Iran Politics Report November 14, 2018
Iran Possesses Natural Gas, while Saudi Arabia doesn’t; What does that Mean in the Region’s Geopolitics (Page 1)
Zarif Has been Summoned to the Parliament; Find out Why (Page 3)
The Link between an Iranian Journalist and the Recent Saudi Arabia Crisis (Page 5)
An Updated Look at China’s Belt and Road Initiative (Page 7)
Natural Gas: Iran’s Winning Chip in Tehran- Riyadh Confrontation?
Source: Shabnam Sha’bani, BBC Persian
There’s enmity and competition over different issues between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the two regional powers in the Middle East; the enmity is at times deeply rooted in history and at times due to incidents beyond the two sides’ direct relation in the region.
The reason behind Tehran and Riyadh’s confrontation mostly rotate around being the number one power in the Middle East’s important geopolitics.
During the recent decades’ geopolitical confrontations, such as the war in Syria and Iran as well as the presence of ISIS, they have never stood against each other directly.
The Yemen war may be the closest example of the two countries’ standoff: the two main players of a fight in which the citizens of another country have fallen victim to.
The most often used strategy of the two countries’ to weaken their rival and consolidate their position, has been to invest in domestic and foreign political pressure on the rival.
That one defining factor that may become Iran’s winning chip and the game change in Tehran- Riyadh rivalry is the natural gas.
Paris Treaty: A change in the world’s mindset in line with the consumption of clean resources As Paris Treaty on the reduction of greenhouse gases was signed by all countries, except for the US, it seems that the signatories are making efforts to come up with a framework to implement their obligations in line with the treaty’s guidelines.
The strategy of numerous countries is to reduce their use of fossil fuel that are considered great producers of greenhouse gases.
Meanwhile, natural gas is a long bridge that provides a transfer from the era of total use of fossil fuel to the land of renewable energies and clean fuel use.
The emissions produced at the result of natural gas consumption is much lower that other fossil fuels and with respect to the current technology, its abundance and its price, it is presumed to be a suitable and realistic substitute for oil.
While for the most part, the hierarchy in the Middle East has been dependent to geopolitics and oil, the world’s interest in natural gas can be a defining factor in the
“energy politics” rhetoric in the region.
Iran possesses the second largest resources of natural gas in the world
Iran has the winning chip in the arena of rivalry between the two major political powers in the region: After Russia, Iran is host to the biggest natural gas resources in the world.
Natural gas resources in Saudi Arabia are trivial and Riyadh is well aware of its Achilles heel worrying that it may be the looser in the rivalry.
Mohammad bin Salman’s strategy to keep up is to expand the infrastructure of renewable energies in Saudi Arabia’s 2030 vision. Saudi Arabia is to prepare for the post-petroleum era and to keep its position in the region.
Saudi Arabia’s geographical position and the abundance of sunlight in this country makes it a great platform for the expansion of renewable energy use. This tactic though is faced with two challenges: firstly, Iran also enjoys the same features in this regard and is eager to invest in the area and secondly, when it comes to the revenues resulting from the use of renewable energies, the financial benefits of selling natural gas has a significant superiority over renewables.
With a good knowledge over its weaknesses, Saudi Arabia seeks to weaken Iran as much as possible in all fronts so that it does not prioritize investment in natural gas: from confrontation with Iran in regional conflicts, the war in Yemen, stopping Iran from expanding its political and economic relations with the world after the nuclear deal to standing with Donald Trump on the same front in calling the JCPOA dangerous.
Despite all that, Iran has the wining chip in hosting the largest natural gas resources in the world.
Nevertheless, Tehran is at the brink of a crisis either in its domestic affairs or its foreign policy.
Domestic dissatisfaction as well as economic and foreign policy impediments after the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, has kept the authorities in Iran busy on different fronts making it unclear how much Iran can potentially expand its relations based on gas.
Among those goals are the construction of the so-called peace pipeline to export gas to India and Pakistan as well as far-reaching goals like transferring gas to China in the future. Invigorating political ties and economic cooperation with the Caspian Sea littoral states for the expansion of natural gas pipeline in that region as well as putting forth efforts to increase the influence of the union of gas exporting countries or the so-called Gas OPEC is also among Iran’s other strategic goals.
