Eurasia 2023/10 - web

EURASIA 10 OCTOBER 16, 2023

YEARS

OF BRI

The new era of cooperation Wang Huiyao, founding president of the Center for China and Globalization

8.9 EUR 3 290 HUF

Table of contents FOREWORD BRI as the framework for a new world order – Levente Horváth

GEURASIA

2-4.

The new era of cooperation: interview with Wang Huiyao – Mariann Őry

6-7.

The dawn of Eurasia – György Szalma

8-9.

Shared results, shared benefits – Mariann Őry

10. Peacemaker instead of global policeman – Dávid László

NEW SUSTAINABLE ECONOMICS

RHYMES IN HISTORY

The Green Belt and Road – Szabolcs Veres

The future has already begun a decade ago – Norbert Csizmadia

16-17.

18. Ecological civilisation: interview with Wang Zhihe – Mariann Őry

NEW AGE – NEW ROAD

20-21.

New Silk Road in the Middle East – Meszár Tárik

Crossroads and icons – Stefano Arroque

CULTURE AND INNOVATION

The financial foundations of the new world order – Dániel Kovács

30-31.

Zhang Qian - founder of the Silk Road – Gergely Salát

22-23.

The future is here – World Computing Conference – Joakim Scheffer

14-15.

ANCIENT KNOWLEDGE IN A MODERN WORLD

2T2C: TALENT, TECHNOLOGY, CAPITAL, COGNITION

THE ECONOMICS OF GEOGRAPHY

12-13.

28-29.

25. A time of reunion 26. Book reviews

“The BRI should aim for a high-standard, sustainable and people-centered progress.”

Xi Jinping

BRI

as the frame­work

for a new world order

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched a decade ago, has achieved numerous results, although it is usually portrayed in a negative light in the Western media and presented as a kind of neo-colonisation. Objective articles on the achievements and successes of the BRI in Eurasia have been published several times, but the current issue of our magazine is dedicated specifically to this topic. But why is it important for Eurasia to focus on the Belt and Road Initiative?

China has grown economically and politically stronger by the 21st century, and thanks to this, it was able to launch the New Silk Road Economic Cooperation in 2013, which has been developing steadily for ten years. The aim of the initiative is to create Eurasian connectivity that will benefit not only the maritime powers but also the mainland countries.

Over the last hundred years, we have seen several Russian, Japanese or EU attempts at creating similar Eurasian connectivity, but the economic or political strength of the respective countries/regions was not quite sufficient to undertake an initiative of this scale. After all, according to Zbigniew Brzeziński, former chief national security adviser to the US president, the main geopolitical space for the United States is Eurasia, and the United States’ global pre-eminence depends directly on its ability to maintain its dominance throughout Eurasia. This can only be countered by strong economic and political backing. It can be said, therefore, that the BRI’s ten years of steady development are a testament to China’s economic and political strength.

In recent years, we have heard from Chinese leaders on many platforms that the world needs a

Levente Horváth, Ph.D., Director of the Eurasia Center, Editor-in-Chief of Eurasia

harmonious, multipolar world order that should not be governed by a single country or small com­munity.

Asian countries reject hegemony and constantly advocate peaceful dialogue and cooperation.

The Belt and Road Initiative could be an appropriate world order alternative but, above all, for non-Western civilisations or non-aligned countries - who make up several times the Western community of 800 million. In international politics, we are increasingly seeing that the Chinese initiative is better received in the world than the Western approach: more and more countries are joining the BRI, and there are also more and more countries that do not want to take sides but want to maintain good relations with both Western and Eastern countries. This thinking is supported by China, but rejected by the West, which is pushing for bloc-building.

Over the last ten years, the BRI has made great progress, but it will take many years or decades to see whether or not it will really be the basis of a new world order because the transformation of the world order is not a year or two away. In any case, it can be concluded that the Belt and Road Initiative can provide a suitable alternative to the framework of a new multipolar world order.

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Geurasia

The new era of cooperation

by Mariann Őry Photos: Róbert Hegedüs

IT IS IN THE INTEREST OF THE WHOLE WORLD THAT CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES ESTABLISH A STABLE RELATIONSHIP AND HELP DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, WANG HUIYAO, FOUNDING PRESIDENT OF THE CENTER FOR CHINA AND GLOBALIZATION (CCG), ONE OF THE WORLD’S 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL THINK TANKS, TOLD EURASIA.

- What do you think the new kind of globalisation would look like in the emerging multipolar world?

What role can China and Europe play in it?

- Today’s globalisation has a new trend. Since the Second World War, we have a global system that was built on the Bretton Woods system. The World Bank, IMF, WTO, and the UN are all international institutions that have greatly promoted peace, prosperity and construction. But the world has greatly changed.

