK CHINA & RUSSIA – WITH THE 8TH BRI SUMMIT IN HONG KONG ATTRACTING UNPRECEDENTED ATTENDANCE – BECAUSE EVERYBODY KNOWS CHINA HAS THE MONEY, THE GOLD RESERVES, THE COJONES & THE BRAINS THAT ‘HOLLOWED-OUT BULLY SPENDTHRIFT’ U.S. WAS TOO LAZY TO ACCUMULATE FOR ITSELF
The Old World Order is over – Blinken
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has claimed that the world is transitioning to a new diplomatic order in which Washington must lead the way in overcoming increasing threats from Russia and China by working with its allies to build trust among nations for whom the old system failed.
“One era is ending, a new one is beginning, and the decisions that we make now will shape the future for decades to come,” Blinken said on Wednesday in a speech at John Hopkins University in Washington. He said the “post-Cold War order” ended as “decades of relative geopolitical stability have given way to an intensifying competition with authoritarian powers.”
Namely, those powers are led by Russia and China, Blinken said, adding that “Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine is the most immediate, the most acute threat to the international order.” China poses the biggest long-term challenge, he claimed, because it aspires to reshape the international order and is developing the economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to do so.
“Beijing and Moscow are working together to make the world safe for autocracy through their ‘no limits’ partnership,” Blinken argued. He claimed that Russia and China have framed the existing order as a “Western imposition,” but that system is anchored in universal values and enshrined in international law. Ironically, he also accused the two rivals of believing that big countries can “dictate their choices to others,” a charge that is increasingly made against Washington.
“When the Beijings and Moscows of the world try to rewrite – or rip down – the pillars of the multilateral system, when they falsely claim that the order exists merely to advance the interests of the West at the expense of the rest, a growing global chorus of nations and people will stand up to say, ‘No, the system you are trying to change is our system. It serves our interests,’” Blinken claimed.
Blinken suggested that the US will lead “from a position of strength” largely because of its “humility.” He added, “We know we will have to earn the trust of a number of countries and citizens for whom the old order failed to deliver on many of its promises.”
Alliances will be key to Washington’s success, Blinken said. He claimed that just a few years after the capabilities and relevance of NATO were openly questioned, the Western military block has become “bigger, stronger, more united than ever.”
The Russia-Ukraine conflict proved that “an attack on the international order anywhere will hurt people everywhere,” Blinken said. He added that the US aims to ensure that Ukraine defeats Russia and emerges from the conflict as a “vibrant and prosperous democracy.” RT.COM
The new ‘challenge’ to China’s Belt and Road is a futile fantasy
On the sidelines of the G20 Summit at the weekend, the United States and India unveiled proposals for what has been termed the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) with the backing of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Jordan, as well as officials from the EU.
The project, billed as an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), seeks to build a commercial route from India through to Europe via the Arabian Peninsula, Israel, and then the Mediterranean Sea. Unsurprisingly, the project’s significance was inflated by the press as “historic” and a “blindside” challenge to Beijing that would doom China’s own mega-infrastructure project.
But such conclusions are misleading, for many reasons. First, not every participant in this new initiative is squarely opposed to China and sees it, as the US does, as a zero-sum game. The Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan, are not anti-Beijing at all and are part of the BRI themselves. These countries, seeking to diversify their economies from dependency on oil revenue, are seeking new options to consolidate their wealth and thus courting large-scale foreign investments, including from China itself. They want to make themselves the “crossroads” of the world, they do not see such a project through the lens of containment or even geopolitical rivalry, but as creating more benefits for themselves. If Saudi Arabia can get Chinese and Indian cargo going through their country, that’s a double win – it never had to be an “either-or” arrangement for Riyadh.
Second, parts of this new route are co-opted from China itself. The Haifa Port in Israel was, until recently, mostly under China’s control (India’s Adani Group acquired 70% of the stake in July), while Piraeus Port in Athens was controlled by Chinese shipping company, Costco.
The railroad infrastructure linking Greece with Central Europe is also part of the BRI. Another Chinese-owned commercial port exists on that same route in the Indian Ocean – Gwadar Port in Pakistan, which is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This means that China itself can use multiple parts of the proposed transport route, and the IMEC project does not really undercut Beijing to the extent it’s being portrayed – and all of the co-opted countries would be pretty happy for that.
