You’ve probably heard of China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) grand plan.
Perhaps you know it as the ‘The New Silk Road’ or the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI).
It’s a Chinese vision to reshape the geography of the world — and the global power balance.
The Chinese think of it as the ‘great revival of the Chinese nation’, and enshrined it into their constitution.
China wants to create a ‘Eurasian land bridge’.
This will link Western China to Central Asia, before continuing on all the way to Western Europe.
It also includes a sea bridge. It will link Southern China across the Indian Ocean with Southeast Asia, South Asia, and even Africa to the Mediterranean.
There’s also a major pipeline from Central Asia and Pakistan to China.
The strategy revolves around building (and funding) mega amounts of infrastructure.
You name it, it’s on the table as an option across transport, energy, health, and technology.
Think roads, bridges, gas pipelines, ports, railways, tall buildings, and power plants across countries and continents.
Around 130 countries have signed agreements to engage with it in one form or another.
It will allow raw materials to enter China via multiple paths altering the balance of trade around the world.
It’s also allowing China to expand its political and military dominance across country borders.
Source: TheNewSilkRoad.com
As you can see, One Belt One Road is extremely ambitious.
It covers two thirds of the world’s population and a third of global GDP.
It’s also very expensive, ultimately costing trillions.
Here’s a map of the current and completed projects. It’s an almost unimaginable amount of construction activity:
Source: https://reconasia.csis.org/map/