We see the emerging developing countries, the BRICS countries, China, Asia, Africa and South America rising. We are entering a multipolar world, and we need to upgrade our system of global governance. This process is going to take some time, with a lot of adjustments. Europe and China can play

The BRI, in the last decade, has made very significant progress, it has connected China and the world”

a very active, constructive role because the first system was largely built by the US. Europe, China, the United States, the Global South, and the developing countries should all work together to build this new global order. We need to have a more developed, inclusive globalisation.

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“The whole world wants the US and China to talk to each other, and to really have a stable relationship”

- In which direction do you think Chinese-US relations will go?

- The recent visits of Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Janet Yellen, the Secretary of the Treasury, have made a big difference. They generated a lot of goodwill among the business community, people-to-people exchanges, and journalism. In the past five years, there have been no high-level visits.

Also, there are many Chinese companies on the US sanction list. Yellen openly declared that the US doesn’t want to decouple from China. The whole world wants the US and China to talk to each other, and to really have a stable relationship.

- This year marks the tenth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, the BRI. What do you think has been its greatest achievement?

- The BRI, in the last decade, has made very significant progress, it has connected China and the world. It’s also a public good that China is trying to provide to developing countries and to the world.

Many statistics support that. For example, China’s trade with Belt and Road countries has gone up significantly. China has built many highways, bridges, railways and infrastructure for developing countries. The BRI provides enormous help for the economic cooperation between China and the world. Of

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course, Belt and Road is not perfect. It still needs improvement. I hope that we can institutionalise BRI a bit more to have stronger cooperation and consultation between the countries.

- How will the BRI look like in a decade, on its twentieth anniversary?

- I think the next decade of BRI is going to be more inclusive. It should include more actors and have a more multilateral approach. Right now, BRI is

We need to have a more developed, inclusive globalisation” doing a lot of bilateral agreements. We could have the Belt and Road Summits in different countries, it should be a global project. BRI could probably participate more in the Ukraine reconstruction.

The author is managing editor at Eurasia

Today, it is undeniable that global problems such as long-term sustainable economic transition, geopolitical tensions and blocks can only be solved by „joint thinking” and that challenges can only be turned to our advantage with international cooperation. The Magyar Nemzeti Bank (MNB), the Central Bank of Hungary, as one of the leading proponents of enhancing Eurasian cooperation, actively promotes the sharing of the best Eastern and Western practices in relation to the constantly expanding mandate and role of central banks.

The flagship event of this initiative is the Budapest Eurasia Forum event series.

This autumn, the event will take place for the fourth time in a row with the primary objective to discuss the most pressing problems our society is facing today. More than 20,000 viewers worldwide followed the Budapest

Eurasia Forum in the previous years, as the events provide a rare chance for international professional discourse.

The title for this year’s Forum is “Transitions for Sustainability,” and it will take place on November 23–24, 2023. The sustainability of the transition as a process is increasingly stressed in the building of a sustainable future. The Forum’s participants evaluate the realities of the economic transition to sustainability by discussing issues like the connection of geopolitics and technology, the technological singularity, making the key economic sectors sustainable, the recipe of a sustainable financial system, the role of multilateral institutions in the transition to standardised ESG guidelines, and the role of current education in laying the groundwork for the future of work.

www.mnb.hu\eurasia

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The dawn of Eurasia

by György Szalma

THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE (BRI) IS THE MOST AMBITIOUS ECONOMIC AND INFRASTRUCTURAL UNDERTAKING IN HUMAN HISTORY. IT IS BUILDING A GLOBAL TRADE CORRIDOR LINKING CHINA WITH EUROPE, AFRICA AND SOUTH AMERICA. Piraeus Container Terminal, the busiest container port of the Mediterranean

“THANKS TO THE BRI, NEARLY 40 MILLION PEOPLE HAVE BEEN LIFTED OUT OF POVERTY.”

The Belt and Road Initiative (formerly known as One Belt, One Road) has so far been joined by 155 countries, representing two-thirds of the world’s population. This has created the largest marketplace in the world, creating unparalleled opportunities for growth for all parties involved.

So far, 93 countries have joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the financial institution that provides the financing for the initiative, and its activities are complemented by the Silk Road Fund. The construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship of the BRI, provides an approximately accurate picture of the scale of global infrastructure development. The in-

Photo: AFP/Xinhua, Jiang Chao

„THE WORLD’S LARGEST MARKET HAS BEEN CREATED, CREATING UNPARALLELED OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH FOR ALL PARTIES INVOLVED.”

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vestment is worth 75 billion USD and will include the construction of 2,700 km of transport infrastructure, as well as critical energy and industrial upgrades.