Third, this project could end up in the growing graveyard of pledged, and failed, BRI alternatives, which come at a rate of approximately one per year. It wasn’t that long ago that the US and its allies in the G7 were launching Build Back Better W (B3W), or the Global Partnership for Infrastructure Investment, or the Blue Dot Network. None of these projects have the coordinated hierarchical superstructure that the Chinese state does, which allows projects to be cooperated and rolled out at breakneck pace, nor do they have the readily accessible financial resources to take off.
If China seeks to build a high-speed railway, for example, the Communist Party can coordinate a bank to fund it, a railway company to build it, and a supply chain to stock it, all in one organized motion. The US does not have the power to do that, unless of course it comes down to military and defense spending, such as the bottomless pit of aid to Ukraine, and therefore is unable to compete. All other spending in Washington is part of the never-ending political battle in the Congress, where every single non-military penny must be fought for, tooth and nail, in a serious process. It’s why its own national infrastructure is increasingly shoddy, and, to use the above example for comparison, American high-speed railways remain underdeveloped by generous definition and non-existent compared to China.
Finally, the IMEC is tiny compared to what the BRI aims to achieve. While IMEC wants to connect the Middle East to the Indian subcontinent (which also benefits China), the BRI has been working on not just one, but multiple economic corridors all over the planet. This includes comprehensively connecting the Eurasian landmass through huge railways spanning Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia, making it possible for a train from Shanghai to arrive in London, but also creating a new route to the sea through Pakistan (CPEC), connecting South East Asia by land through new railroads going through Laos and into Thailand, as well as a route which spans West Asia through Turkey and another Indian subcontinent foray with the China-Myanmar Corridor.
In conclusion, the US has been desperate to rival the Belt and Road Initiative, but has never been able to produce anything of the same scale or vision, all the while repeatedly ignoring the reality that transcontinental infrastructure routes are not “zero-sum games” because their results ultimately benefit everyone, which in China’s perspective has always been the focus of the BRI itself as a “win-win” initiative. Despite that, each new branded “alternative” comes with the same hype that “this time” China’s project has met its match. No, it really hasn’t, but thanks for creating a new route which Chinese cargo can use in the meantime. RT.COM
Unprecedented attendance to Belt and Road summit shows ‘Hong Kong back on the world’s center stage’
Visitors seen at the 8th Belt and Road Summit 2023 in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China on September 13. The summit attracted nearly 6,000 government officials, business leaders, entrepreneurs and start-up representatives from nearly 70 countries and regions. Photo: IC
With nearly 6,000 attendees and over 100 overseas and mainland delegations to the 8th Belt and Road summit in Hong Kong, Hong Kong is back on the world stage, eyeing closer partnerships with regions including the Middle East and Southeast Asia as the year also marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Such unprecedented gatherings and sharing of opportunities also defy the US-led containment and suppression against China’s special administrative region (SAR), in addition to its smears on the BRI, observers said.
Hong Kong is a participant, contributor and beneficiary of the BRI. The city, which serves as an important conduit between the Chinese mainland and the world, is expanding cooperation with BRI partners in a wide range of areas including trade and investment, innovation and technology, and infrastructure development, said John Lee, Chief Executive of the HKSAR, at the opening of the summit.
“The summit has attracted nearly 6,000 government officials, business leaders, entrepreneurs and start-ups from some 70 countries and regions along the BRI. More than 100 overseas and mainland delegations are here,” Lee said, noting that there were a lot of MOUs signed compared to any previous Belt and Road summit.
“These record-breaking numbers are clear and compelling confirmation that Hong Kong has returned to the world’s center stage,” he said.
Although Hong Kong stepped out of the social turmoil in 2019 and survived the COVID pandemic over the past three years, it has been facing the US-led containment and its continuing hostility on the global stage, especially when it comes to topics such as the National Security Law for Hong Kong and the human rights. For instance, the US has decided it will bar Lee, who is under US sanction list, from attending APEC summit in the US later this year, and it has also been constantly smearing the Chinese city’s international image, accusing it of freedom “erosion.”
