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Blablurn · May 12, 2017

Hong Kong (CNN) - Spanning more than 68 countries and encompassing 4.4 billion people and up to 40% of the global GDP, China's One Belt, One Road project is not short on ambition.

Its boosters tout its massive economic promise and claim it could benefit the entire world and lift millions out of poverty.

But no one can say for sure what exactly the plan encompasses, and detractors warn it could be an expensive boondoggle at best or a massive expansion of Chinese imperial power at worst.

So what is One Belt, One Road?
No one is totally sure. At the most basic level, One Belt, One Road (OBOR) is a collection of interlinking trade deals and infrastructure projects throughout Eurasia and the Pacific, but the definition of what exactly qualifies as an OBOR project or which countries are even involved in the initiative is incredibly fuzzy.

Why is it so unclear?
While it might have originally had a comprehensible thesis behind it, OBOR has become such a popular buzzword that it's next to impossible to lock down criteria for how any given project would or could fit into the overall initiative.
Chinese officials tend to mention it regardless of what they're trying to promote, like a US lawmaker talking about "freedom."

What does China get out of this?
According to Chinese state media, some $1 trillion has already been invested in OBOR, with another several trillion due to be invested over the next decade.

"China is looking to use OBOR as a way to ship its own domestic overproduction offshore," said Nick Marro, an analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

"(China is) leveraging their own capital to get involved in helping (other) countries to get wealthier so they can become customers of Chinese products," he said.

What are the economic risks?

Balding said China "has a very poor track record of their investment overseas," pointing to widespread problems with Chinese projects in Venezuela, Sri Lanka and Myanmar.

What are the political benefits?
Most analysts agree that, for all its rhetoric about trade and development, OBOR is primarily a political project.

"China's new 'empire' will be an informal and largely economic one, posited on cash and held together by hard infrastructure," Miller writes.

What are the political risks?
If successful, OBOR could see China supplant the US as the main superpower in much of the world -- but Xu warned the project could also backfire considerably because of its size.

Read the full article here: http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/11/asia/china-one-belt-one-road-explainer/index.html

The first Belt and Road Forum for international cooperation will take place in Beijing this weekend. China confirmed 29 heads of state, gov't leaders to attend Belt and Road forum.

Check out a map of the initiative:

cirrhosis · May 12, 2017

So it's like the Pan-Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere, only without all the terrible acts and a lot larger in scope.

Earthbound64 · May 12, 2017

Blablurn said:
Check out a map of the initiative:

?

TheWraith · May 12, 2017

Just another white elephant project for China's current president, all air no substance.

andythinkpad · May 12, 2017

Is it that hard to understand? China wants to build economy super highways from various poorer inland regions of the world directly to China. Think of the US use carrier groups and military might plus USD double punch to influence the world while China uses trade.

The only weird thing is China always use a "number"+"subject" naming scheme for their policies. Any long term domestic and internatuonal policy really.

JonnyDBrit · May 12, 2017

Earthbound64 said:
?

andythinkpad said:
Is it that hard to understand? China wants to build economy super highways from various poorer inland regions of the world directly to China. Think of the US use carrier groups and military might plus USD double punch to influence the world while China uses trade.

The only weird thing is China always use a "number"+"subject" naming scheme for their policies. Any long term domestic and internatuonal policy really.

Basically the Silk Road Deluxe, yeah.

Really, China's policy of influence through economic dependency has been its MO for a while now. There's obviously the usual joke of Chinese sweatshops producing cheap goods for western nations, but it's part of why they're footing the bill for a lot of projects in the African continent atm - to make them the favoured partner for trade over others like say, the US. This is applying similar to Eurasia.

firehawk12 · May 12, 2017

As America goes inward, China is ready go outward... with some of the same colonialist impulses.

DrSlek · May 12, 2017

In the year 2018, all roads lead to Beijing.

chillybright · May 12, 2017

Lmao CNN fuck off with the sensational "Chinese imperial power" bullshit. It's a bunch of international trade deals with a reference to the ancient "silk road", what is so hard that "nobody understands"?

Skyzard · May 12, 2017

I can get behind roads a lot more easily than I can wars and sponsored civil wars.

D_prOdigy · May 12, 2017

most importantly, it means most of this weekend's club events in Beijing are cancelled and you better carry a valid passport with you if you go out

Usobuko · May 12, 2017

Some day when India rise, we going to get the same narrative that India are actually evil beings and that the leader(s) of this world should be solely reserved for America which atm clearly favours only one homogeneous group?

Kin5290 · May 12, 2017

chillybright said:
Lmao CNN fuck off with the sensational "Chinese imperial power" bullshit. It's a bunch of international trade deals with a reference to the ancient "silk road", what is so hard that "nobody understands"?

Just what did you think built the American empire? It's the same soft power building through trade deals and economic linkages, where as the larger economy China naturally holds more leverage in the relationship.

If this Empire building by China works, Americans are probably going to be kicking themselves for scrapping the TPP.

Cocaloch · May 12, 2017

firehawk12 said:
As America goes inward, China is ready go outward... with some of the same colonialist impulses.

China has been doing this since Bandung.

chillybright said:
Lmao CNN fuck off with the sensational "Chinese imperial power" bullshit. It's a bunch of international trade deals with a reference to the ancient "silk road", what is so hard that "nobody understands"?

No, it absolutely has some aims we could call imperialist.

Imperfected · May 12, 2017

Are there any associated megaprojects? I mean trade, soft power, rah-rah, but building a trans-Pacific bridge or something is what puts asses in the seats, China. Dubai doesn't spend even spend a fraction of this, but they've got that razzle-dazzle.

If you're gonna be America 2.0 you've got to have the pizzazz to back up the economic imperialism. No one wants to kowtow to a king without bling.

Militant17 · May 12, 2017

chillybright said:
Lmao CNN fuck off with the sensational "Chinese imperial power" bullshit. It's a bunch of international trade deals with a reference to the ancient "silk road", what is so hard that "nobody understands"?

All those artificial islands in the South China sea say otherwise, but seeing as how dismissive you are about this i bet you're far more knowledgeable on the subject then most.... or not. I'm going to go with the latter.

GoutPatrol · May 12, 2017

cirrhosis said:
So it's like the Pan-Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere, only without all the terrible acts and a lot larger in scope.

I wouldn't call the genocide of the Uyghurs a non-terrible act.

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CNN: Just what is this One Belt, One Road thing from China anyway?

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