Huge sum for a tiny balkan nation. For beijing just one stone in a larger mosaic the new silk road its our theme today on made in germany. Now officially its the Chinese Governments belt Road Initiative a trillion euro series of Infrastructure Projects meant to smooth the way for chinese goods across the globe that translates to highways bridges railways ports a network stretching across asia africa and even to europe part of countries are often eager for investment and for improvements to the infrastructure the new silk road is a Charity Project of course china is lending money and spreading debt sri lanka even hand the report to the chinese after nearing the fault and then theres the geo political significance china is aiming for a new influence on world markets. These are cooling and heating units for Industrial Buildings soon theyll be shipped to the u. S. Pakistan bangladesh and mexico the manufacturer broad group a company headquartered in hunan china specializes in Energy Efficient air conditioning in the next few years the firm with more than three thousand employees hopes to further expand aided by chinas belgian road investment scheme. A few years ago projects in other countries relied on financing by local governments or companies things proceeded slowly but since fun and things become available were seeing projects develop much faster. China is pouring billions of euros into projects around the world at the end of april thirty eight World Leaders gathered in beijing to discuss the initiative widely known as belgian road. And road opens a new space for growth in the world economy. It creates a new platform for International Trade and investment and provides new ways for Global Economic governance and contributes to the wellbeing of people in many countries. Sometimes called the new silk road the built in Road Initiative is a massive Infrastructure Investment scheme new railways are intended to provide better connectivity across the region continent investment in ports open new Maritime Trading routes according to official figures the total value of projects already signed exceeds five hundred billion us dollars. The projects are largely carried out by Chinese State owned firms theyve gained experience with big Construction Projects during chinas own infrastructure push of the past forty years but there is criticism of the international initiative. Many western countries including germany are reluctant to sign bilateral belton wrote agreements and one of the critics in the global south is malaysias premier have been mohamed. While regis. And reach. The third it states have and fortunately increase oil spill. All of these. Concerns for participating partner countries range from the environmental cost to sustainability of debt levels in some places china friendly governments have been voted out of Office Malaysia and other countries have cancelled or renegotiated contracts fearing debt in view of chinas own mega construction boom critics call many of the Chinese Investment projects over ambitious. The biggest lesson for the Chinese Government was that you cannot just go ahead and build what you want you have to consider what local governments and people want and how the International Community reacts. If you ask where the backlash is in some of those countries came as a surprise to the Chinese Government. I would say it was not just a surprise it was a shock and that. The architecture of broad groups headquarters points to their International Ambitions from europe to egypt so far broad has opened offices in eighty countries and while most bells and road projects are carried out by Chinese State owned companies private businesses like broad are seeing improved Market Access in many countries. One such country is pakistan jason stays in touch with the local staff Via Video Conference recently islam about in beijing agreed to allow bilateral trade in Chinese Renminbi bypassing the dollar as an exchange currency. We are hoping to reduce currency risk by investing renminbi and receiving renminbi in return so we are now looking carefully into these agreements. So far International Trade rules have been shaped by western countries Chinese Companies like broad hope that through its massive investments china will gain a greater say in these rules to make them better serve chinese businesses. Go away the golden road is a great project according to our internal analysis we expect the next fifteen to twenty years continue providing our company with excellent opportunities abroad. What chinas ambitions are on the table its now up to the rest of the world to react. To chinas new silk road is a highly centralized plan that leans on loads of cash and diplomacy from beijing the original silk road by comparison was a looser collection of trade routes the stretch from the far east across the plains of central asia and to the west world so what similar apart from the name you might say that the original silk road was worked lobel ization got its start lets take a look. A brief history of the silk road. Six thousand four hundred kilometers searing fifty degree celsius heat bitter cold of forty below across depps deserts 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 warning. 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 second century b. C. The silk road connected china to the roman empire but it was only given its name in eight hundred seventy seven by german geographer fed a non fun place to. Silk was highly sought after by roman women. But only the chinese knew how to produce the valuable textile the two year long trip with up to one thousand bactrian camels was worth it they didnt just carry silk but also spices lockers furs and porcelain. In return europes and gold gem stones and glass. Inventions too such as paper and black gunpowder were spread and even religions were transmitted buddhism arrived in china and japan across the silk road. Cities along the silk road flourished in summer khan and tashkent there was roaring trade most merchants only travelled short distances then stone their wares to the next buyers this made the goods more expensive. But diseases were also transmitted along the train route from asia the bubonic plague killed a third of europes population in the fourteenth century. The demise of the silk road began mainly because it was replaced by new maritime routes customs duties and bandits could be avoided and goods reached their destinations more quickly. And today its estimated that