El proyecto que presenta Xi Jinping tiene dos ejes. Primeramente, proyectó una vía terrestre que uniría a China con Pakistán, Afganistán, Turquía, Moscú, Kazajistán, Turkmenistán, Kirguistán, Uzbekistán, Tayikistán y Europa mediante los Balcanes hasta llegar a París. Se han utilizado las vías ya existentes terrestres ferroviarias para elaborar el primer eje y, paralelamente, China ha venido invirtiendo en nuevas vías terrestres. En segundo lugar, el proyecto pretende llegar a América Latina, África y Oriente Medio mediante una ruta marítima, prácticamente controlada por el estado chino. Esto implica la instalación de bases militares y puertos comerciales en los océanos Índico y Pacífico.

Territorial conflict in the South China Sea

Even so, this second path has revived old rivalries between Asian states. "Six maps to understand why the China Sea conflict may soon be the largest global crisis", was the headline in the Spanish digital newspaper VilaWeb on February 17, 2016 about the deployment of missiles on Woody Island. As the newspaper explains, China claims the line that, in the 1940s, the former Chinese nationalist government delimited and that all neighboring countries protest. The importance of this claim is that, if accepted internationally, it would make the South China Sea Chinese territorial waters and not international waters as they are now. This would allow China to control navigation in those waters, that is, to have control over half of the total tons moved in the world, a fact that is not accepted by neighboring states nor by the United States, which has also had military bases there since World War II.[24]​.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

In 2014, the President of China, Xi Jinping, announced the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), with the possible incorporation of all the countries of the Asian continent, but with the door open to other states to pay for the OBOR. The United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany have entered through this door, thus challenging the North American quasi-monopoly in the international financial sector. The presence of the United Kingdom within this entity is completely significant because the country is the main ally of the United States. The AIIB has an initial capital of 50 billion dollars, intended for investment in infrastructure in Asia. The United States, seeing Beijing's offensive, asked European countries not to join, but according to the newspaper Ahora "China's economy and 7% growth are too tempting." According to Grégory Claeys, an analyst at Bruegel - a think tank based in Brussels - it has been the United States that has almost "pushed" Asian countries to create a new development bank because Washington has never allowed emerging states to have a more important role in the sector.[25]​.

The United States proposes an initiative called the "Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy" (FOIP). United States officials have articulated the strategy into three pillars: security, economy, and governance.[26] In early June 2019, the general definition of "free" and "open" was changed to four established principles: respect for sovereignty and independence; peaceful dispute resolution; free, fair and reciprocal trade; and adherence to international rules and norms.[27]​.

Indian government officials have repeatedly objected to China's Belt and Road Initiative, specifically because they believe that the "China-Pakistan Economic Corridor" (CPEC) project ignores New Delhi's essential concerns about sovereignty and territorial integrity.[28]​.

Some Western governments have accused the Belt and Road Initiative of being neocolonial, alleging that the acceptance of Chinese credits for the construction of infrastructure is a trap that will generate future debt.[29]​.

Todo ello, se tiene que enmarcar en el llamado nuevo Great Deal (del inglés, la nueva Gran Jugada). El Great Deal es la apelación utilizada para definir la rivalidades existente en el siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX entre el Reino Unido, Rusia y Asia. Ahora, la nueva rivalidad se produce entre los Estados Unidos, Rusia y China. Es pues, en este contexto que se tiene que entender el proyecto de la ruta de la seda chino, pero también y evidentemente, los movimientos que se están produciendo a nivel comercial entre las potencias, que apreciaremos al desglosar.

The mega-trade exchange zones

The WTO was established in 1994 to achieve, through rounds of multilateral negotiations, the elimination or progressive reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers that obstruct world trade, within a free trade market perspective. The WTO is made up of 164 members,[30]​ which have to make decisions together in the direction already mentioned. The operating rule allows members to obtain the right to veto, applying the one country, one voice rule. This makes it difficult to achieve any agreement, due to heterogeneous and even antagonistic geopolitical and economic interests, between the states.[31] It is with the intention of reducing global trade barriers that the ninth Bali conference was held (in Indonesia), in which the 159 members had to achieve a unanimous agreement, which was finally achieved on December 7, 2013. The Bali summit was on the verge of failing due to Cuba's demand, which conditioned the closure. of the agreement to lift the United States embargo on the Caribbean island. Thus, on March 21, 2016, it was announced to the press that the president of the United States would visit Cuba to make the lifting of the embargo official, which brought a lot of expectation to the press.[32]​.

