Beijing $40 billion offer to revive the historic Silk Road, starts Central-Asia geostrategic competition

Beijing says it will spend $40 billion to revive the historic Silk Road and connect China with Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Chinese President Xi Jinping said the ambitious project is designed to “break the connectivity bottleneck” in Asia.

The “Silk Road Economic Belt” initiative, announced by Xi Jinping in 2013, is designed to allow capabilities of Chinese state-controlled construction companies to further expand its already booming trade with central Asia and Europe by diversification of Chinese trade routes, lowering transportation costs, opening up new markets, and an expansion of the Chinese sphere of influence beyond Asia. It will also secure the supply of Uranium and rare metals from Central Asia .... http://myidst.com