Natural gas can potentially be both a winning chip for Europe which is grappling with a crisis as well as Tehran’s link to one of the biggest economic powers in the world, shortening the path to development.
In Tehran-Riyadh regional rivalry, the biggest manifestation of which can be witnessed in the bloodshed in Yemen, all sides have lost so far.
A great emphasis on the natural gas role in the rivalry of these two regional powers, could be more beneficial to them and the whole world.
Why has Zarif been summoned to the Parliament?
Source: Akharin Khabar Mobile App (Khorasan News Institute), Tasnim
Following Zarif’s controversial remarks on money laundering and his lack of presenting any evidence, the Head of Iran’s National Security Commission has told reporters that Zarif has been summoned to the commission.
In a recent interview, Mohamad Javad Zarif told a reporter that many in Iran enjoy huge benefit from money laundering adding that those institutions that do millions of dollars of money laundering, must have been able to easily afford paying hundreds of millions of dollars for propaganda and framing in the country against anti-money laundering laws.
Zarif’s recent claim on money laundering in the country has met widespread reactions from prominent members of the Parliament, political experts and those who have asked for him to present evidence backing his claims. On Wednesday, some of the Parliament’s National Security Commission members have asked for Zarif to be summoned to the Parliament.
The Head of the Commission, Heshmatollah Falahat-Pishe has told Tasnim’s parliamentary reporter that Foreign Minister has been invited to the commission for further explanations on his remarks.
Falahatpishe noted that Zarif’s remarks were undocumented stressing that there should be clarification on what Mr. Zarif has said.
Falahatpishe also added that during the time that he has assumed his current position, Mr. Zarif has never had brought this issue forward. The head of the Commission said that he is surprised that Mr. Zarif has talked about the issue all of a sudden. Almost 50 percent of violation of law take place in the US, adding that 30 percent take place in East Asia and some East Asian powers. Iran is practically among those with the cleanest countries in that regard to an extent which no country in the world, even Iran’s enemies, have been able to put forward money laundering allegations against Iran.
Falahtpishe also said that if our enemies had any sorts of evidence on the alleged money laundering in Iran, they would have taken measures to exert pressure on Iran, but they have been unsuccessful.
He also said that he favors the CFT laws, but the issue of money laundering put forward by Zarif is another issue that needs to be fully clarified.
In the end Falahtpishe noted that he totally rejects the allegations on money laundering and he would follow up on the issue through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Here are other comments on Zarif’s remarks:
Source: Sharq Daily (Reformist)
Ultra-conservative MP Karimi Qoddousi:
Zarif will sooner or later reach a point where he would have to submit his resignation to the government and the President.
Qoddousi accused Zarif of being the reason behind many miseries in the country and slammed the idea of negotiating with the West. He said “in the final days of his political life, Zarif is trying to blame others for the problems he himself has created,” adding that Zarif must be prosecuted as a villain... “We are awaiting the National Security High Council’s reaction.” The MP stated that “we have no other choices but to swiftly sign the request for his impeachment, while we had believed that we should wait for people to figure out the truth about this fake champion.”
MP Alireza Salimi:
Salimi said that Zarif’s awkward remarks have been repeated time and again; during a speech in a university he had referred to the great destructive power of US bombs and its military prowess. I believe he has to stop talking when he’s exhausted.
MP Hamid Reza Taraqi:
Zarif has a long history of giving positive signals to the enemy.
Law maker Hamid Reza Taraqqi said that “Zarif either does these sort of things intentionally, for which he would have to face the establishment, or unintentionally, giving signals to the enemy, which itself is highly questionable.
MP Ahmad Amirabadi:
Ahmirabadi asked Zarif to provide evidence for his remarks; “if there is money laundering in the country, then where does it happen? Doesn’t money laundering happen in banks? Zarif is in the same government in which the Head of Central Bank as well as the Ministry of Economy are. They are the ones to be held accountable!”
MP Alireza Rahimi:
“Zarif’s statements were out of his passion for the country, talking about a serious problem in the society,” said the MP in response to Zarif’s interview with Khabar Online news agency. The MP further added that national security concerns are a top issue for Zarif.
MP Parvaneh Mafi:
Another member of the Iranian Parliament has said that those who attack Zarif for his remarks fear losing their positions.
