tirsdag 8. august 2017

The ‘Belt and Road’ projects China doesn’t want anyone talking about


Kunming, Yunnan’s provincial capital, occupies a key place in China’s economic diplomacy efforts as the terminus of oil and gas pipelines from the Bay of Bengal and the starting point of a planned railway network winding through Indo-China to Singapore. But the provincial authorities have obscured the location of a brand new, 29.2 billion yuan (US$4.27 billion) oil refinery that sits at the end of the 2,500km pipeline and made talk about the rail network taboo.

The two projects, linked to China’s ambitious “Belt and Road” trade-development scheme, have sparked protests, quarrels and suspicions in Yunnan and in neighbouring countries before delivering on promises of peace and prosperity.