In the ten years of the BRI’s history, three thousand projects and 420 thousand jobs have been created in the countries along the routes of the „new Silk Road”. The initiative has generated a total investment of nearly one trillion dollars. Another not insignificant achievement is that the BRI has lifted nearly 40 million people out of poverty. The Belt and Road Initiative has also stimulated the global economy. Trade in goods between China and the countries involved in the cooperation has grown from

1.04 trillion dollars in 2013 to 2.07 trillion dollars in 2022. The average annual growth rate was eight per cent. Meanwhile, not only trade flows have picked up, but also the volume of financial cooperation has reached a higher level and cultural ties have become much deeper.

On the tenth anniversary of the launch of the project, the third Belt and Road Forum will be held in China, to which the organisers are expecting more guests than ever before, including representatives from 150 countries, as well as from various international organisations and cooperating global institutions.

The author is a journalist.

Photo: AFP/Nurphoto, Danil Shamkin

Coal-fired power plant in Sindh province, Pakistan

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SHARED RESULTS, SHARED BENEFITS

by Mariann Őry Photos: Róbert Hegedüs

ON THE OCCASION OF THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LAUNCH OF THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE (BRI) AND THE 74TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS BETWEEN HUNGARY AND CHINA, MAGYAR NEMZETI BANK (MNB), THE CENTRAL BANK OF HUNGARY AND THE EMBASSY OF CHINA JOINTLY ORGANISED A CONFERENCE ON 25 SEPTEMBER IN BUDAPEST. In his opening remarks, MNB Governor György Matolcsy said that the first ten years of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013 have been an evident success. According to the governor, the first ten years of the BRI were not only a period of infrastructure investment but also a period of building financial and economic ties, including between MNB and the People’s Bank of China (PBoC). The Hungarian central bank was the first in Europe to establish “a very well-­ functioning and very fruitful” swapline financial relationship with the PBoC in 2013. The agreement, which is renewed annually, is one of the “best functioning financial bridges” on the continent, he added. According to György Matolcsy, we are moving towards a multipolar world order, which, of course,

György Matolcsy

We are moving towards a multipolar world order, which of course has more global money, and the multipolarisation of politics also means the multipolarisation of the financial system – Governor György Matolcsy

has more global money, and the multipolarisation of politics also means the multipolarisation of the financial system.

Chinese Ambassador Gong Tao said China has always been a proponent of extensive and mutually beneficial cooperation, “the BRI is about shared achievements and shared benefits”. He warned that in the current turbulent period, the foundations of global economic growth are shaky, and the only way to achieve sustainable growth is through win-win cooperation.

Understanding the geopolitical challenges requires an understanding of three key words: Eurasian complexity, connectivity and sustainability,” said geographer Norbert Csizmadia, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Pallas Athéné Domus Meriti Foundation and the John von Neumann University Foundation. He stressed that many indicators show the growing importance of Asia in recent decades, with the centre of gravity of the world economy clearly shifting eastwards.

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Gong Tao

The only way to achieve sustainable growth is through win-win cooperation – Ambassador Gong Tao The speeches were followed by three panel discussions on financial integration, green development and people-to-people links, with leaders from Chinese banks, large corporations and institutions, among others. The event was hosted by Levente Horváth, Hungary’s former Consul General in Shanghai and Director of the Eurasia Center, who concluded the professional programme by saying that the conference participants had successfully highlighted the importance of international dialogue and the exchange of experiences, perspectives and knowledge between countries.

In his closing speech, Barnabás Virág, Vice-­Governor of MNB, said that cooperation is the only possible way out of the current situation shaped by inflation, challenges in the transformation of the energy supply system and geopolitical tensions, among other factors. He recalled that Eurasia has grown in importance in recent years, and China has become a significant global player.

In October, the third Belt and Road Forum is held for the third time in Beijing, with the participation of several heads of state and government, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

The author is managing editor of Eurasia

Norbert Csizmadia

Opening ceremony of China’s military 1 0 base in Djibouti, 2017

PEACEMAKER INSTEAD OF GLOBAL POLICEMAN

by Dávid László NOT MANY PEOPLE EXPECTED EVEN A YEAR AGO THAT THE TWO RIVALS OF THE MIDDLE EAST, SUNNI SAUDI ARABIA AND SHIITE IRAN, WOULD SETTLE THEIR RELATIONS. AND NO ONE THOUGHT THAT THEY WOULD DO SO WITH CHINESE MEDIATION. BUT THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED IN MARCH. CAN CHINA DO WHAT EVERYONE HAS BEEN TRYING TO DO: BRING PEACE TO A WAR-TORN REGION? China is now a great power whose opinions cannot simply be dismissed. Beijing makes no secret of the fact that it does not want to play the role of the global policeman, but simply has a peaceful and stable Middle East in its geopolitical and economic interests. China’s trade with the Middle East already approached 260 billion dollars in 2021, far outstripping the US and Europe. The region plays a key role in dampening the Chinese economy’s hunger for energy: Saudi Arabia is the largest oil exporter, Iraq third and Oman fourth. Meanwhile, they have also signed up for Qatari LNG, with an agreement this year to buy four million tonnes of

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian meets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah

LNG a year by 2050. And last year, the idea of paying for energy in Chinese yuan rather than US dollars was raised in an unprecedented move.

