Behind companies have cut wages and council bonuses for the employees in downtown beijing the traces of the past 6 months are still visible. Businesses have been hit hard by this crisis many had little to no income for months and months and many shops and restaurants have to shut down experts have long warned of chinas imbalance growth too much investment and consumption corporate 19 has made these warnings ever more urgent. China has a history of ambitious projects the great wall of china the silk road and now its new silk road officially known as the belgian Road Initiative its the largest Infrastructure Project ever seen the transport Energy Mining i. T. And communications projects spanned the globe and even reach into outer space the original so proud basing quaint according to todays standards but the fact is it paved the way to where we are now. A brief history of the silk road 6400 kilometers searing 50 degree celsius heat the bitter cold of 40 below across steps deserts and high mountains with the constant threat of armed bandits. The silk road a perilous challenge the bones of pack animals litter the way as if in mourning. But the worlds oldest and most important trade route was not a single road it was a vast network of many caravan routes. By the 2nd century b. C. E. The silk road connected china to the roman empire. The term silk road was popularized in 1987 by german geographer fed in unfunded. Silk was highly sought after by roman women. But only the chinese knew how to produce the valuable textile. The 2 year long trip with up to 1000. 00 bactrian camels was worth it they didnt just carry silk but also spices lacquers 1st and porcelain. In return europe sent gold gem stones in glass. Inventions too such as paper and black gunpowder were spread. And even with lynchings were transmitted buddhism arrived in china and japan on the silk road. Cities along the silk road flourished and some are conned and tashkent there was a rumor in train most merchants only travel short distances then sold their wares to the next buyers this made the goods more expensive but diseases were also transmitted along the train groups like the plague which killed a 3rd of europes population in the 14th century. The demise of the silk road began mainly because it was replaced by new maritime brutes customs duties and bandits could be avoided and reach their destinations more quickly. And today chinas new silk road is expected to cost a trillion euros but that gigantic Infrastructure Project is not about reviving the glories of days gone by money its purely a shrewd economic investment. And that brings us to the controversy this initiative is the centerpiece of presidencies Foreign Policy is a clever way of locking in future markets for chinese goods and services but also a risky way of keeping countries on the drip of a financial lifeline. To developing economies since the. Several have applied for deaf relief however before taking things too far governments might want to consider chinas human rights record and its green credentials. A gigantic construction site part of a highway said to run 170 kilometers across montenegro financed with the help of a 1000000000 euro loan from china this stretch of construction is along the Charles River part of a unesco World Heritage site some environmental activists say the decision to build here was a mistake there had been 80 alternatives peachy keen but the sentiment and why is that we agree a great question none of these is just considering that this is the site and some other end of the should be taken point that either. The tower or river gorge is one of the deepest in europe the river basin is a biosphere reserve. The water that flows from the Higher Elevations is crystal clear. Environmental activist natasha kovacevich says its one of the most ecologically important regions in montenegro. Its host for many speeches suspicious like species. So. That 100 kilometers because its. About 100 kilometers downstream is where the chinese financed highway will run directly across a tributary of the tower a river. Building on this terrain is complicated and expensive the activist believes that the valley route was chosen because its the cheapest option biologists studying the issue say that the construction project is destroying the habitat of various fish and plant species. Up to 4000. 00 construction workers from china have been working here during Peak Construction phases Chinese Companies are raking in the profits but paying precious little in tax plus all the Construction Materials and equipment imported from china are exempt from customs duties. Which is Environmental Organization employs 15 people their work is supported by donations as well as some funding from the european union. While were filming a guard pops up and orders us to leave the area even though were on a public road. Chinese manager just said that we have to leave the place because we can take it but we cannot take the reports of the construction because this is something that should be forbidden so the site the new highway will connect montenegros to coast to the north of the country. In the capital port greta the state run agency money to put there is responsible for the construction work the director insists its all in accordance. E. U. Standards. Are on the right path because we want to develop north montenegro that helps the country and europe as a whole the north of the country on the developed compared to the south. The north has enormous potential in the areas of industry tourism and energy. Months is an Anti Corruption watchdog that keeps a close eye on the montenegrin government. Is investigating the Financial Impact of the 1000000000 euro loan. Its a difficult task because the government is keeping the financial details under lock and key. Research shows that Construction Contracts to domestic firms are only going to companies with close ties to the government hes also discovered that under the terms of the loan an Arbitration Court in china would have jurisdiction over any legal disputes and if montenegro cant repay the debt in time china would be able to make collateral claims. Montenegro is a small country with a population of just over 600000 the average income is around 500. 00 euros a month the chinese loan is worth almost one 5th of montenegros g. D. P. We asked monte puts director for his assessment. But there are always risks associated with any construction project. Thats the government investigated these risks in full detail. So we can say that the project wont be a problem for the montenegrin budget. And its important to know that every cent of highway tolls will go into paying back the loan and. We believe well be able to pay it back down to the last cent. They dont know that. We had to an area just south of the capital where another section of highway is under construction pitted against a 1000000000 euro project environmental activists like that tasha kovacs of which are very much underdogs but shes determined to speak out against the lack of transparency and rampant environmental destruction with the Chinese Investor and their culture actually its more about just straightforward being and doing things without the 2 questions and of course the it also causes some questions and none understand. For the time being this is still a highway to nowhere whether the new superhighway will ever reach neighboring serbia is very much an open question. Skepticism and concerns over chinas place in the Global Economy could be higher but its clear the chinese. Are already playing a leading role. No i know he is going green. Can use capital city as transforming illegal dump sites into public parks alameen with the push was a new make it a place they have before intervening and come from a track the path to becoming an environmentally friendly metropolis. How nairobi is bringing nature back to the city in africa. And 30 minutes on w. Every 2 seconds a person is forced to flee their home. The consequences of disastrous our documentary series displaced depicts dramatic humanitarian crises around the world. Forgetting we dont have time to think i didnt go to university to kill people i thought if i act that way i mean again people feel for their lives and their future so they seek refuge abroad but what will become of course who stay behind and say they are able my husband went to peru because of the crime. Says. If he hadnt gone there we would have died of hunger one of them. Just starts october 16th on top of. The World Population is increasing the climate is changing its getting warmer and there are going to be more and more places where you cannot grow critical problems we have to fix that some the way to do that is to use the modern genetic modification methods to make better crawl it is a lot safer than anything weve done by traditional to that is more the case that you take one journey you know exactly what it is you put it into another plant to look at a map exactly where its gone i think we will be able to provide enough food for people by 2050 if we can make crops that will grow under 70 arid conditions this will lead to meet a much greater stability in the food supply that we have at the moment. News life from. Battling the 2nd way governments across europe try to turn back the tide of the coronavirus just concentrate called the highest number of new infections since the start of the panda also coming up. No end in sight to the bloodshed in the disputed enclaves going across a series and i mean accused each other while its in the troops. Is its best or is it just just an activist to try just