Silk Road Infrastructure

[greengiraffe]

PM Lee is try very hard... does he know where the developments are heading on the map and where Singapore is located?

http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/governme...-silk-road

APEC SUMMIT
Singapore can leverage a revived Silk Road
PM Lee: Republic's role as transport, logistics, maritime hub could mean opportunities

By
Lynette Khoolynkhoo@sph.com.sg@LynetteKhooBT
BT_20141111_LKLEE_1360605.jpg (From left) Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, his wife Peng Liyuan, US President Barack Obama and Indonesian President Joko Widodo arriving for the Apec ceremonial reception, togged out in updated "Mao suits". PHOTO: AFP
11 Nov5:50 AM
Beijing

OPPORTUNITIES could emerge for Singapore from the proposal to revive the maritime Silk Road, given the Republic's role as a major transportation, logistics and maritime hub, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said in Beijing, where he is attending the Apec Summit.

In an interview with Beijing Satellite TV on Monday, he said: "If we can deepen our cooperation with neighbouring countries, and in particular, strengthen trade and investment between China and its neighbours through the maritime Silk Road initiative, we hope a part of the services can be provided through Singapore's sea port and airport network."

He was referring to Chinese president Xi Jinping's proposal on Saturday that China and Central Asia join hands to build a Silk Road economic belt to boost trade and maritime cooperation. The idea, which Mr Xi mooted during a visit to Indonesia last year, is aimed at resurrecting the trade route that ran from China through South-east Asia and the Indian Ocean to Europe.

In the interview, Mr Lee pointed out that economic and financial linkages between Singapore and China had strengthened in other areas, such as in the promoting of the international use of renminbi for trade and investment through the first overseas yuan clearing bank in Singapore. Direct currency trading between the Chinese yuan and the Singapore dollar also started last month. Companies and individuals in the bilateral projects Suzhou Industrial Park and Tianjin Eco-city have been allowed to access offshore funding.

Mr Lee said: "We hope to continue to deepen this cooperation and encourage more Chinese companies to set up their operations in Singapore, list on the Singapore Exchange to leverage our capital market and network and be able to expand globally through Singapore."

As a small country, Singapore had no choice but to open up its economy to the world, he added. "This is why we try our best to participate in free-trade talks and to work with other countries to enhance our interactions and win-win partnerships."

Plans to revive the ancient Silk Road, form an Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and promote the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) are among China-backed initiatives seen by observers as Beijing's attempts to counter the influence of the US in the region.

Mr Lee said although the ideal form of cooperation was a multi-lateral and multi-faceted one through the Doha round, it was difficult for the many participating members to reach a consensus.

But there is more than one pathway to achieve a regional free-trade zone, such as through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the RCEP, he said. The US-led TPP and the China-backed RCEP are both seen as prodding the region towards free trade and greater connectivity.

On Monday, the 12-country TPP leaders, meeting on the sidelines of the Apec Summit, issued a statement expressing their commitment to ensuring that the final agreement of the TPP reflected their "common vision of an ambitious, comprehensive, high-standard and balanced agreement". TPP leaders said ministers and negotiators were working on coming up with ambitious, balanced packages to open their markets to one another and had been instructed to "make concluding this agreement a top priority", so businesses, workers, farmers and consumers could reap the benefits as soon as possible.

Mr Lee said that as China's economy made a transition into a slower growth mode, the key concern was not how its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would pan out this year, but whether China could restructure its economy successfully, reform the hukou system, taxation and state-owned enterprises. These tasks cannot be accomplished within a year, he added.

In the long run, he said, a stance against corruption was a requisite for economic development, he said, flagging Singapore's clean system as a crucial condition for the development of a financial hub.

Noting that some countries had sought to do the same, but had been met with challenges to transform the culture and legal systems, he said this was why he respected what the Chinese president was doing to starve corruption - by targeting high-ranking "tigers" as well as lowly "flies".

Asked how Singapore was coping with slower economic growth after a rebound from the Global Financial Crisis, Mr Lee replied that the 13 to 14 per cent jump in GDP in 2010 was not sustainable; the economy had since stabilised to clock 3 to 4 per cent growth. The economy was mature, with full employment and high female employment, but a cap had been put on foreign labour. The drive now was thus to raise productivity by raising skills and education levels - a "painful" process.

He said Singapore's economic and financial openness had come with a price: to keep in step with or stay ahead of global changes, the country has also opened itself to uncertainties and risks, with the impact on the middle- and low-income groups a long-term challenge.

Mr Lee met Peruvian President Ollanta Humala on the sidelines of the summit on Monday. The leaders affirmed the positive ties between their countries and discussed issues and opportunities for partnership.