Peace between Saudi Arabia and Iran could resolve, or at least ease, the conflict that has poisoned Yemen, Syria and Iraq. The hardest nut to crack is the Israeli-Palestinian settlement. Xi Jinping has already indicated this year that he is ready to mediate on this issue. In the summer, he received Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, and recently Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that he had also been invited. The last time the talks were taken up in earnest was under Barack Obama, so the fact that the issue is back on the table is a big deal. And then who knows? The Nobel Peace Prize has been won for less.

The author is a foreign policy journalist

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The Economics of Geography

CROSSROADS AND ICONS

by Stefano Arroque

GEORGIAN PRIME MINISTER IRAKLI GARIBASHVILI’S RETURN TO POWER IN 2021 AND THE ENSUING IDEOLOGICAL SHIFT, WHILE MOSTLY AIMED AT DOMESTIC POLITICS, WOULD HAVE STRONG IMPACTS ON GEORGIA’S FOREIGN POLICY. PARTICULARLY IN TBILISI’S RELATIONS WITH ASIA AND CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.

In foreign policy, Irakli Garibashvili has opted for an even more balanced approach than his predecessors. The previous pro-European and broadly pro-Western position, as well as its scepticism towards Russia on the political-diplomatic level, were preserved as key aspects of Georgia’s foreign policy doctrine. However, Garibashvili’s approach thereto follows a much more pragmatic pattern, demonstrating a renewed consciousness of the increasingly multipolar character of the international system. This is reflected in a policy that reaffirms Georgia’s commitment to its Western allies while seeking to expand partnerships to its East.

Towards the rising Asian economies, the government has placed strong emphasis on economic relations, emphasising its strategic location and adopting a more strictly pragmatic approach than its predecessors.

Sino-Georgian relations, while never negative, have grown in depth and scope during Georgian Dream’s governments, with Georgia being recognised as a strategic country by Beijing due to its location as part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Garibashvili has taken an even more enthusiastic

stance on ties with Beijing. During a recent trip to China, Garibashvili met President Xi Jinping, with the two committing to establishing a “strategic partnership” and elevating Sino-Georgian ties to “the highest level”.

Georgia has also worked to strengthen its relations with other key emerging regional and global players from Asia. One of the main multilateral initiatives connecting Georgia with Central Asia, particularly Kazakhstan, is the Trans-Caspian In-

“The centre of gravity of Georgia’s foreign policy has shifted Eastwards” ternational Transport Route, also known as the Middle Corridor, in which Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye also participate. The project has become particularly relevant since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Tbilisi has also sought to develop its relations with India in the political and economic spheres.

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Photo: AFP, Antoine Bourea

“One of the main multilateral initiatives connecting Georgia with Central Asia is the Middle Corridor” Georgia’s parliament building in Tbilisi

Ultimately, an analysis of Tbilisi’s Eastward outreaches shows the Georgian government does not plan a U-turn from the country’s established foreign policy doctrines any time soon. Rather, what Garibashvili has sought to do is to adapt said doctrines to a new international situation - one in which

multipolar world order is not a concept from a distant past or a hypothetical future but the very basis upon which a successful foreign policy must be built.

The author is a Brussels-based expert in Central and Eastern European affairs

Photo: AFP/Xinhua, Liu Bin

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili met his Chinese counterpart Li Qiang in July

Photo: AFP/Xinhua, Ren Chao

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THE FINANCIAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER

by Dániel Kovács

AIIB headquarters in Beijing

THE ECONOMIC LANDSCAPE IS CONSTANTLY CHANGING, AND COOPERATION INITIATIVES ARE KEY TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS. CHINA IS LEADING THE WAY THROUGH THE ASIAN INFRA­STRUCTURE INVESTMENT BANK AND THE SILK ROAD FUND, WHICH AIM TO SUPPORT AND PROMOTE THE ASIAN POWER’S PROJECTS IN FOREIGN MARKETS WHILE SUCCESS­ FULLY CHALLENGING THE HEGEMONY OF US-DOMINATED FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS.

