China calls it the project of the
century as the West steps back from
global leadership this is China
stepping forward remaking the map of the
global economy with no other country
offering a big idea right now this is
the most ambitious bid to shape our
century yes yeah I'm under a lot of
pressure
a massive rollout of infrastructure
built by China
to drive trade across more than 60
countries it's like a promised land
China's president claims it's a win-win
for all we will not resort to outdated
geopolitical maneuvering critics say the
only winner will be China no the Chinese
have done nothing I'm setting out on a
7,000 mile journey to meet the people at
the New Silk Road and to understand how
it will change their lives and our world
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they call them the ships of the desert
for centuries the camel trains of the
Silk Road dominated trade between China
and the West
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now China wants to build a new Silk Road
Chinese Melton Road vision is so vast it
may be decades before we can tell
whether it's a worthy successor to the
ancient Silk Road but what we can say is
that with no other country offering a
big idea right now this is the most
ambitious bid to shape our century
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it's not camels this time
these containers full of Chinese goods
are going by train
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China's grand plan is to build roads
rails container port all the way across
Asia and into Europe
it's hoping to wrap more than 60
countries in its embrace now that is a
massive new sphere of influence you
always the starting point for the train
to Europe
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famous as the town that makes Christmas
and probably many of the things in your
home
we're dealing to ceramic along the
ancient Silk Road now it's everything
over the world to buy their goods here
I'll tell you 7,200 okay Nigel's been
exporting from here for 12 years he
loves the thrill of the deal he 1.74
come on for an old friend
now he's keen to bring goods back the
other way okay this one but red-tape can
make importing to China
a nightmare Nigel you don't import from
Europe back into China do you now why is
that what makes importing to this market
hard the government can change the law
at any time for example I was ready to
import a container of wine last year had
it already but I didn't push the button
on it because I was worried that they
might change law once it's on the water
means very it's a very gray area at a
moment
a potential market of nearly one point
four billion people and the Chinese
government controls access the Emperor's
once claimed to rule all under heaven
with the United States no longer leading
on trade President Xi has seized his
chance with a vision for land and sea
routes wrapping the globe we will not
resort to outdated geopolitical
maneuvering shimasu
instead we hope to achieve a new model
of win-win cooperation critics say it
makes little sense to move 50 containers
by rail when you can ship thousands by
sea on a single ship but it's a mistake
to underestimate Chinese ambition
Beijing invested huge financial capital
in its new
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nearly half of the journey from China to
Europe lies inside China
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a lot of ground to cover and the wealth
gap between east and west
a challenge as immense as the terrain
China's news Silk Road needs to solve
China's problems this China out here not
just the one I've left behind any wool
the Silk Road was once unimaginably
remote to most Chinese not anymore
in less than a decade China's built
twice as much high-speed rail as the
rest of the world combined and pushed it
out to the far west using the lure of
the Silk Road to draw the biggest
tourist force in the world China hopes
its new Silk Road laden with tourists
can bring wealth to the west
syn yang is home to the we're ethnic
minority they're mostly Muslim
culturally closer to Central Asia and
outnumbered in their homeland the region
has witnessed a vicious cycle bitterness
over marginalization driving bomb and
knife attacks by weekers and met by
overwhelming force and religious
repression China is investing here more
than two hundred and fifty million
dollars to build this theater alone and
the more China invests the more it has
to protect this Silk Road show works
hard to spin a story of ethnic harmony
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[Applause]
behind hearth stage makeup boo Halima is
a weaker once sinned yang was known for
music and dance and she sad her
homelands now more famous for violence
Toledo show holy toys yeah tourists I
met told me they heard Xin Jiang was
unsafe they couldn't be sure to get out
unharmed if they came here more sharanda
some people did some bad things and it
affected us all the theater employs a
hundred Regas and China hopes the new
Silk Road will give more a stake in the
system
the ancient story has moments of danger
and China's grand new narrative is still
fraught with peril deliver on the spin
of opportunities for all or forever scan
the crowd for the enemy within a
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[Applause]
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Cathedral in Almaty Kazakhstan a
strategic stop on China's new Silk Road
but traditionally Russia's backyard
many Catholics got speaking Russian at
school watching Russian TV even
supported a Russian football team and
none of that seems to have changed but
so much else has changed with the coming
of China
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Dawson Sabbath is a political analyst he
sees the nations of Central Asia as
billiard balls in a game between the big
players Russia and China China I believe
will be as like as some threats for our
independence why because for China
Khalistan is not equal partner for China
Kurdistan only is like as one of the
play in the big China your political
game the heart of the New Silk Road is
infrastructure with the Chinese economy
slowing back home state construction
companies put to work abroad
engineer SUSE one delivering a
state-of-the-art urban railway it's all
what I think Shelley and Lady gaga
China's advanced technology is bringing
convenience and more comfort and safety
for travelers in Kazakhstan if this
project goes well it will serve as a
model for others but he tells me most of
the jobs here will go to Chinese workers
and the loan to build this railway was
tied to a Chinese design China using its
money in its muscle to achieve its own
ends nearly two-thirds of Kazakhstan's