However, the agreement did not satisfy everyone, among other states, China, which moves "with the air of great economic power," according to the newspaper AHORA. The expectations set by certain states have led to new negotiating tables, such as between Singapore and the United States. "In this sense, China, being the first exporter and second importer in the world, needs a greater opening of foreign markets to favor its exports, despite the fact that it protects its internal market, something that does not seem to fall within the framework of the WTO. It does not need complex multilateral negotiations, given that it has a huge pocket of foreign currency," according to the newspaper AHORA, and this is a good convincing tool, a fact that leads to direct negotiations between countries without going through the WTO. In this sense, since China has emerged as a commercial power before the EU and the US, different rivalries have emerged, becoming visible in the field of trade. For all these reasons, countries around the world have been individually developing trade agreements between mega-zones, that is, between continental groups. These are serving as a tool of rivalry between powers that aspire to establish their own soft power.

Inspired by the European Union, Asian states have been trying to form an association of states since 1967 under the acronym ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), which in 2016 managed to federate about 10 countries, among which the founding members are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. In 2016, ASEAN represented one third of the International Domestic Product with nearly 1 billion consumers. The potential of this mega-free trade zone is understood after the negotiations established between Australia, New Zealand, India, China and Japan. ASEAN has achieved a trade agreement on the free circulation of products with these countries, called Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which rivals the Pacific Ocean with the US.[33]​.

Given the RCEP agreement, the US launched the TPP (acronym for Trans-Pacific Partnership; Transatlantic-Pacific Partnership), which establishes free trade between Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru and Chile. The proposed agreement began in 2005 and concerns 11% of the world's population, affecting 40% of international GDP and a quarter of trade. This mega free trade zone would be added to two more zones, the TAFTA or TTIP and the CETA, with which the US intends to maintain its soft power and confront the Chinese.[34]​.

The CETA or Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, in Spanish, Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, is the acronym by which the free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada is known, which began negotiations in 2009 and concluded them in 2014, with subsequent modifications, derived from the controversies raised in Europe by the TTIP (see more below). The agreement represents a quarter of the world's GDP, 7.5% of the world's population and 20% of trade. Potential to which the numbers related to the Trans-Pacific Alliance must be added (see more above).

The TTIP represents half of the world's GDP, 30% of international exchanges and 11.5% of the population. Even so, the TTIP is not accepted by everyone given, first of all, the secrecy with which the negotiations have been carried out, which has displeased European public opinion and non-governmental organizations, among others. They also do not like the mechanisms for resolving differences between states and multinationals. The TTIP relies on the so-called Private Arbitration Courts, which, according to the press, can question the sovereignty of states, making a state fold if it does not comply with the regulations of the TTIP, as a result of a possible multinational conflict, especially when one sees its benefits endangered by Laws approved by the European parliaments or the EU. Furthermore, they do not like the rules established by the TIPP regarding the food control of European products, as well as the reductions in conditions in terms of labor rights. For example, the TIPP would lower certain requirements so that genetically modified products, among others, could circulate in the European market.[35]​[36]​ Greenpeace has been very vocal against the TAFTA and has been disseminating information as the negotiations have progressed.[37]​.

Pekín está convencido que el desarrollo de su proyecto, es el mejor arma contra el terrorismo, la radicalización islámica y el separatismo. Es precisamente este último punto el que hace emerger los problemas internos chinos; su proyecto tendría que servir de método efectivo para no afrontarlos.

Weapon against Islamofascism

The destabilization of the Levant does not seem to be improving, according to Mathieu Duchâtel, deputy director of the Asia and China Program of the Council of Europe. In Afghanistan, military interventions intensified in 2016, the Taliban's conquests continued in Helmand province, the Islamic State had managed to establish cells in Afghanistan and Tajikistan. This scenario makes the Chinese government fearful. The Chinese government could be cracked by the collapse of its state structures should extremism attack all of Central Asia.

Possible secession

Hong Kong or Tibet, among others, are just some of the many towns that could think about a self-determination project once they saw Chinese communist power weaken, not to mention the dispute with Taiwan. From this it could be explained that Xi Jinping's government saw the "need to combat" separatism. During the so-called Umbrella Revolution, for example, the Chinese central government censored as best it could all links related to the manifestos in Hong Kong for fear that they would spread to the rest of the country.[38][39][40]​.