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Source: Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) was established on 29 June 2015 at the initiative of China. At the time, it had the ‚modest’ objective of providing funds to meet the huge investment needs of the Asia-Pacific region, which amount to some 1,000 billion dollars a year. China contributed half of the 100 billion dollars in core capital, 50 billion, with India, the second largest, providing only eight per cent.

The initiative has been criticised, and not without reason, particularly from the United States, and has even been seen as an open attack. The emergence of the AIIB meant the end of the dominance of the US-dominated financial institutions, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. At the same time, the initial rapid successes quickly silenced critics, with over two billion dollars worth of projects approved in the first year.

The number of countries joining the Bank has expanded rapidly, with 12 countries, including Belgium, Ireland and Hungary.

Another major flagship of China’s foreign engagement is the Silk Road Fund, which aims to promote the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects initiated by the Asian country. The Silk Road Fund was established in 2014 and has since supported

$0bn

“In a short time, the AIIB has become one of the world’s most important multilateral development banks.”

China’s largest 21st century initiative, financing infrastructure projects, providing access to energy resources and strengthening economic and trade links between participating countries. The fund contributes to building inter-regional connectivity, sustainable economic development and more equitable access to global markets, and is actively involved in a number of infrastructure projects.

The fund has an initial capital of forty billion dollars and is directly managed by the People’s Bank of China and state-owned asset management institutions. It now has a worldwide presence, contributing to the development of international economic cooperation and global trade.

The author is an economic journalist

$5bn

India

$9,47bn

Turkey

$3,87bn

China

$3,52bn

Bangladesh

$3,2bn

Indonesia

$3,13bn

This only includes data up to March 2023.

$10bn

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New Sustainable Economics

The Green Belt and Road

by Szabolcs Veres

THE MAJORITY OF THE WORLD IS ONLY FAMILIAR WITH THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE (BRI) IN THE “TRADITIONAL” SENSE, WITH ITS ECONOMIC, TRADE AND FINANCIAL ASPECTS. HOWEVER, THE BRI HAS BECOME MORE THAN THAT, AS THE SO-CALLED GREEN SILK ROAD IS BEING DEVELOPED ALONGSIDE THE WELL-KNOWN TRADE PILLAR OF THE INITIATIVE, WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS ON RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES.

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The Green Silk Road is a concept of sustainable development linked to the countries of the BRI. Its aim is to make BRI projects greener and more sustainable, in a way that will provide livelihoods for the communities connected to the initiative and also provide electricity, one of the essential energy sources of our time.

Why is this lesser-known aspect of the initiative so important? There are three main reasons. Firstly, sustainable development and the shift to ‘green’ energy sources fits into a growing global trend that can be seen as an effective way to help implement the

Photo: AFP/Xinhua, Völgyi Attila

Kaposvar solar power plant in Hungary

Photo: AFP/Xinhua, Kalizhan Ospanov

Zhanatas wind farm in Kazakhstan, a symbol of BRI cooperation

UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Secondly, the Green Silk Road is also a key priority for China, given Beijing’s ambition to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Thirdly, climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity and a concerted global effort is needed, particularly in emerging and developing economies, to slow and reverse the process. The Green Silk Road therefore relies primarily on three renewable energy sources: hydro, solar and wind.

Thanks to successful economic reforms and green energy policies, China’s hydropower sector has grown twenty-fold in the last forty years. Beijing is making sure that it continues to invest actively in this sector under the Belt and Road Initiative. It is seeking to transfer its experience and advanced technologies to countries that need them.

The transition to solar power will also require significant efforts, as much of the infrastructure in the developed world is based on fossil fuels, but the economic benefits of solar power are becoming increasingly evident. In addition, wind energy is also a key part of the Chinese initiative, as it is one of the simplest and most affordable renewable energy sources.

Many countries are only beginning to recognise the potential of the Green Silk Road, but this could change in the future. Taking into account the environmental problems facing the BRI countries, the initiative offers a clear solution to address them, and it is also worth monitoring the projects from a European perspective and exploiting their potential.

The author is a researcher at the Eurasia Center

ECOLOGICAL CIVILISATION

by Marian Őry Photo: Róbert Hegedüs

LONG-TERM PLANNING AND FAITH IN THE FUTURE ARE KEY TO SUSTAIN­ ABILITY, CHINESE PHILOSOPHY PROFESSOR WANG ZHIHE, AUTHOR OF PROCESS AND PLURALISM - CHINESE THOUGHT ON THE HARMONY OF DIVERSITY TOLD EURASIA.

- What elements of traditional Chinese culture are reflected in the country’s approach to sustainability and climate efforts?