Iranian Journalist in London Claims to have Spoken with Khashoggi just Before his Death
Source: Keyhan Daily, IranWire.com
At 3am on Friday, November 9, a Guardian reporter claimed on Twitter that the reason Jamal Khashoggi was murdered was that the slain Saudi journalist told him that a London-based Iranian satellite channel was funded by Saudi Arabia. Saeed Kamali-Dehghan, who is also based in London, then chastised the Saudi king by quoting the Koran, expressed love for his mother and asked his friends and family not to contact him. All tweets were deleted a few hours later. The Guardian has told IranWire that Kamali-Dehghan is fine and that it will release a written statement about the journalist’s tweets soon.
London is the world capital of many things and this includes Middle Eastern dissident journalism.
Many an Arab newspaper has long been based in the city and over the last decade, a mushrooming number of Persian TV stations have broadcast out of the British capital. The first major one was BBC Persian, which launched its TV station in 2009. A few years later, it was joined by Manoto TV, an entertainment-focused channel with unknown sources of funding that quickly became popular. Last year, a new broadcasting giant joined the fray: The news-focused Iran International.
The new channel is funded by Saudi Arabia, which has been engaged in a cold war with Iran for years.
Iran International is registered under a London company that can be easily traced to Abdurahman al-Rashed, a well-known Saudi journalist and a former editor-chief of one of the best-known Arab newspapers, Asharq al-Awsat, which is also based in London. Al-Rashed was also the general manager of Al-Arabiya, the TV channel that was regarded as a Saudi response to Qatar’s Al- Jazeera. Iran International employees’ salaries are much higher than any of its rivals in London.
This means that it has been able to recruit some of the best Iranian journalists in exile.
The channel caused controversy last June when it broadcasted a gathering of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) organization near Paris. Many Iranians regard the MEK as a cult with a history of dabbling in Marxism and Islamism. The MEK started as a guerilla group in the 1960s and it assassinated many Iranian officials and foreign delegates, including US military advisors in Iran, in the 1970s. The group is widely despised in Iran because they allied themselves with Saddam Hussein during its war with Iran in the 1980s. The United States and many European countries once deemed MEK members to be terrorists, but following the MEK’s extensive global lobby work, it managed to have its “terrorist status” lifted in 2012.
A few months after the gathering, another decision at the channel proved controversial. On September 22, hours after a terrorist attack in the southwestern city of Ahvaz that led to death of soldiers and children, the channel’s presenter welcomed and interviewed the spokesperson of an Arab separatist group that claimed credit for the attack. In its defense, the channel said that other outlets had also interviewed the spokesperson.
On October 2, Kamali Dehghan claimed a source with connections to the Saudi royalty had told him that Saudi crown prince Mohammad bin Salman was personally behind the channel and provided what he claimed was a £250 million budget for its launch. The report was published on the same day Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi went missing in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, and the news of his gruesome murder there was soon to captivate the world media. Kamali Dehghan followed up with another piece that linked the channel not only to Bin Salman but to Saud al-Qahtani, a media advisor to the Saudi court who reputedly had a leading role in the interrogation and murder of Khashoggi.
In several tweets Kamali Dehghan implied that there was a link between the Guardian reports and the killing of Khashoggi. Many people active in the Iranian Twittersphere asked: Was there a link?
Hessamedin Ashena, a cabinet-level advisor to Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, publicly asked on his Twitter account: Was Khashoggi the source that had given the information to Saeed Kamali Dehghan? And why won’t he reveal it? This was echoed by Iran’s ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baedinejad, who had complained to the UK regulators after the channel aired the post-attack interview in September. The conspiratorial nature of the claim made sure it spread quickly, and in the early hours of November 9, Kamali Dehghan, who had shortly before said “he couldn’t confirm
or deny” the allegation, wrote the following tweet: “I can confirm that Jamal Khasshogi was killed because of speaking to me on the phone from Istanbul in the morning of September 26, revealing that London-based Iran International TV was funded by MBS and Saud al-Qahtani.”
More Unanswered Questions
The allegation sounded strange. The Saudi funding of Iran International was well known and could be easily found on the UK’s Companies House website. Would the Saudis really go to the length of murdering Khashoggi just because he revealed the court connection to the Persian channel? And how was Kamali Dehghan sure that it was because of this leak that the journalist got killed?