El proyecto que presenta Xi Jinping tiene dos ejes. Primeramente, proyectó una vía terrestre que uniría a China con Pakistán, Afganistán, Turquía, Moscú, Kazajistán, Turkmenistán, Kirguistán, Uzbekistán, Tayikistán y Europa mediante los Balcanes hasta llegar a París. Se han utilizado las vías ya existentes terrestres ferroviarias para elaborar el primer eje y, paralelamente, China ha venido invirtiendo en nuevas vías terrestres. En segundo lugar, el proyecto pretende llegar a América Latina, África y Oriente Medio mediante una ruta marítima, prácticamente controlada por el estado chino. Esto implica la instalación de bases militares y puertos comerciales en los océanos Índico y Pacífico.

Territorial conflict in the South China Sea

Even so, this second path has revived old rivalries between Asian states. "Six maps to understand why the China Sea conflict may soon be the largest global crisis", was the headline in the Spanish digital newspaper VilaWeb on February 17, 2016 about the deployment of missiles on Woody Island. As the newspaper explains, China claims the line that, in the 1940s, the former Chinese nationalist government delimited and that all neighboring countries protest. The importance of this claim is that, if accepted internationally, it would make the South China Sea Chinese territorial waters and not international waters as they are now. This would allow China to control navigation in those waters, that is, to have control over half of the total tons moved in the world, a fact that is not accepted by neighboring states nor by the United States, which has also had military bases there since World War II.[24]​.

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

In 2014, the President of China, Xi Jinping, announced the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), with the possible incorporation of all the countries of the Asian continent, but with the door open to other states to pay for the OBOR. The United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany have entered through this door, thus challenging the North American quasi-monopoly in the international financial sector. The presence of the United Kingdom within this entity is completely significant because the country is the main ally of the United States. The AIIB has an initial capital of 50 billion dollars, intended for investment in infrastructure in Asia. The United States, seeing Beijing's offensive, asked European countries not to join, but according to the newspaper Ahora "China's economy and 7% growth are too tempting." According to Grégory Claeys, an analyst at Bruegel - a think tank based in Brussels - it has been the United States that has almost "pushed" Asian countries to create a new development bank because Washington has never allowed emerging states to have a more important role in the sector.[25]​.

The United States proposes an initiative called the "Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy" (FOIP). United States officials have articulated the strategy into three pillars: security, economy, and governance.[26] In early June 2019, the general definition of "free" and "open" was changed to four established principles: respect for sovereignty and independence; peaceful dispute resolution; free, fair and reciprocal trade; and adherence to international rules and norms.[27]​.

Indian government officials have repeatedly objected to China's Belt and Road Initiative, specifically because they believe that the "China-Pakistan Economic Corridor" (CPEC) project ignores New Delhi's essential concerns about sovereignty and territorial integrity.[28]​.

Some Western governments have accused the Belt and Road Initiative of being neocolonial, alleging that the acceptance of Chinese credits for the construction of infrastructure is a trap that will generate future debt.[29]​.

Todo ello, se tiene que enmarcar en el llamado nuevo Great Deal (del inglés, la nueva Gran Jugada). El Great Deal es la apelación utilizada para definir la rivalidades existente en el siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX entre el Reino Unido, Rusia y Asia. Ahora, la nueva rivalidad se produce entre los Estados Unidos, Rusia y China. Es pues, en este contexto que se tiene que entender el proyecto de la ruta de la seda chino, pero también y evidentemente, los movimientos que se están produciendo a nivel comercial entre las potencias, que apreciaremos al desglosar.

The mega-trade exchange zones

The WTO was established in 1994 to achieve, through rounds of multilateral negotiations, the elimination or progressive reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers that obstruct world trade, within a free trade market perspective. The WTO is made up of 164 members,[30]​ which have to make decisions together in the direction already mentioned. The operating rule allows members to obtain the right to veto, applying the one country, one voice rule. This makes it difficult to achieve any agreement, due to heterogeneous and even antagonistic geopolitical and economic interests, between the states.[31] It is with the intention of reducing global trade barriers that the ninth Bali conference was held (in Indonesia), in which the 159 members had to achieve a unanimous agreement, which was finally achieved on December 7, 2013. The Bali summit was on the verge of failing due to Cuba's demand, which conditioned the closure. of the agreement to lift the United States embargo on the Caribbean island. Thus, on March 21, 2016, it was announced to the press that the president of the United States would visit Cuba to make the lifting of the embargo official, which brought a lot of expectation to the press.[32]​.

