US path to Asian dominance: 'New Silk Road'
- By Zhong Sheng
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People's Daily, December 6, 2011
Recently, the United States presented the New Silk Road proposal, saying it hopes to build up Afghanistan into a transportation and trade hub so that the surrounding countries could share in the reconstruction of the country.
China has been supporting, promoting and participating in the reconstruction of Afghanistan for a long time. Between 2002 and 2009, China offered Afghanistan more than 900 million yuan of non-reimbursable assistances, wrote off 19.5 million U.S. dollar of mature debts and provided seven complete sets of projects to Afghanistan.
Since the London Summit, China has offered Afghanistan 160 million yuan of new non-reimbursable assistance to help it develop such areas as the infrastructure construction, medical care, sanitation and education.
China and Afghanistan have also signed exchange notes on China giving the zero-tariff treatment to some products exported to China from Afghanistan, which cover more than 4,000 items. China will continue helping Afghanistan train technicians, constructing assistance projects in Afghanistan and providing support in areas badly needed by Afghanistan.
Currently, Afghanistan is still in a severe crisis, and stability is the precondition for the country to recover its development. While providing aid for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, every country should respect the Afghan people's own choice and help the country get rid of external interferences and come back to normal and decent life.
The Afghan people do not need a seemingly beautiful plan, but rather they need for international communities to fulfill their promises and bring the current cooperative mechanisms into full play. Blindly establishing a new mechanism will do nothing but waste the cooperative resources and lower the cooperative efficiency.
The New Silk Road is not just an initiative aiming to address the reconstruction of Afghanistan. In fact, it conceals strong strategic intent. With the gradual implementation of the Afghanistan troop withdrawal plan, economic and trade cooperation will undoubtedly become an important bond to maintain relationships between American and European countries and Afghanistan.
The initiator of the New Silk Road intends to connect Central Asia with South Asia and polarize and weaken the power of big countries within the region as much as possible in order to maintain and strengthen its dominance in the region.
Crossing Asia and Europe, the Silk Road enjoys more than 2,000 years of history. It is not only a commercial route but also a road blending cultures of various countries in a harmonious manner and representing the concept of diversity coexistence, peaceful coexistence and tolerant coexistence.
The Silk Road is welcoming rejuvenation opportunities. The huge markets of China and South Asian countries well complement the rich resources in Central and West Asian countries, and China continues to deepen friendly relations and intensify the cooperation in various fields with relevant countries.
To develop economy and improve people's livelihood, countries along the Silk Road constantly construct road and rail networks, install cross-border oil and gas pipelines and create an international and modern "Trade Silk Road" and "Energy Silk Road."
Rejuvenating the world's longest and most promising trade and economic corridor is not just an obligation for countries along the road but also a new opportunity for various countries to obtain new impetus for economic development and share the fruits of cooperation.
The initiative to rejuvenate the Silk Road should be proposed, led and implemented by countries along the road. It is necessary to fully respect history and consider actual situations in economy, security and other aspects of the region. The self-interest seeking initiative of big powers outside the region is not welcomed and cannot stand the test of history.
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