Understanding China's 'one belt and one road' policy

China seems to be on a roll ever since Xi Jinping became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, and later the President of China in 2013. He has put forward several ideas that are intended to catapult that country to the centre of geo-politics and geo-economics in the world. To begin with, he has floated the concept of a 'Chinese dream,' and gave the idea of 'one belt and one road.' The 'dream' envisages doubling the 2010 GDP per capita and building a prosperous China by 2021. By 2049, when China will celebrate 100 years as a People's Republic, it wants to be a modern and socially advanced country. Another grand idea, among others, is to construct a geo-economic Silk Road and a modern Maritime Silk Route that would connect China with Europe by both land and sea.

Last week, a team of eminent editors and columnists from Bangladesh were flown to Beijing and then to Kunming in Yunnan province in south west China to have talks with Communist Party leaders as well as provincial government officials to understand what China is talking about, especially its 'one belt and one road' policy. Not only did the Chinese talk about their grandiose scheme, they also took us to Pu'er, an ancient town in Yunnan which is the first tea producing area in the world and from where the first tea route across borders started. It was called the 'Tea Horse Road,' and carried Chinese tea on horseback over mountains and valleys from China to Vietnam, to Laos and also to Myanmar. The route through Myanmar carried tea and ideas from China through Bangladesh to India for centuries. The route reminded all of us of the possibility of having a modern day road that can establish connectivity from China to other countries in Asia, especially the Mekong sub-region and the Indo-Gangetic plains.

China intends to build a single road that will connect this backward region in Asia with its prosperous hinterland and bring economic benefits to this area where people are comparatively poor. The 'one belt and one road' is a concept rooted in history. Through this overland route that brought tea from China it was connected to a Maritime Silk Route that linked Asian and African ports to finally end up in Europe. China has built first class highways and railroads from the north of China to the south and from the east of China to the west in the last three decades. It intends to start connecting its own networks to link up with roads in South East Asia, South Asia and, through a maritime route, with Africa and Europe.

China is therefore keen to see that all countries and regions along the 'one belt and one road' participate in this massive endeavour. Most of the countries of South East Asia, with whom China has a trade volume of over $400 billion, have welcomed the idea. China has already pledged $40 billion for this project. But what about Bangladesh?

Since 1999, we have been a part of an initiative called the Kunming Declaration, which is meant to enhance sub-regional cooperation framework for China, Myanmar, Bangladesh and India, officially designated as the BCIM economic corridor. The BCIM-EC is but a small portion of the huge economic belt that would emerge after the completion of China's other ambitious scheme—the Southern Silk Road and the 21st century Maritime Silk Route as envisaged by President Xi Jinping. This land based and maritime silk route would ultimately connect the 21st century growth zones of East Asia, South Asia and South East Asia to the energy rich Middle East and industrialised Europe.

Beijing envisages that the BCIM corridor will link its south western Yunnan province through Myanmar to Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, and then on to the Indian megapolis Kolkata. This will be the key segment of the land based 'Silk Road economic belt.' It will also link with the port city of Chennai in India, which is a midpoint of a Maritime Silk Route which starts from south eastern Fujian province of China and links littoral countries in the region. From an historical point of view, India has been the converging point of the Maritime Silk Route and the Southern Silk Road. It is through this road and maritime route that the famous Chinese traveler and scholar Hiuen Tsang (also Xuanzang, Hsuan Tsang)  reached India and returned to China. During his stay in India he had studied Buddhism and later disseminated it in China.

When our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited Beijing in June this year, she met President Xi Jinping and discussed the BCIM corridor and the Maritime Silk Route. The port of Chittagong is an important point in the Maritime Silk Route.

The trip to China by the media delegation from Bangladesh deepened their knowledge of the ancient connectivity between China and Bangladesh. But it also deepened their understanding of the bright prospects that the 'one belt and one road' holds for the millions of people in our two countries. Indeed, prosperity beckons to all if the unexploited resources of this inaccessible part of the world are opened up through better connectivity. It also negates to some extent the US policy of 'pivot to Asia,' which President Barack Obama announced. It also questions the utility of a new Silk Road that the US planned across Afghanistan.

The writer is a former Ambassador and a commentator on current issues.
E-mail: ashfaque303@gmail.com