However, the agreement did not satisfy everyone, among other states, China, which moves "with the air of great economic power," according to the newspaper AHORA. The expectations set by certain states have led to new negotiating tables, such as between Singapore and the United States. "In this sense, China, being the first exporter and second importer in the world, needs a greater opening of foreign markets to favor its exports, despite the fact that it protects its internal market, something that does not seem to fall within the framework of the WTO. It does not need complex multilateral negotiations, given that it has a huge pocket of foreign currency," according to the newspaper AHORA, and this is a good convincing tool, a fact that leads to direct negotiations between countries without going through the WTO. In this sense, since China has emerged as a commercial power before the EU and the US, different rivalries have emerged, becoming visible in the field of trade. For all these reasons, countries around the world have been individually developing trade agreements between mega-zones, that is, between continental groups. These are serving as a tool of rivalry between powers that aspire to establish their own soft power.

Inspired by the European Union, Asian states have been trying to form an association of states since 1967 under the acronym ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), which in 2016 managed to federate about 10 countries, among which the founding members are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. In 2016, ASEAN represented one third of the International Domestic Product with nearly 1 billion consumers. The potential of this mega-free trade zone is understood after the negotiations established between Australia, New Zealand, India, China and Japan. ASEAN has achieved a trade agreement on the free circulation of products with these countries, called Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which rivals the Pacific Ocean with the US.[33]​.

Given the RCEP agreement, the US launched the TPP (acronym for Trans-Pacific Partnership; Transatlantic-Pacific Partnership), which establishes free trade between Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru and Chile. The proposed agreement began in 2005 and concerns 11% of the world's population, affecting 40% of international GDP and a quarter of trade. This mega free trade zone would be added to two more zones, the TAFTA or TTIP and the CETA, with which the US intends to maintain its soft power and confront the Chinese.[34]​.

The CETA or Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, in Spanish, Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, is the acronym by which the free trade agreement between the European Union and Canada is known, which began negotiations in 2009 and concluded them in 2014, with subsequent modifications, derived from the controversies raised in Europe by the TTIP (see more below). The agreement represents a quarter of the world's GDP, 7.5% of the world's population and 20% of trade. Potential to which the numbers related to the Trans-Pacific Alliance must be added (see more above).

The TTIP represents half of the world's GDP, 30% of international exchanges and 11.5% of the population. Even so, the TTIP is not accepted by everyone given, first of all, the secrecy with which the negotiations have been carried out, which has displeased European public opinion and non-governmental organizations, among others. They also do not like the mechanisms for resolving differences between states and multinationals. The TTIP relies on the so-called Private Arbitration Courts, which, according to the press, can question the sovereignty of states, making a state fold if it does not comply with the regulations of the TTIP, as a result of a possible multinational conflict, especially when one sees its benefits endangered by Laws approved by the European parliaments or the EU. Furthermore, they do not like the rules established by the TIPP regarding the food control of European products, as well as the reductions in conditions in terms of labor rights. For example, the TIPP would lower certain requirements so that genetically modified products, among others, could circulate in the European market.[35]​[36]​ Greenpeace has been very vocal against the TAFTA and has been disseminating information as the negotiations have progressed.[37]​.

Pekín está convencido que el desarrollo de su proyecto, es el mejor arma contra el terrorismo, la radicalización islámica y el separatismo. Es precisamente este último punto el que hace emerger los problemas internos chinos; su proyecto tendría que servir de método efectivo para no afrontarlos.

Weapon against Islamofascism

The destabilization of the Levant does not seem to be improving, according to Mathieu Duchâtel, deputy director of the Asia and China Program of the Council of Europe. In Afghanistan, military interventions intensified in 2016, the Taliban's conquests continued in Helmand province, the Islamic State had managed to establish cells in Afghanistan and Tajikistan. This scenario makes the Chinese government fearful. The Chinese government could be cracked by the collapse of its state structures should extremism attack all of Central Asia.

Possible secession

Hong Kong or Tibet, among others, are just some of the many towns that could think about a self-determination project once they saw Chinese communist power weaken, not to mention the dispute with Taiwan. From this it could be explained that Xi Jinping's government saw the "need to combat" separatism. During the so-called Umbrella Revolution, for example, the Chinese central government censored as best it could all links related to the manifestos in Hong Kong for fear that they would spread to the rest of the country.[38][39][40]​.