- Like Hungarians, Chinese people also deeply care about their children and their future. Longterm planning is part of our traditional way of thinking. If you have some money, you spend half of it and keep the other half. Because you think about your children, about the future.

- What do you think are the biggest results of China’s sustainability policy?

- The biggest result is that the term ecological civilisation is written into the party’s constitution, as well as China’s constitution. That means no matter who leader becomes the leader, the new leader also will follow this principle.

- How do you think the Belt and Road Initiative and especially the Green Silk Road are helping these efforts?

- They have contributed a lot, because poverty eradication is a key issue in developing countries.

Even if people in traditional societies recognise the

importance of ecological civilisation and sustainability, if they have nothing to eat, if they need money, they will - metaphorically speaking - cut down the trees.

The author is managing editor at Eurasia

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New Age - New Road

NEW SILK ROAD IN THE MIDDLE EAST

by Meszár Tárik

A MAJOR INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT WOULD LINK IRAQ WITH TÜRKIYE. THE COMPLETION OF THE “ROAD TO DEVELOPMENT” RAIL AND ROAD NETWORK, AS WELL AS THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE IRAQI PORT OF FAW, COULD MAKE THE MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRY A KEY TRANSPORT HUB BETWEEN ASIA AND EUROPE.

Breakwaters of the Grand Faw Port project

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“The grandiose project could make Iraq a new key transport hub between Asia and Europe”

Groundbreaking ceremony of Al Faw Grand Port

Iraq has approved the so-called “Road to Development” (also known as the Dry Channel) project, which will link Basra in southern Iraq to the Turkish border via a rail and road network. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the project could become the “new Silk Road” of the region.

Once completed, the Iraqi port of Faw, near the Persian Gulf, will be linked to the port of Mersin in Türkiye. This will require the development of the Faw port, which is currently under construction, in order to become one of the largest container terminals in the world.

The rail corridor linking the port of Faw to the Turkish border is expected to cost more than 18 billion euros and will be completed by 2038. The route will be open to passenger and freight traffic and will be electrified to allow high-speed trains.

The rail project will be carried out by the French company Alstom.

The construction of the port of Faw and the creation of a railway line between Iraq and Türkiye are of major importance for the economic development of the region. The project will increase the volume of trade between Iraq and other countries and will allow the country, which has rich oil and gas reserves, to increase its energy exports. It should also be remembered that the construction and operation of the motorway, railway and port will create a significant number of jobs, which will contribute to improving employment. Furthermore, Iraq could become a major player in the region because of the logistical advantages offered by the port of Faw, which could also strengthen the country’s geopolitical position.

The author is a researcher at the Eurasia Center.

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2T2 C: Ta l e n t , Tec h n olog y,C ap it a l , Cognition

THE FUTURE

IS HERE

by Joakim Scheffer

The once-futuristic visions of tomorrow’s world are really here today, as it was shown at the World Computing Conference held in September in Changsha, the capital of central China’s Hunan Province.

In recent years, advanced computing has been integrated into various industries, emerging as a vital force driving national economic development, social progress, and technological innovation, ultimately making people’s lives more convenient, said Li Xinyu, chairman of Talkweb Information Co., Ltd., an integrated hardware and software product supplier.

Robots that help us diagnose minor issues at home, self-driving taxis that stop when we signal, and trains that can recognize potential faults – are just a few examples of these advanced technologies.

As Xinhua reported, these activities once demanded full human presence. Thanks to sophisticated algorithms, abundant data, and innovative ideas, these processes will soon be fully automated, making our lives easier. For example, one of the robots presented at the conference, which can give medical advice and perform various analyses on patients, is already supporting several large medical institutions in China, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore.

In the context of booming cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and 5G, among other emerging technologies, analysts believe that computing power has become a vital infrastructure that will shape China’s future technological landscape and its economic and social development, Xinhua added. In recent years, the country has made solid progress in deve­

Photo: AFP/Xinhua, Chen Zeguo

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loping computing infrastructure, and the computing power industry is following a smart, green, and safe development path. The scale of China’s computing power industry has expanded at an annual rate of nearly 30 per cent in recent years, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The author is editor at Eurasia

THE WORLD COMPUTING CONFERENCE HELD IN CHINA SHOWED HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN MAKE OUR LIVES MORE CONVENIENT

INSTITUTE

Culture

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A time of

reunion

中秋节 in Chinese), is also called the Mooncake Festival or the Moon Festival. As the second most important festival in China after Chinese New Year, Mid-­Autumn is an official public holiday. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese calendar, which is in September or early October on the Gregorian calendar. In 2023, the festival falls on September 29th. In China, Mid-Autumn Festival is a reunion time for families. Chinese people celebrate it by gathering for dinners, worshiping the moon, lighting paper lanterns and eating moon cakes.

