The Chinese (Belt and Road) Initiative … an economic rise and a blow to American influence in the region

Yesterday, President Bashar Al-Assad praised the “Belt and Road” initiative launched by China, considering that it constituted a strategic shift at the level of international relations in the world, especially as it relied on partnership and common interests instead of Western domination attempts. In a speech earlier, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah called for cooperation with China to avoid economic collapse, so how will this Chinese initiative return to Syria and neighboring countries? Will it actually lead to economic stability?

Syrian strategic expert Dr. Osama Danoura spoke in detail about this initiative, and says that the “Chinese Belt and Road Initiative is based on connecting the two sides of the ancient world” so to speak, a “land belt” and a maritime “road” that connects the land borders to the ocean the Pacific is east of the Atlantic border in the west, and connects Asia, Europe and Africa with each other through a network of roads, maritime and land paths, infrastructure and investment partnership projects. This initiative covers more than (68) countries, including 65% of the world’s population, and 40% of GDP (Gross domestic product). The total is in 2017, so it is estimated that it will be among the largest The proceeds of infrastructure and investment in history. “

He added, “The importance of the philosophy of the Belt and Road Initiative (or one belt and one road) is that it is based, as President Assad pointed out, on a partnership approach rather than domination. In other words, it is a civilizational and developmental expression of the growing Chinese economy as an alternative to the imperialist tendency that distinguished the great powers. Throughout history, therefore, it is an approach of peer in partnership rather than exploitation and subjugation, ”adding that“ it can be said that in the context of international relations it is an expression of the humanization of capitalist economic uplifting towards crystallizing a system of balanced economic relations that build prosperity for all and thus promote peace. The forefront of the emergence of the “Chinese era” and its place in the “American era”, especially if one considers that one of the assumptions and results of the project is to enhance the role of the Chinese yuan as a global reserve currency that paves the way for breaking the dollar’s monopoly on this site.

Danoura stressed that “the initiative is an important opportunity to translate the Syrian strategy based on” going east “and a balanced economic partnership with the East as an alternative to the hegemony of the West. The Syrian site qualifies Syria for a geopolitical importance, especially in the framework of the project, because the American attempts to block the project are based on implanting client governments to the West in Its geographical path, or provoking “constructive chaos” to hinder partnership projects, transport and trade lines, and from here the political and economic stability of Syria, and not being in the position of employment and subordination to American influence, is an important factor in building a belt mosaic and the path that assumes stability and independence of decision and not interruption in land geographic communication. “

Haifaa Mafalani