Page 34 - Issue 9

the 100th anniversary of the People’s adopted in 2016 that provides long-range from “policy lenders” so called because
Republic of China. implementing guidance in five-year their lending decisions are responsive
increments, calls for the “construction to presidential and geostrategic
All of China’s leaders have advanced this of maritime hubs” to safeguard China’s preferences. They include the China
quest since the founding of the People’s “maritime rights and interests” as it Development Bank and the Export-
Republic of China, but the pursuit has embarks on laying a “foundation for Import Bank of China (Exim Bank),
accelerated under President Xi Jinping. maritime Great Power status” by 2020. which have committed over $1 trillion.
strategic Rationale The centenary of the founding of the
OBOR directly supports many elements People’s Republic of China, 2049, has The Silk Road Fund holds $40 billion
in investment funds and is supervised
of China’s national security strategy. At been set as the year when it will become by China’s Central Bank. The Asia
a macro level, it seeks to reshape the the world’s “main maritime power”. Infrastructure Investment Bank, whose
world economic order in ways that are Accordingly, China’s drive to acquire remit now includes Africa, has a capital
conducive to Beijing’s drive for Great port access and secure supply are likely base of $100 billion. Additional funds
Power status. One Belt One Road has two to intensify alongside the expansion of come from China’s foreign exchange
components. The Silk Road Economic the Maritime Silk Road. In 2010, only reserves and its sovereign wealth fund,
Belt establishes six land corridors one-fifth of the world’s 50 largest deep which hold $7 trillion and $220 billion,
connecting China’s interior to Central water ports had any Chinese investment. respectively.
Asia and Europe. It includes railroads to
Europe, oil and gas pipelines from the By 2019, it had increased to two-thirds. Rising Concerns about Chinese
Caspian Sea to China, and a high-speed The China Ocean Shipping Company, projects and debt
train network connecting Southeast which controls most Chinese overseas
Asia to China’s eastern seaboard. port holdings, is now the World’s fourth Hostility is rising in many countries
largest shipping fleet. Beijing’s merchant toward policies that favor Chinese
The Maritime Silk workers over locals
establishes three in construction and
“blue economic infrastructure contracts. This
passages” knitted has been most prominent in
together through African countries, such as
a chain of sea Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania,
ports from the Uganda, and Zambia, to
South China Sea name a few. Fourth, some
to Africa that also of Beijing’s rivals in Asia
direct trade to and and around the world are
from China. increasingly uneasy about
what they see as an effort
One Belt One to use OBOR to expand
Road also China’s military posture and
in cr e a s es political leverage.
Beijing’s control
of critical global As the early focus of One
supply chains Belt One Road, East Africa
and its ability to The Chinese built electric railway from Addis Ababa to Djibouti has developed into a central
redirect the flow of node in the Maritime
international trade. Silk Road, connected by
Central to these efforts are moves to marine has quadrupled since to become planned and finished ports, pipelines,
open new sea lines of communication the world’s second largest. It now railways, and power plants built and
and expand China’s strategic port access moves more global cargo that any other funded by Chinese companies and
around the world. In 2017, Chinese country. lenders. A standard gauge railway
state-owned companies announced As a party political instrument, OBOR connecting Mombasa to Nairobi—the
plans to buy or secure majority stakes strengthens Xi’s authority at home. It is a biggest investment in Kenya since its
in near overseas ports, all located in central element of “Xi Jinping Thought,” independence—is a flagship OBOR
regions where China plans to develop which is inscribed in the state and party project in East Africa.
new sea lanes. This is in addition to the constitutions as a guiding philosophy.
40 ports in Africa, Asia, and Europe in This further enables Xi to marshal The electric railway from Addis Ababa
which Chinese state-owned firms hold every resource at his disposal to see his to Djibouti, where China established
stakes worth a combined $40 billion. signature program through. its first overseas naval base and has
stakes in a strategic deep water port, is
China’s 13 Five Year Plan, a document Funding for One Belt One Road comes another. From Djibouti, the Maritime
th

34 | The Nile Explorer 009