Chinese vision to catapult growth in the 21st Century

By Barbara Kaija

The Chinese people are rekindling the relationships of the old that linked the ancient Chinese civilisation to the rest of the world.

President Xi Jinping of China in September 2013 announced the plan to revive the Silk Road. The Silk Road gets its name from the lucrative trade in Chinese silk that dominated the large network of roads and sea routes through Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the horn of Africa in the early 200 BC. Many other goods traded along the route and early manufacturing cities developed alongside.

Even if you have not heard of the Silk Road, you are certainly familiar with its indomitable mark on Uganda's civilisation. The relics of the Silk Road are still very present with us centuries after. The elegant Muganda woman in her gomesi` or the graceful Munyankore or Mutoro woman in her suti all don meters and meters of silk; a sign of Ugandan grandeur - and also a mark of the old Silk Road.

Uganda's love for silk busuti and the china plates is reminiscent of that connection with ancient China. On this route, all manner of goods traded and it is along this route that the silk material and china plates were delivered to East Africa. 

China was the name our grandparents called the large posh flowered ceramic plates that they only brought out to serve sumptuous meals when the ‘big' visitors came home. Many Ugandan homes had a piece or two of China plates but they were kept for noble use. Ordinarily, the metallic plates were used until the plastic ones replaced them. Even today, when a Ugandan dinner table is laid with china, it is still a sign of warmth, class and industriousness.

The Chinese people have a huge dream that could catapult global economic growth in the 21st Century; the dream is to once again reconnect to the world by reconstructing the Silk Road. Codenamed the One Belt, One Road project the initiative involves building infrastructure, increasing cultural exchanges and broadening trade. This will cost colossal sums of money and the Government of China has set aside $4 trillion for it.

 
The initiative has two major routes; the Silk Road economic belt and the 21st century maritime Silk Road, a land-based belt, which consists of a number of corridors connecting China to Europe and Asia and a maritime route, which will involve development of ports and shipping routes connecting Chinese harbours to the Middle East and East Africa.

With various partnerships, China plans to build interconnected routes of trade over land and sea into Europe, Asia and Africa. The infrastructure projects which include, roads, railway, air transport, sea ports and information and communications technologies, will span over 60 countries benefiting over 60% of the world's population and creating millions of job opportunities for some of the world's poorest people.

In June, 2016 China Development Bank announced it would invest in 900 "One Belt, One Road" projects across 60 countries.

In East Africa, the project will include improvement of local ports and construction of a modern standard-gauge rail linking Nairobi, Kampala and Kigali.

So why would China invest all this money to develop other countries while they have their own challenges back home?

Last month, I was one of the 200 editors hosted by the People's Daily  to the Media Co-operation Forum on the Belt and Road in Beijing and the dream of the Chinese people was expounded as a win-win for the nations of the world.

President Xi Jinping of China, in a letter delivered for him by Wang Chen, the Vice Chairman and Secretary General, Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress, said the One Belt, One Road initiative, was for mutual co-operation and mutual development.

He explained that the Chinese people have a dream to share with the world; build one harmonious world, with all the people of the world living at peace and sharing resources.

In his letter, President Xi Jinping said that China could only develop alongside the rest of the world. "One flower blooming alone does not make spring. The Silk Road should provide opportunities and blessings for all people.  We are for globalisation because the world is all one global village and we all depend on each other.

"The Belt and the Road is meant to promote globalisation. The world is a diverse place and there is no way it can be dominated by one culture. Conflict of culture does exist but we believe that conflict should not hinder us, we should have more interaction.

The Silk Road is a road of culture and civilisation. Chinese culture is a culture of collaboration rather than individualism.  We believe in embracing and attracting other cultures".

With such a massive investment, China is setting a pace in the new world order. The beauty with the philosophy lies in the words which the Chinese officials reiterated over and over that the Silk Road initiative is a win-win and open to all nations.

The Chinese officials have emphasised their foreign policy as the three Nos:

1. No interference in the internal affairs of other nations
2. Does not seek to increase the so called sphere of influence
3. Does not struggle for hegemony or dominance

SOME PLANNED PROJECTS

• Nairobi-Kampala Standard-gauge rail link

• Uganda's national ICT backbone

• The Karuma & Isimba power projects in Uganda  

• A $46 billion Hydro Power Project in Pakistan

• Liquefied natural gas project in Russia

• $100 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

• 2,000 mile high-speed railway from western China to Tehran

The writer is the Editor-in-Chief of the Vision Group