Spanish SILK ROAD
spain jumps on the silk road train
In an ironic twist, last week’s Silk Road Forum 2015 was held in Madrid, despite the fact that Spain lies a good deal further west than Xi’s Silk Roads of both the overland and maritime variety. That said, it seems that Spain has been pushing in earnest for a Sino-European shared infrastructure. Last year, operations began on a China-to-Spain railway, the world’s longest railway line which saw it’s first roundtrip completed last Christmas.
Some Pros and Cons of a More Integrated World
November 3, 2015
Conferences such as the Madrid 2015 Silk Road Forum signify radically changing times, in which the British Prime Minister prostrates himself before the emperor of a country he so very recently denounced, and on which his own forebears waged war in the not too distance past. In which the moral pillars of human rights and individual liberty, which once held Europe together through the turmoil of successive revolutions, now crumble beneath the economic might of material gain and GDP.
Perhaps under greater threat are the exceptionally high health and safety standards, challenged on two fronts by China’s onward march from the East and America’s TTIP pressures.
Note: The content of this article does not reflect the official opinion of any unit of the Chinese government. Responsibility for the views expressed in the article lies entirely with the author.
Image credit: wix.com
Written by Bey Critical
Over the past year, Spain obtained the greatest number of Chinese buyers, followed by Portugal, Italy and Cyprus.
The Spanish have been opening themselves to China for many years now, offering a series of real estate visa combination packages, which are becoming so popular across the Mediterranean. Exploiting its EU status, Spain has been opening its doors to cheap Chinese goods and wealthy Chinese elite alike. Now, it seems, the country wants to take a leading role in the New Silk Road.
Guests from over thirty countries attended the Silk Road Forum last week, cementing the reliance of Europe on China as member states attempt to “escape the financial crisis” by building a thousand bridges to the world’s fastest growing economy.
Li Wei, Director of the Development Research Centre describes a feat of biblical proportions in eerily Maoist rhetoric. According to Li, the Silk Road project is a “Noah’s Art” resolving the “structural contradictions” inherent on both a domestic and global level.
As China becomes increasingly powerful, it seems to be drawing more and more on the traditional rhetoric of da tong, the Great Community. The concept of a global, peaceful, harmonious community founded on the basis of Chinese moral supremacy and “a world shared by all alike.” Such a founding belief is useful, as the country promotes peaceful expansion through economy with one hand, and military might in the other.