Another traditional US ally re-aligning itself between the two major spheres of influence. The balance will tip further in China's favor as the USA recedes further from global development.<p>What's interesting is if you look at the parallel international institutions that China are developing that will compete with the IMF et al, many of the partners are traditional and very close allies of the United States.<p>For ex. with the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, six of the top ten participants are all traditional very close allies of the United States - including Australia, France, the UK and South Korea[0]<p>Long before Trump, Obama lobbied the leaders of these nations and advised against joining the AIIB, to no avail[1] All that post-war development and planning of building up the US sphere of influence slowly and steadily fading away.<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Infrastructure_Investment_Bank" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Infrastructure_Investmen...</a><p>[1] <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-asia-bank-idUSKBN0MD0B320150317" rel="nofollow">http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-asia-bank-idUSKBN0M...</a>
I'm in West Africa now, and it's staggering to drive out of a tiny jungle track onto a highway equal in size and quality to anywhere in the world. It's also staggering to catch up to the road crew and see they are all Chinese.<p>Same goes for the hydo plants, railways, etc.<p>Of course, almost all of the roads and railways are to extract resources, not to help locals in any way.
The Karakoram Highway, between Pakistan and China, is an amazing engineering achievement.<p>The cartoonist and author Ted Rall has visited Central Asia many times.<p><a href="http://rall.com/2009/06/04/the-karakoram-highway" rel="nofollow">http://rall.com/2009/06/04/the-karakoram-highway</a>
I am from Pakistan and I really wish it was the US. I wish they had spent 1/10th of the money on development they spent on the war. This could have been something that brought stability and more US influence in the region. I think China will reap all the benefits now.
When this goes live, China will gain access to an Indian ocean port in Gwadar. This project runs through Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir; these are contested/disputed territory between India and Pakistan. China and India already have boundary disputes in Kashmir and in Arunachal/Tibet<p>More than an Indian ocean port (which could be blockaded by India in case of a war with either of Pakistan or China), this will connect China by road with Middle East Asia and other Central Asian states; China hopes this connectivity will boost trade in the future.<p>This project is undertaken with the intent to engage the excess capacity of the engineering firms that have grown and matured over the years with China's economic surge in the last three decades. These companies have the expertise, technology and project management expertise—to build roads, dams, bridges, tunnels, rails, trains, engines, steel, cement and myriad other things—but doesn't have any takers as they had earlier because of the economic slowdown in China.<p>Another reading is that China has lots of Capital which it can invest abroad but not at home. With the overheated economy at home it is wiser to redeploy it in countries with friendly disposition to Chinese investments.<p>If all goes well China can get a new avenue for its products. Even if none of it works it is not too bad, as China will get the host governments indebted. Sri Lanka[1], with its Hambantota port project, can be considered as an example.<p>[1]: <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2016/11/17/sri-lanka-claims-it-didnt-really-sell-key-national-infrastructure-to-china/" rel="nofollow">http://www.forbes.com/sites/wadeshepard/2016/11/17/sri-lanka...</a>
The one thing the article doesn't mention is that some of the projects under this plan passes through the Pok (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir), which creates a precarious situation between India, Pakistan and China over Kashmir.
In (somehow) related news, Morocco is enlisting the help of China for building a new City.<p><a href="http://qz.com/841803/morocco-wants-to-build-a-new-city-from-scratch-with-china│" rel="nofollow">http://qz.com/841803/morocco-wants-to-build-a-new-city-from-...</a><p>They just finished building a Huge bridge near the city of Rabat.<p><a href="http://www.thearabweekly.com/Economy/5954/Rabat%E2%80%99s-cable-stayed-bridge-to-have-big-effect-on-Morocco" rel="nofollow">http://www.thearabweekly.com/Economy/5954/Rabat%E2%80%99s-ca...</a>
Related article regarding China's investment in Srilanka.<p><a href="http://thediplomat.com/2016/11/china-and-sri-lanka-between-a-dream-and-a-nightmare/" rel="nofollow">http://thediplomat.com/2016/11/china-and-sri-lanka-between-a...</a>
I'm not sure why the bottom comment is marked "dead", but it seems prescient to me. Isolationism is exactly what China wants the US to do.
Ah. One hears a lot of complaining from Pakistan and it's citizens against the US and it's apparently damaging policies.<p>It's unlikely for one to hear such complaints against China, as China will nip any dissent in the bud, with an iron fist. The great Chinese censor and censure machinery will soon hold a tight grip around the citizens, media and politics of Pakistan. Happy 2017 and beyond!