chinas new silk road will devour one trillion euros with its roads Railroad Tracks and harbors its not a matter of reviving the coreys of days gone by but of shrewd economic calculation. Blossoming trade and prosperity or bandits and pestilence the significance of the original silk road was in the eye of the beholder todays version as well take that massive highway project in montenegro that we saw earlier brussels would demand the public planning process transparency measures and lots of paperwork before any such project began. Simply doesnt it just invests the highway in montenegro it runs through an environmentally vulnerable area and it doesnt seem to bother the local authorities. A gigantic construction site part of a highway said to run one hundred seventy kilometers across montenegro financed with the help of a one billion 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 eighty alternatives to teach about the settlement and why is that we agree a great question none of these is just considering that this is the site and some i didnt know then it should be taken what a pity that. This the Charles 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 Kovacs of it says its one of the most ecologically important regions in montenegro. Its host for many speeches suspicious like species. Similar so. That almost any one hundred kilometers because its really important being impacted. About one hundred kilometers downstream is where the chinese financed highway will run directly across a tributary of the Charles River. Building on this terrain is complicated and expensive the activist believes that the valley route was chosen because its the cheapest option biologist studying the issues say that the construction project is destroying the habitat of various fish and plant species all this river is not recognizable place we have ten people on the bridge if we can see in the middle of. That stuff its life its all petted and if destroyed its all you can from the button traditionalists and really it doesnt look like itself and on one man and biosphere site it should be up to four thousand 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 fifteen 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 the thought of it we cannot take reports of the construction because the. Its something that should be forbidden so the site. A local resident shows us some of the damage dirt and sand from the construction site is silting up the river. The fisherman believes the habitat of the trout that used to be plentiful in these waters is being destroyed. Fish like this. The new highway will connect montenegros to coast to the north of the country. In the capital pod greta the state where an agency money to put its responsible for the construction work the director insists its all in accordance with east standards its not your waist but were 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 is 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 billion 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 in arbitration according 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 six hundred thousand the average income is around five hundred euros a month. The chinese loan is worth almost one fifth of montenegros g. D. P. We asked monte puts director for his assessment. From you know. What is there are always risks associated with any construction project. The government investigated these risks in full detail. So we can say that the project wont be a problem for the montenegrin budget. Its important to know that every cent of highway tolls will go into paying back the loan but we believe well be able to pay it back down to the last cent. We head to an area just south of the capital where another section of highway is under construction pitted against a billion euro project environmental activists like natasha which are very much underdogs but shes determined to speak out against the lack of transparency and rampant environmental destruction issues that we are coming from the democratic background then we will learn to discuss about things especially when they had this big impact with the Chinese Investor and their culture actually its more about just straightforward thing and doing things without the two questions and of course the it also causes some questions and on the understanding. 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. Environmental protection Public Disclosures even a clean bidding process the new silk road often falls short on transparency one reason why germany has declined to formally partner with china. The western german city of duisburg sees things differently however its transforming itself into europes largest distribution point for chinese goods the city has struggled since the poser of coal mines and steel factories new silk road brings along hope for thousands of new jobs. Will be the end of the line for an eleven thousand kilometer long railway creating a Land Shipping route from china to germany that takes only fourteen days. Alone in europe other regions stand to profit from chinas ambitions and yet critics urged vigilance they say beijings checkbook diplomacy shouldnt divide europeans. In my twenty years as a business journalist weve seen the importance of china grow in almost every sector. Everyone wants to share in chinas rapid Economic Growth Chinese People today and on average one hundred times more than their parents did forty years ago. China is an important part but some reporters do express concerns about chinas economic might. The country sells a billion euros worth of consumer goods to europe every day should we be afraid of china i also who grew up in beijing and now lives in germany. I want to find out if chinas giant silk road investments in europe are a wakeup call if china or a partner or a rival. Humanize. And mislead. Chinas a partner aspiring to be a rival trying to be a world leader thats already a kind of rivalry. And europe has good reason to be cautious. Not because of the initiative but because of the possibilities that might accompany the initiatives. Even if nobody chinas ambitions might not be limited to the new silk road. The country could aspire to lead european and domestic markets. By the where will this leave European Industry especially industry in western europe. And last but not least its also possible that Chinese Technology will come to europe you know a chinese tech takes top spot europe will have given up one of its last remaining resources