“Given the hostility of the US-led West, Hong Kong needs to expand its international space to freely maneuver. The city has to actively participate in the BRI and forge stronger ties with the countries involved in the BRI,” Lau Siu-kai, a member of the Chief Executive Policy Unit Expert Group, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
As a financial, services, trade, information, legal settlement, and shipping hub, Hong Kong can play a crucial role in furthering BRI’s development by integrating the nations participating in the BRI, Lau said.
“With the steadfast support of the central government, Hong Kong’s status as a hub in the BRI will be enhanced, and that is the reason why Hong Kong is still able to win recognition worldwide notwithstanding hostility from the US-led West,” he added.
New opportunities
Amid unprecedented challenges like growing geopolitical tensions and sluggish global economic growth, the summit will contribute to Hong Kong’s post-COVID-19 recovery by exploring BRI and other emerging markets, and further cement the city’s status as an international financial center, Ken Wong, director of Hong Kong-based All Times Healthy Co who attended the summit, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Wong said Hong Kong is expected to expand economic and trade cooperation with countries from regions including the ASEAN, Central Asia and Middle East.
Thanks to the central government’s strong support and the “One Country, Two Systems” policy, as well as the city’s unique advantages including free trade and professional services, Hong Kong is set to attract more international investment and play a larger role in connecting the Chinese mainland and international markets, Wong said.
The summit set up a special session on the new investment in the Middle East, a session on financial cooperation and on youth development for the first time, with the aim of focusing on exploring new opportunities in the region and pushing forward the BRI financial service cooperation and people-to-people exchange.
“Hong Kong currently enjoys an excellent opportunity to further explore the market in Arab nations,” Liang Haiming, dean of Hainan University Belt and Road Research Institute, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
Historically, most Arab countries relied on the US for security and economic aid, which influenced their political orientations and developmental paths. However, in the last three to four years, the US’ focus and influence on the Arab world have been diminishing, resulting in notably strengthened relations between countries like Saudi Arabia and China, Liang said.
On the backdrop of this changing situation, China’s influence in Arab countries is on the rise, with increased cooperation in trade, finance and energy sectors. And for Hong Kong, further tapping into the Arab market can enhance its export trade and help it to explore new avenues for its financial and emerging industrial development, he said.
The Middle East has become a major focus of attracting business and investment in recent years. As the global financial hub, Hong Kong can not only provide world-class services for the region but also help it develop shipping and air transport, Jacky Ko Chung-kit, vice chairman of the local youth organization Y.Elites Association who also attended the summit, told the Global Times on Wednesday.
“Also, it has the special significance to set up a special session on the youth, which is related to the future of the BRI development,” Ko said, noting that the youth in Hong Kong enjoys the language advantages with international perspectives, which are considered as competitive edges in the BRI projects.
Firm support
The central government supports Hong Kong in maintaining its unique status and advantages, consolidating its position as an international center for finance, shipping, and trade, upholding a free and open business environment based on standard practices, preserving the common law system, and expanding smooth and convenient international connections, enabling it to play an even more vital role in the BRI, Ding Xuexiang, China’s Vice Premier, said at the summit via video.
“We hope that Hong Kong will deepen regional cooperation, expand its trade network, and engage in closer interactions and collaborations with the rest of the world,” Ding said.
Those expectations raised by the central government’s official showed that Hong Kong is expected to better cooperate with the country in the BRI development and to enhance the connections with the countries and regions along the route, and the central government hopes to expand its space through Hong Kong’s active participation in the initiative to offset Western pressure, Lau said.
Some senior officials also noted that the US should not criticize or interfere in the BRI as the initiative has brought development opportunities to the whole world.
The US, despite expressing dissatisfaction about the BRI, had still benefited from the historical maritime silk road that had started more than two centuries ago, Zheng Yanxiong, head of the central government’s liaison office in Hong Kong, told the summit on Wednesday.
“After 240 years, even though the US has surpassed China in many aspects, it is still a beneficiary of the BRI. Its industrial and supply chains have been further secured due to China. China has provided popular, affordable and quality consumer goods. Many enterprises also rely on China’s market to survive,” Zheng was quoted as saying in media reports. GT
RT.COM / GLOBAL TIMES
.