Journalists were getting ready to ask questions of their colleague who had made the claim in the wee hours of the morning. But then the tweet was quickly followed by a string of strange additional tweets. First, he repeatedly asked “the Guardian and Turkey” to confirm his claims. Then came a string of tweets quoting verses from the Koran, in their original Arabic, and a few in Persian translation.
“Don’t they know that whatever they hide and whatever they reveal, God knows already?” one asked.
A more obviously-pointed was Verse 2:72: “And [recall] when you slew a man and disputed over it, but Allah was to bring out that which you were concealing.”
Another tweet addressed Saudi King Salman directly with a verse from the Koran: “And they followed [instead] what the devils had recited during the reign of Solomon. It was not Solomon who disbelieved, but the devils disbelieved, teaching people magic.”
The strangest tweet of all addressed Kamali Dehghan’s mother: “My dear mother, Mother Mahin, I love you. Your prayer worked. Take refuge in God. I will see your beautiful face again. Have no doubt. Read the Koran. I will see you. Don’t have any doubts in the verses of God. You are forgiven, just like I was forgiven. Kisses.”
Kamali Dehghan finally asked all his friends and family, except for his mother and “very trusted one[s],” to not contact him.
He also claimed that he had been contacted by Iran International’s lawyers to retract his claims against the channel.
Much discussion continued on Twitter, but just when the sun was coming up in London and most journalists were getting out of their bed, all tweets were all deleted.
A journalist at Guardian’s news desk told IranWire on November 9 that Saeed Kamali Dehghan’s editor had spoken to him and that he was “absolutely fine.” The Guardian’s press office told IranWire it will respond in writing to the question of whether it will confirm or deny the claim that Khashoggi was the source behind the Guardian article. At the time of writing, it still hasn’t.
Belt and Road Initiative: Contribution by All, Benefits for All Source: IRdiplomacy
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the new Silk Road, is a master plan proposed by President Xi Jinping of China in 2013.
Hailed as “the project of the century” by Xi, it is a comprehensive project that seeks to embrace all aspects of development.
The BRI is a massive trade and infrastructure project that aims to link China — physically and financially — to dozens of economies across Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania.
The primary focuses of the BRI — also known as One Belt One Road (OBOR) — are infrastructure, transportation, and energy.
OBOR consists of two parts: The “Belt,” which reinvents the ancient Silk Road land route, and the “Road” which is a route through various oceans.
It is the greatest ever project introduced to the world. Its dimensions are huge.
As Beijing is celebrating the fifth anniversary of the BRI, China has so far invested at least $900 billion in projects along the BRI countries, mainly in infrastructure, transport, and energy.
Win-win game
Chinese officials insist that the BRI is not a zero-sum strategy. They say it is a win-win game.
Chinese have selected the slogan of “Contribution by All, Benefits for All” for the huge BRI project.
Actually, while the project is fully realized it makes the world more interconnected and creates more amity between nations.
Chinese say, “It reinforces people-to-people connectivity” along the Belt and Road.
BRI is a road to peace
Quite aware that the United States in opposed to the megaproject and is provoking other countries not to join it, Chinese officials say the BRI seeks “peace”, “prosperity” and “integrity” for all.
China is inviting nations to “set aside prejudices” and “revive the ancient history”.
The ancient history refers to the Silk Road.
Ji Bingxuan, vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, even believes that the BRI sets the stage for promoting global friendship, saying, “BRI will build the road to peace.”
In general, when the BRI project is fully implemented it makes the world safer as the economies of the countries along the Belt and Road will serve as complementary to each other.
“China Not First” in BRI
In an open reference to U.S. President Donald Trump who is seeking “America First” policy and officially announced opposition to globalization, Li Baoshan, president of the People’s Daily, says:
“We are not putting China First in the BRI project.”
China has emerged as the second largest economy in the world since it opened its arms to market economy under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, who ruled the People’s Republic of China from 1978 until 1989.
Speaking at a speech at a Shanghai trade fair on November 5, President Xi criticized protectionism under Trump. Xi said, “As globalization deepens, the practices of law of the jungle and winner- take-all are a dead end.” He added, “The Chinese economy is a sea, not a pond. Storms can overturn a pond, but never a sea.”
