China’s Maritime Silk Road: Strategic and Economic Implications for the Indo-Pacific Region

Please join us for a panel discussion of a new CSIS report regarding China’s infrastructure development initiatives across the Indo-Pacific region.
Photo: Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP/Getty Images

[pardeeptandon]

China paid hard cash and bought the Siri Lanka port while the west uses and would have used deceit and force to occupy it.

[derozonlang]

The US and other western countries have been existing in Africa, south America and Asia for more than 150 countries; What have they been doing there: spoiling local resources, bullying local authorities, assassinating dissenting leaders, and finally making people in those areas as poor as in the primitive times. Now comes China, which itself has suffered from western exploitation for more than 100 years, that is willing to help the third world with its own successful experience. Then the western countries suddenly become so critical of China. My suggestion is: don't just talk, blame, or feel jealous. Go to Africa, Asia, and South America: lend them money, help people there from heart. Don't use them. Don't exploit them.

[cptsky]

It would be nice to see the maps and charts as the speaker explains their presentations. Why do we just get to watch someone talk without the visuals? The is such an important area of geopolitics, so how about getting the visuals.

[hehehe-dslp]

they result to criticism because they know they have no better offer. did you see china criticizing thier opponent no becaute thier is confidence in what they are doing china just focus in their goal

[piotrkraczkowski]

You have to look at China's One Belt, One Road project as Chinese
export. China is exporting its infrastructure projects and gets for it
money and barter. Importers are glad and China as exporter is glad. It
is always so: exporters and importers have their own view on the value
of the transaction. For China a bridge is a bridge and for importer of
this bridge it is additionally a possibility to shorten the way in order
to spare the time, fuel and money and thus to develop the private
economy.

[pacificreport]

At the end of day, it all depends on how much money and other actual resources you can put on the table, or all these "Strategies" would be pointless, if I were you, I would point out the obvious solution that actually matters, which is Building up India, fast, all of your "Allies" should pump Trillions of dollars and all the technologies into Indian economy, really helping them build up an actual world-class manufacturing base, generate a inner circulation of goods in your "Side", throw short-term profitability out of window, cut China out of the equation, so India is strong enough to counter China, and China would lose its source of income, right? One of the biggest question confuses us Chinese in recent two years is that why our workers earn 4-5 times as that of Indian workers, but our products are still competitive, we were warned ten years ago, and made every effort to upgrade our industries, but it turned out to be a false alarm, that solution is really a low-hanging fruit, and with great potential, if you don't even do that, why should anybody believe all your "Strategies" could follow through, there are really not many conspiricies in OBOR, our industrial capacities fits the needs of developing countries, they have even lower labor costs, they can take our production of everyday goods, we can climb up the value chain, cultivate new markets and diversify our exports, besides, who knows how long the US can keep Dollar domination, they don't really produce anything, those trillions of dollars China holds better be real assets than papers

[sstchan]

The reason for China building ports along the maritime silk road is logical and beneficial not only for China but for all South East Asian nations trading with Europe and Africa. But China is not as smart as America to call these ports bases which are well accepted by the “free world” as America has thousands of them all over the world. The four or five of them are peanuts. America owned and benefited from Panama Cannel for one hounded years is the precedent model for China’s Hamatoda.

[pardeeptandon]

Hambantota port would have been financially viable if India would have allowed transshipment of cargo to India. Unfortunately for Siri Lanka India did not allow it because it was build and financed by China.

[yingzhang]

If you did not visit war memorial in Melbourne, I suggested you have to do first, Andrew. To suck in a picture when Japanese solider chopped a head of an Australian soldier during 2nd world but delivering any strategic comments.

[moribguy]

This group of speakers seem to have done some detailed research into the topics they are talking about. With regard to the gas terminal at Myanmar, the speaker forgot to give a thought to the eventual use of the Irrawaddy River which ends near the Chinese built terminal which has included two container terminals. If the Irrawaddy river could maintain a dept of say 3 m, then the cost of transporting containers by barges could really reduce the cost albeit at a slower pace and this matches the basic imports from the African continent. As for the Dawei Port, it was built with the exclusion of China under the Mekong Sub-region Commission. With its inability to move forward, Vietnam got Japan and India to come on board but the fact remains that all of them do not have the volume to take off the project which is aimed at linking Dawei to Danang by rail and highway which is not taking off. So they can all wait/

[voglerlake]

Thank you for posting this excellent discussion. Technology can change the infrastructure issues rather rapidly.

An example is the relatively low cost marine hyperloop offshore port concept. Marine hyperloops in general will be a major economic stimulus.

Also, riverine hyperloops can help flow issues in major rivers such as the Mekong.

[physika]

Undermining democratic processes ? Is Matthew talking business or ideology ?

[emmanuelponce]

Words Dont Run Nations, And Or Buisness:Numbers Do, Their In A Metric System And That Systems Dynamics Do.Lets Do AOL, Not Taboo

[leepearson]

Great information...however, all the speakers would do well joining Toast is not a word

[arminius]

So, they had invited an Indian to talk about Pakistan-China partnership.... It's like asking a communist to explain capitalism (of course he's gonna verbally crush capitalism)

[warisish]

if they need resources then se-
arch their own territories and n
tions, why illegal invaded sover
reign territories of other nation-
and committed Genocide, illeg
ally occupied, annexed All terri
tories of other nations it's illeg-
al aggression, occupation and_
annexession is completely una
ceptable by killing millions of i
innocent people..?