Photo: AFP

The Mid-Autumn Festival ( Zhongqiu Jie -

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Levente Horváth

Chinese geopolitical thinking The Belt and Road Initiative from a Chinese Perspective

After 500 years, the Atlantic Era is slowly coming to an end and we are witnessing the dawning of the Eurasian Era, in which China will play a very significant role. The new world order is taking shape in a process of major realignment, and in order to clearly understand the driving forces and context of geopolitical change, and to position Hungary accordingly, it is important to understand the mindsets of the new leading powers.

Levente Horváth was formerly the Hungarian Consul General in Shanghai and Senior Advisor to the Governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank, the central bank of Hungary. Currently the Director of the Eurasia Center at János Neumann University – and the editor-in-chief of this publication –, he uses both firsthand experience and research based on Chinese sources to provide fresh perspectives and a completely new geostrategic approach. Presenting China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which is one of the twenty-first century’s largest multilateral cooperations, from the point of view of China itself, with its 5000-year-old culture based on Confucian teachings, Chinese Geopolitical Thinking is the first comprehensive study of the subject to be originally written in Hungarian.

“This volume may be of great help in clearly identifying the processes that shape our present and future, and the intentions and opportunities of one of the world’s major players. As a result, it may also assist us in making choices that point towards cooperation and common solutions to global problems rather than conflict. China is unavoidable. Understanding China is equally inescapable. And to the latter task, Levente Horváth’s work makes a major contribution.”

Gergely Salát, Sinologist

Publisher: Pallas Athéné Books Publication date: 2023 ISBN: 978-963-573-207-4 Pages: 200

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Rhymes in history

THE FUTURE HAS ALREADY BEGUN A DECADE AGO

Photo: iStock

by Norbert Csizmadia

GLOBALISATION ENTERED A NEW ERA FROM 2013. THANKS TO A 24/7 GLOBAL ECONOMY BASED ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES, KNOWLEDGE, CAPITAL, TALENT AND TECHNOLOGY ARE GOING THE DISTANCE. HOWEVER, MOBILITY HAS INCREASED NOT ONLY FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH THE ADVENT OF THE INTERNET, MODERN PUBLIC TRANSPORT AND NEW INDUSTRIES, BUT ALSO FOR NATIONS, COMMUNITIES AND COUNTRIES.

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“We are witnessing the rise of geoeconomics, competition that is conducted in the language of commerce but according to the logic of war”

The pole of the world economy is shifting eastwards again, and while the 19th century was the era of the British Empire and the 20th century that of the United States, the 21st century will clearly be the century of Asia. China will play a leading role in the rise of Asia and Eurasia. The Central and Eastern European region, hitherto called the buffer zone, has been transformed from a former periphery to the gateway to the Eurasian continent.

The 21st century is also the century of knowledge and creativity, where individual ideas and innovations are the most important currency, and countries that do not have enough knowledge are forced to buy it.

Alongside geopolitical processes, geoeconomic processes are also emerging and becoming more powerful, where the race is now for markets rather than the acquisition of territory. In the age of geoeconomics, states use market instruments to increase their own power, i.e. the economy is seen as an instrument of great power politics. Military strikes can be replaced by economic sanctions, while military alliances are replaced by competing trade regimes.

China launched the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, one of the largest and most significant investments in human history. China’s long-term plan is to reclaim Eurasia’s former historical, cultural, economic and commercial importance by building the new Silk Road and shifting the focus of development axes and routes from the oceans to the mainland.

The future is long-term and sustainable, and the winners will be countries that are connected, that seek balance, that have their own long-term vision, where monetary policy, geopolitics and economic policy and related national strategy are implemented together.

In this ever-changing world, we need new approaches, a long-term vision, new sustainable economics, new functional geography, new sustainable technologies, new models to navigate the complex geopolitical waves of our time.

The author is a geographer and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Pallas Athene Domus Meriti Foundation and the John von Neumann University Foundation

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Ancient Knowledge in a Modern World

Zhang Qian

– founder of the Silk Road

by Gergely Salát

THE UNIFIED CHINESE EMPIRE, WHICH WAS BORN IN THE 3RD CENTURY BC, CAME UNDER SERIOUS THREAT SOON AFTER ITS ESTABLISHMENT. THE ASIAN HUNS (XIONGNUS), WHO HAD HARASSED THE FORMER NORTHERN PRINCIPALITIES FOR A CENTURY AND THEN PUSHED NORTH IN THE CHINESE CAMPAIGNS OF 210 BC, WERE REPLACED IN 209 BC BY A NEW LEADER, MODU (MAODUN), WHO SOON ESTABLISHED THE FIRST EAST ASIAN STEPPE EMPIRE.