In their speeches at the 2018 Media Forum on Belt and Road held at Hainan Province in late October, officials at local and national levels as well as senior journalists from the People’s Daily insisted on China’s respect to free trade.
The lecturers said China is ready to share its experiences with the “rest of the world” in upgrading their economy.
They said China is seeking “shared future for humankind”.
China says BRI is a green project
As energy is one of the main drivers of the BRI project, sticking to clean energy is of utmost importance. In advancing the project, clean energy should be given high priority as global warming and environmental degradation are causing serious headache for humanity and other species.
Speaking at the media conference, an official from China’s power grid corporation said Beijing attaches great importance to “renewable energy” in implementing the BRI project.
Though China has turned into the biggest polluter in the world in the recent years, superseding the United States, it is now the world leader by investing in renewable energy.
Silk Road is a ‘precious legacy’
As the largest project of the century, the BRI links 70 countries across Asia, Europe, and Africa through a network of railroads and shipping lanes. Yet, the Global Times says the BRI is intended to boost China’s trade and infrastructure links with more than 80 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa
and South America.
The Silk Road was an ancient land route across Europe and Asia that connected traders and travelers from regions like China, Persia (old Iran), and the Roman Empire. Merchants used to transport silk and other commodities by camel or horse along those roads.
Now proponents say the Silk Road should be cherished as a “precious legacy” for today’s world.
Today, modern Iran, due to its geostrategic situation and great size in West Asia, can serve as an important bridge between Asia and Eastern Mediterranean and Europe within the BRI project.
Investment in BRI projects
Reportedly, China has so far invested more than $900 billion in projects in countries partner to the BRI. Examples are a gas pipeline in Pakistan, a 336 kilometer rail line linking Budapest to Belgrade, and a high-speed rail link in Thailand.
In 2016, China established the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), an international development bank to help build infrastructure in BRI countries— almost like the Asia-Pacific equivalent of the IMF.
Trade with BRI countries
China’s imports and exports with BRI countries reached $860 billion over the first three quarters of the current year, a rise of 13.2% from a year earlier, the Xinhua news agency has reported.
Chinese enterprises have injected a total $10.78 billion of non-financial direct investment in the Belt and Road countries over the same period, a rise of 12.3% from last year, Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng has said, according to Xinhua.
In terms of infrastructure projects, the China-Laos railway and the Hungarian-Serbia railway were steadily advancing.
3,100 BRI projects implemented
Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have in the past five years carried out a total of 3,116 investment projects in countries covered by the BRI, Global Times reported on Oct. 31.
Weng Jieming, deputy chief of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC), said nearly one hundred SOEs had comparative advantage in building projects such as ports, railways, highways and communication networks.
He lists the Greek port of Piraeus owned and operated by COSCO, as well as the Chinese-built railways in Kenya and Ethiopia as examples of successful logistics and transport projects.
Wang said the SOEs had played a positive role in improving local people’s livelihood.
“Around 85 percent of the employees at the central state-owned enterprises’ overseas branches are local people,” he said, the Global Times reported.
The SOEs would strengthen cooperation with private Chinese companies, local firms in Belt and Road countries and multinational corporations to better protect against risks, he said.
BRI states account for a third of global GDP
So far many countries including Pakistan, Russia, Hungary, New Zealand, Poland, and Serbia have joined the project. Together they make up at least a third of the world’s GDP, over 60% of the world’s population and 75 percent of known energy reserves.
The scope of the initiative is still taking shape. More recently the initiative has been interpreted to be open to all countries as well as international and regional organizations.
Market rules
From the European perspective, the BRI has the potential to be hugely positive as long as it adheres to EU market rules as well as to international requirements and standards.
Europe is a prime investment destination for the BRI. According to Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, though not all Chinese investments in Europe are strictly BRI-related, Chinese foreign direct investment in Europe has soared from under €1 billion in 2008 to €35 billion in 2016
— more than triple the amount of European financing flowing in the opposite direction.
While certain officials and analysts in the West say that China’s global rise and its BRI project present a challenge to the West, Beijing is insisting that the BRI seeks “mutual understanding” and it “belongs to the world”.