economy is oil and gas an increasing
share in Chinese hands this was once
Russia's backyard but China is now
contesting that Kazakhstan is rich in
energy and minerals and it's a vital
transit route stretching all the way
from the Chinese border to Europe so
while Kazakhs may still speak Russian a
lot of the oil in their tanks now
belongs to China
but locals here say they see little
benefit I'm not sure my guys Ely yeah in
the village of Kent yak a kindergartens
become a hostel for Chinese workers are
that goober shaver was once a teacher
here now she fears for their future
Chinese have done nothing
there is a huge oil industry here but no
jobs or facilities for young people we
want to live decently so that we won't
be ashamed of our village she and others
here complain of pollution and jobs
going to outsiders government
intimidation makes many Kazakhs cautious
on camera but privately several accused
Chinese companies of using bribes to cut
corners China says its presence abroad
is a win win a win for China and a win
for the people in its path but that's
not the experience here they say their
oil wealth is going elsewhere and that
win-win means China wins once and then
China wins again
some Catholics will benefit from China's
plans more on the city skyline a
commuter railway some highways and
pipelines but building big and fast in a
developing country that often means
corruption and crushing debt Poland has
looked West since the end of the Soviet
bloc but Eastern Europe is becoming a
key piece in China's strategic jigsaw
it's already started mopping up assets
and hopes the new Silk Road will bind
them together still over balla built 80
years ago to make steel and things that
can be made from steel like military
tanks and bulldozers in those days
nearly everyone here worked for the
Polish state but who's providing the
jobs now
this digger factory was near financial
collapse when Chinese state from lil
gong rescued it and 1200 workers who you
bought tells me this is a business not a
charity he arrived as a manager six
years ago and he's still trying to
modernize the place their Factory in
China takes just seven minutes to make a
machine which takes four and a half days
to build here you four is a long way
from home so your parents are keen for
you to get married so that they can have
grandchildren I mean though they try to
help you find somebody they really did
they try to introduce and potential
girlfriends for me could you search for
someone online who actually wanted to
live in Poland who even wanted to live
in still over Walla Poland the mining of
Chinese girls that don't have any idea
but still above Ola it's not just a wife
you more needs at work the company's
been struggling for orders he needs the
massive building projects on China's new
Silk Road to boost demand for diggers
and keep his workers in jobs I don't see
the mass of orders yet there's no real
difference to the bottom line yet thanks
to the one belt one Road initiative I
think the customers that real have the
need for the machinist but not yet
belton road is the official name for
China's new Silk Road it's got an
official name because it's a government
project State construction companies
state banks not private traders or
investors critics say this could be
digging the world into a big hole one
this is a plan by the state agencies and
it's going to be implemented by state
agencies then my worry is that it's
going to end up with a huge amount of
bad Long's
with thousands of countries involved it
could be very very dangerous where some
serious others see opportunities China
has a growing appetite for milk from
where the grass is greener this love
inherited this land from his father and
he'll pass it on to his son they want to
expand the farm and the business he says
China could be part of their future
China is a very big and interesting
market for us and we want to try it it's
like a promised land
we're daring to think of doing new
things now but will China be happy to
just purchase the product in some of
Poland's neighbors its buying farmland
and setting up its own vast dairy herds
say I'm the Chinese investor and I come
and knock on your door and I say I've
got a lot of money I want to buy your
farm you can just sit and take it easy
no thanks I wouldn't sell it to anybody
it is my father and grandfathers land
and I want to have my touch on this farm
I don't want to sell it and have any
money
it's a long way from this milking parlor
to the breakfast table in Beijing Europe
complains of Chinese import barriers it
sells only half as much to China as
China cells here and Europe worries that
Beijing's learned the art of divide and
rule to force a path through Europe for
its new Silk Road sure we have Jennifer
or princess what's the right answer
lessons in the British tradition of
afternoon tea from a Chinese citizen
the lovely sweet Jam no tinting plans to
take her pitch from an ethics tearoom to
China a communist state perhaps but one
with a healthy appetite for the rituals
of the British ruling class her jam is
with fairies straight from the tip tree
farm china's consumers getting choosy
about food quality a huge market but
hard to stand out I think we're still at
the beginning of the journey we are
starting small by introducing new things
and a few things
I mean Chinese as a curious country or
curious consumers they always surprise
us I have never seen so much jam it is a
world of chance China hmm but China's a
long way away and shipping by sea can
take two months no wonder the UK
currently sells more to the tiny
Republic of Island ting ting hopes the
new train service will help once a
symbol of British Empire and engineering
now it's China's great age of the
railways carrying UK hopes for post
brexit markets from one end of the New
Silk Road back to its star
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three weeks later and those British
goods from the Train are on display at a
Chinese trade fair there are ruining the
job Gong Gong no one but me showing an
interest it's a local stir-fry which
captures the crowd
so how are other European exporters
doing
there's certainly a lot of curiosity
about the European product in there but
I didn't overhear any huge deals being
done I think there's still a long way to
go the ancient Silk Road was driven by
private traders from many countries
the new version is Chinese state money
and muscle china has the most ambitious
plan for our century if it succeeds
it'll make China a superpower again even
mightier perhaps than the empires of old
but if it fails it'll leave a legacy of
bad blood which poisons China's future
and taints even the grandeur of the past
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