and that would be very bad because this let the aerialists how realistic is the project itself is this Huge Investment even in china something critical of the initiative could. You know within china itself there are three different kinds of criticism one is a nationalist one which says why should we throw our money around the world when our own social problems are so enormously significant. The second criticism is that many investments are flowing into insecurity regions. Theres also the issue of massive debt. She says this could become an economic threat for the whole world. When. We tend to see chinas obvious strengths and is definitely true to that but at the same time we have to recognize the major problems the country is struggling with. China is itself up to its ears in debt and if this turns into a debt crisis the world wont be able to save china this is normal the country be able to save itself. That scenario is of course very remote at the moment but its not impossible. Its a scenario that certainly worries me no one knows how likely or unlikely it is. But right now other problems have a higher priority the new silk road is dividing europe some e. U. Members are concerned about becoming too reliant on china others are delighted with the inflow of Chinese Investment including italy most systems of. Ally who are opposed to join forces even just to counter the sheer weight of china. Of more no single european country even comes close to being able to match china on its own theres no real alternative for European Countries if they want to outperform china. After all some one point four billion people live in china a country with powerful economic potential. He reports to make sure the new silk road isnt a one way street and then theres the question of how a closer connection with china could affect european relations with the rest of the world the new silk road has a large political component those concerns are less prominent however in some african countries where large Infrastructure Projects often languish due to lack of investment. And that means that Railway Projects for example are welcomed with open arms like this one in kenya that connects the port city of mumbai with the capital nairobi the new line has drastically lower travel times but could such progress sour into an expensive burden that something kenyans themselves will have to decide. Express the high profile undertaking that aims to bring prosperity to southern kenya and to two cities in particular. Time to board the Mombasa Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway or s. G. R. Kenyas most expensive Infrastructure Project the distance between kenyas capital nairobi and the port city mumbai just under five hundred kilometers and two years ago in twenty seventeen this journey that were on would have taken up to ten hours in fact some passengers on the train say that up to twenty four hours have been spent trying to bridge that gap between these two cities. For business to make it to town. Very fast and business was rated fast. And. Phase two is bound to happen which means that the standard gauge will be running across the country of kenya and eventually leading up to a regional partners uganda and eventually south sudan opening up the region to trade and movement of persons the route will also based freight transport for example dealers usually have their new and used cars brought from by truck its hoped that the new rail option will help lower prices for car buyers and make it more secure to move because youre looking for total interim would be improved a lot. Of spend money and through a driver because youre so used to that which you perform in the railway was built by chinese contractors and financed largely by chinese loans that poses a debt burden. Putting all this together hasnt come cheap three point eight billion dollars kenya has had to fork out in order to get this done and the tricky thing is ninety percent of that funding came from the china eggs in bank the Foreign Investors celebrate the results and the promotional videos the chinese provided both financing and technology. The operate the railway for the first five years do you think it was worth it ok in terms of the finance basically buys and what other that spend it into the lake in tanzania its quite expensive but. I mean what can we do we dont get included in those additions so yes you have to enjoy the right. Question is in ten or fifteen years will those people alive think that this was a worthwhile investment. The express is currently running at a loss but the investment is already paying off for chinese importers beijing is now kenyas biggest trading partner on the ground most kenyans are pleased they welcome the investment in the countrys ailing and largely outdated infrastructure. This dealer now gets his new cars by a train from mombasa. People who say the s. G. R. Was a bad investment or against development this train helps ordinary kenyans rich and poor benefit from it. But its also hitting motorists in their wallet gas prices have gone up to help pay off the chinese debt. Now whatever the world decides about the new silk road projects will have long term implications the original silk road history the new silk road will be a major part of our future thats it for this week. Thank you. Subject. Carefully. Soon. To get. Discovered. The be. Subscribe to the documentary on to. Your a big idea. But whats become of it. Looks like tomorrow. The brain for a Better Future isnt enough europe requires lower creatures. European Election Team may twenty sixth the b. W. They want to represent you so what do you want from the joint ops on fox twenty four im still unsure valid as we put your questions it seems politicians from around to your opinion and across the political spectrum in our special debate will be hearing from young europeans voting for the first time in the new elections in may voicing their biggest concerts taste of a says i mean ads are to you on and off as twenty four hours leave the release. Of the disrespect. Game each team. Coach come up mom. To such. A submissive. Love and respect. This is do the leaders learn from but lead to rot announces its possible withdrawal from a lot of twenty fifteen nuclear deal doesnt pass on rouhani says test track will stop acting on some of its commitments and sets a sixty day. Amid mounting tension with the United States also on the program a christian woman. 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