Шелковый путь наряду с морским Шелковым путем. Ближний Восток играет жизненно важную роль в реализации ОПК, поскольку он является источником энергии, обеспечивая более половины импорта сырой нефти Китаем. Кроме того, это также ключевой пункт для доступа на рынки Европы и Африки, где ЕС является крупнейшим экспортным рынком Китая. Китай инвестировал значительные средства в такие секторы, как развитие портов, нефтепереработка, а также развитие инфраструктуры в ближневосточном регионе. Китай также ускорил переговоры о создании зоны свободной торговли между Китаем и Советом сотрудничества стран Персидского залива (ССАГПЗ). Эта статья представляет собой попытку исследовать природу растущего присутствия Китая на Ближнем Востоке и его последствия в регионе. Для Китая Ближний Восток является торговым центром, поскольку около 70% торгового импорта в Китай поступает с Ближнего Востока. Китай также поощряет программы культурного обмена и межличностное взаимодействие. Таким образом, в настоящем исследовании предпринимается попытка проанализировать присутствие Китая на Ближнем Востоке и его усилия по региональной интеграции, поскольку инициатива «Один пояс, один путь» активизировала развитие в таких регионах, как Ближний Восток и Африка, и пытается связать мир в одну нить.
Ключевые слова: Китай, Ближний Восток, «Один пояс, один путь», инфраструктурное развитие, региональная интеграция.
In recent years China has significantly expanded its economic footprint in the Middle East. China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, aims to economically connect more than 60 countries throughout Middle East, Africa, Europe, South America and southern regions of Asia. The OBOR or BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) by China intends to revive the ancient Silk Road along with a Maritime Silk Road. The Middle East plays a vital role in the implementation of OBOR as it is a source of energy, providing more than half of China’s crude oil imports. Besides, it is also a pivotal point for market access in Europe and Africa, where the EU is China’s largest export market. China has invested heavily in the sectors including port development, oil and refinery development, and infrastructure development in the Middle East region. China has also accelerated negotiations for the establishment of a free trade area between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). This article is an attempt to explore the nature of China’s growing presence in the Middle East, and its implications in the region. For China, Middle East is a trading hub as around 70 per cent of the trade import in China comes from Middle East. China is also promoting cultural exchange programmes and people-to-people interactions. Thus, this paper attempts to analyse China’s presence in the Middle East and its efforts towards regional integration, as the One Belt One Road initiative has initiated development in the regions like Middle East and Africa and is trying to bind the world in one thread.
Keywords: China, Middle East, One Belt One Road, infrastructure development, regional integration.
Introduction
One Belt One Road initiative comprises of two notions introduced by the President of China Xi Jinping in 2013 to endorse economic engagement and investment along two major routes. The first route, the New Silk Road Economic Belt, is reported to run westward overland through Central Asia to Europe. The second route, the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, is expected to make a loop around south and westward by sea towards Europe, with proposed stopovers in South-east Asia, South Asia and Africa.
In recent years, Chinese companies are leaving their home-based market and going to foreign markets and establish itself. President Xi is putting efforts to strengthen China’s global position. He has declared several high-profile multilateral initiatives envisioned to advance China’s international existence and promote closer ties with other countries. One belt, one road “not only represents a renewed, stronger and better coordinated push to expand China’s influence overseas, but it is also coupled with a domestic investment drive, in which nearly every Chinese province has a stake21.”
Research methodology
The broad mandate of this research is to examine and analyze the presence of China through the OBOR initiative in the Middle East. Examining the implications of OBOR in the Middle east and its effort in regional integration constitutes one of the prime tasks of this research. The proposed study is based on qualitative analysis. The data is obtained majorly from primary and secondary sources. Primary source include official record, government documents, data reports, official policy statements and also speeches and interviews on popular media. Documents of international and regional organisations like MENA and SCO will be used in this study. These will establish imperial basis of this research. The study will also make use of secondary sources such as books, newspapers, journals, articles published in academic journals and internet sources. These will extensively be used for the analysis of all the available primary and secondary sources will apply throughout the study.
China’s Obor Initiative
OBOR is a vision launched by President Xi that seeks to integrate China with the Eurasian landmass through an immense network of transport corridors, energy pipelines and telecom infrastructures. The geographic span of OBOR is fairly large, covering around 65 countries, 4.4 billion people and 30 per cent of global GDP22. Although the initiative is called One Belt, One Road, which has created an impression that it is just one corridor, rather the two main routes actually have a series of sub-branches and various economic corridors like for instance, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), or the
China-led BRI and its Impact on India with Specific Reference to CPEC. URL: https://www.nepjol.info/index.php/joia/article/view/22592 (date of access: 28.11.2019).
China Belt and Road Initiative Measuring the impact of improving transportation connectivity on trade in the region. URL: https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/ research_reports/RR2600/RR2625/RAND_RR2625.pdf (date of access: 02.12.2019).