[specuvestor]

PM Lee is referring to "The idea, which Mr Xi mooted during a visit to Indonesia last year, is aimed at resurrecting the trade route that ran from China through South-east Asia and the Indian Ocean to Europe", not the land bound Silk Road

Probably a straight through process and taxation for exchange of goods between China and Europe, and probably "indirectly" Africa's resources

does he know where the developments are heading on the map and where Singapore is located?

[yeokiwi]

PM Lee is referring to "The idea, which Mr Xi mooted during a visit to Indonesia last year, is aimed at resurrecting the trade route that ran from China through South-east Asia and the Indian Ocean to Europe", not the land bound Silk Road

Probably a straight through process and taxation for exchange of goods between China and Europe, and probably "indirectly" Africa's resources

does he know where the developments are heading on the map and where Singapore is located?

With the kind of "cohesiveness" among SEA countries currently, it will be a miracle that all can work together.
Not to mention that the Spratlys islands' disputes will probably derail all cooperation.

But the ancient silk road is not much better...All potential hornet nests - Tibet, Xinjiang, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq. .
The potential is great but the probability of unlocking the potential is closed to zero.

[greengiraffe]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102204779

China wants to build the world a railway
John W. Schoen | @johnwschoen
3 Hours Ago
CNBC.com


The developing world is embarking on a massive infrastructure boom. And China wants to build it—and bankroll it.

On Thursday, Chinese officials announced the latest infrastructure megaproject—a $12 billion contract to build a railway stretching more than 850 miles (1,400 kilometers) along the coast of Nigeria. It was China's single-biggest overseas contract, according to state media.

With its domestic economy cooling, China is investing heavily outside its borders in multibillion dollar infrastructure projects, launching new financing plans to help developing countries pay for them.

Much of that investment will be geared toward transportation projects like the Nigerian railway, as developing countries seek to put in place the capacity needed to keep up with increased flows of people and goods brought by economic growth.

Much like the 19th century railroad expansion that opened up the American West, many of these projects are designed to expand growth to inland regions with little access. More recently, China's three-decade economic transformation started with coastal manufacturing hubs served by ports that provided gateways to international trade.

In the past decade, China has spent tens of billions of dollars building tens of thousands of miles of roads and railways to expand economic opportunity to hundreds of millions of Chinese inland workers.

Read MoreDid China just grant one-of-a-kind trade status?
Other developing countries, including Brazil and India, now face the same transportation challenges, according to a recent report by KPMG.

"A large proportion of jobs exist close to the coast, and governments need to enfranchise those living in other parts of the country, in order to maintain their legitimacy and ensure that each region is treated fairly," the report said.


Economic expansion in the developing world is creating a huge demand for transportation and other infrastructure projects. One estimate forecasts the level of global infrastructure spending to hit $78 trillion by 2025, or slightly more than the world's current total gross domestic product.

Much of the funding will come from private investment and existing public finance groups like the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, which have historically been dominated by the U.S and its Western allies.

Now, China is tapping the massive reserves it has accumulated during its historic economic expansion to bankroll infrastructure outside its borders.

China's total reserves swelled more than fourfold between 2005 and 2013, rising to $3.8 trillion, according to World Bank data, more than three times the next largest reserve holder, Japan. China's reserves are more than eight times that of the U.S.


China wants to use some of that money to finance big infrastructure.
Last month, Chinese leaders said they were joining with Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa—the so-called BRICS countries—to form a new development bank with $50 billion to start. In October, China agreed to pay half the funding for a new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank serving 20 other Asian countries.

Last week, at the APEC Summit in Beijing, President Xi Jinping also announced $40 billion in funding for a new Silk Road Fund to better connect major Asia cities and to "break the connectivity bottleneck" in Asia. Analysts say Beijing is seeking to become less reliant on freight lines dominated by European shippers and develop new markets for Chinese exports.

It remains to be seen how well these new funding initiatives take hold in the developing world.

Other officials have raised concerns about whether China's new development bank would maintain the same level of transparency practiced by other international lenders like the World Bank.

"The critical question is, 'Do they follow the same kinds of practices that are working to help economies grow and to maintain strong and stable foundations?'" U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew asked at a conference earlier this month in Washington

China's plan to provide lending alternatives also face skepticism from other Asian countries. Japanese officials have said they don't see a need for an alternative to the Asian Development Bank, which is dominated by Tokyo.

Read MoreChina telecom deal with Ethiopia at risk over terms
Others have questioned China's intentions. In Africa, for example, while some countries have embraced China's large-scale investments, critics of these deals see them as part of a wider strategy of expanding access to natural resources like oil and minerals.

But those charges of "neocolonialism" are misplaced, according to PwC Chief Economist Harry Broadman.

"The commercial relationship between China and Africa has nothing to do with colonization, and everything to do with economics and diplomacy, he wrote in a recent report. "China has its plate full of domestic challenges, and it would be naïve to conclude that its leaders would complicate matters by chasing impractical colonial dreams."