BRI not restricted to trade
The BRI has not restricted itself just to trade. It is a comprehensive plan which considers other areas of cooperation between involved countries.
For example, Bai Chunli, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), said on Nov. 5 that China is willing to strengthen cooperation with BRI countries in scientific research on climate change, biodiversity and epidemics and infectious diseases. Also, President Xi, in a letter to the launching of the Alliance of International Science Organizations (ANSO) in the Belt and Road Region, called for scientific and technological cooperation among BRI countries.
BRI offers unique opportunity to Africa
The World Bank says the BRI offers a unique opportunity to address the large infrastructure gap in developing countries that hampers trade and economic development.
Africa has haild BRI in fostering connectivity and thereby accelerating integration and economic diversification on the continent.
Speaking at the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing in September, Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia Tan Jian said the BRI is a platform to promote global cooperation and common development based on win-win results.
The ambassador said the initiative is in line with the United Nations sustainable development goals and the African Union's Agenda 2063 which is a blueprint for African development and prosperity.
On the relevance of the initiative to the AU’s Agenda 2063, James Wakiaga, economic advisor at the UN Development Program (UNDP), noted that the BRI is vital to address the infrastructure deficit in Africa.
"The Belt and Road Initiative is very important particularly in terms of closing the infrastructure gap… so we need to look for the different sources of financing to Africa's infrastructure to be able to accelerate structural transformation and diversification," Wakiaga told Xinhua.
Professor Kassahun Berhanu from Political Science Department of Addis Ababa University said the initiative is envisioned towards increased understanding, enhanced recognition of multiculturalism and diversity, and peaceful collaboration for achieving mutually rewarding goals and objectives.
In May 2017, Kenya launched its first Chinese built high-speed railway. It connects Nairobi to the major port city of Mombasa. The 290-mile railway was built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation. It was financed almost completely by the China Eximbank. The railway is planned to extend to Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, South Sudan, and Ethiopia.
BRI has turned from vision into reality
Huang Kunming, head of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said on Nov. 2 that the BRI has turned from a vision into a reality and yielded fruitful results.
Huang made the remarks in a meeting with a 256 representatives from 205 media outlets and institutions from 90 countries and international organizations who had attended at the 2018 Media Cooperation Forum on Belt and Road.
Giants seem to join hands in BRI
In the rapidly changing world, China’s offer to Japan to be involved in the BRI projects can be highly promising. It is highly important in view of Japan’s high technology and experience in overseas projects.
In meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who visited Beijing on Oct. 25, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said his country would welcome Japan’s involvement in China’s overseas infrastructure projects.
“China welcomes Japan to take part in the Belt and Road Initiative,” Li said, according to the South China Morning Post.
Abe also pledged to lift Tokyo’s often-tense relations with Beijing into a “new dimension” in a
“new era” of cooperation.
Also, during Abe’s meeting with President Xi, China and Japan announced 50 joint infrastructure projects through the Belt and Road Initiative.
Shiro Armstrong, director of the Australia–Japan Research Centre in the Crawford School of Public Policy at the ANU, says China’s welcoming of Japan to undertake joint projects is a sign of a change in approach to rolling out its BRI.
For Japan it’s a pragmatic way to engage China. As Chinese policymakers search for ways to better deploy the country’s vast sums of capital abroad, Japan has experience of doing just that dating back to the 1970s, notes.
Armstrong says, “Japanese engagement can shape the massive investments and get more business for its companies. It’s also a part of a broader hedge against an increasingly uncertain Japan–U.S.
relationship.”
In view of an unpredictable leader at the White House who is undermining world order let alone global trade rules, the BRI presents tremendous opportunities in terms of trade and growth.
The BRI can be the engine of global growth and development if the giant economies of China and Japan – respectively the second and third largest – and other great economies like South Korea join hands to build a better future in cooperation with other countries along the Belt and Road.
The road ahead is bumpy as opponents in the United States and elsewhere accuse China of creating debt traps through its investments in recipient countries. Yet the “project of the century”, as described President Xi, can change the shape of Asia, Africa and parts of Europe by strictly adhering to the principles of open tenders and transparency to reduce the likelihood of failed projects and improve the outcomes for both investors and host communities.