Zhang Qian

He made his way to the Yuezhi, but they did not want to get involved in conflict with the powerful Huns again, so the alliance came to nothing. In 125 BC he returned to the Han capital. Zhang Qian was sent twice more to the west to establish contacts with the countries there, and then reciprocal envoys began, followed by a boom in trade.

In parallel with the great victories over the Xiongnus, the Han Empire conquered several city-states in Central Asia and in time came to control much of the Western territories, with trade passing through them. Chinese products soon reached Rome and goods from Western countries were introduced into China, along with hitherto unknown crops such as grapes and alfalfa. This created the Silk Road, linking the East with the West, which not only brought goods but also technology and ideas, such as Buddhism, to China in the Han period.

The author is a senior researcher at the Hungarian Institute of Foreign Affairs and head of the Department of Chinese Studies at the Pázmány Péter Catholic University

Photo: iStock

Source: Wikimedia

In 200 BC, the nomadic Xiongnus on horseback inflicted a severe defeat on the newly established Han dynasty and threatened further incursions into China. For a long time, the House of Han was powerless against the raids of the Xiongnus, and it was not until the reign of Emperor Wu, who ruled from 141-87 BC, that the House of Han became strong enough to try to put an end to the Hun threat once and for all.

In addition to his massive campaigns against the Xiongnus, Emperor Wu also made diplomacy an important part of his mission. The Huns had other enemies besides the Chinese, in particular the Yuezhi (Tohar, Kushan) people. The idea of the Chinese forming an alliance with the Yuezhi, who hated the Huns even more than they did, against a common enemy, was a natural one, but it was no easy task, because the Yuezhis were already living far from China in what is now Tajikistan.

The emperor entrusted the task of contacting the Yuezhis to his official Zhang Qian. Zhang set out in 138 BC with a 99-member delegation, but the journey took him through Xiongnu-dominated territory, where he was intercepted. He lived for thirteen years in nomadic captivity, where he was married to a Xiongnu wife who bore him a son. He managed to escape with his family and continue his journey.

EURASIA ONLINE ISSN 2939-8789 (Online) ISSN 3003-9339 (Print) Published by Neumann Lapkiadó és Kommunikációs Kft. Publisher's Headquarters: 1117 Budapest, Hungary, Infopark sétány 1.

Responsible Publisher: Levente Horváth, Ph.D., Managing Director

“The spiritual, economic and social energy of the old model of globalisation has been exhausted, and at the same time, a new model of globalisation has been conceived. This was exactly our goal when we joined the Belt and Road Initiative.”

Viktor Orbán

Editor-in-Chief: Levente Horváth, Ph.D. Managing Editor: Mariann Őry, Péter Petán Text Editor: Erika Koskocki Editor: Joakim Scheffer Photo Editor: Róbert Hegedüs Graphic Design and Layout: Alexandra Érsek-Csanádi, Anita Kónya

Eurasia Online Editorial Board

Members: Ágnes Bernek, Ph.D., László Csicsmann, Ph.D., Norbert Csiz­ madia, Ph.D., Mózes Csoma, Ph.D., Prof. Zoltán Dövényi, Ph.D., Béla Háda, Ph.D., Prof. Imre Hamar, Ph.D., Eric Hendriks, Ph.D., Prof. Judit Hidasi, Ph.D., Dr. Máté Ittzés, Ph.D., Péter Klemensits, Ph.D., Kristóf Lehmann, Ph.D., Csaba Moldicz, Ph.D., Prof.

Erzsébet N. Rózsa, Ph.D., Borbála Obrusánszky, Ph.D., Prof.

József Popp, Ph.D., Sándor P. Szabó, Ph.D., Prof. Zsolt Rostoványi, Ph.D., Gergely Salát, Ph.D., Péter Szatmári, Ph.D., István Szer­dahelyi, Ph.D., Prof. István Szilágyi, Ph.D., Prof. István Tarrósy, Ph.D., Prof. István Tózsa Ph.D., Prof. László Vasa Ph.D., Zoltán Wilhelm, Ph.D., Alexandra Zoltai

Copyright : All rights of use of the databases of Eurasia Magazine Online are granted to the Neumann Lapkiadó és Kommunikációs Kft. The written material and photographs used on this website are protected by copyright. They may not be published, broadcast or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in whole or in part on a computer, whether in their original or transcribed form.

China’s trade with countries part of its Belt and Road Initiative countries has increased to 964 billion dollars in the first half of 2023, an increase of 9.8 per cent year-on-year, according to China's Ministry of Commerce.

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