The Modern Silk Road: China's Economic Rise and Asia

The Silk Road is an ancient network of trade routes spanning thousands of miles, linking the East and West, notably China and Europe. The Silk Road is not merely a conduit for the distribution of silk.

Beyond that, the Silk Road of centuries past was a crucial infrastructure for the exchange of spices, technology, religion, and cultures among the great civilizations of the world.

Today, this trade route is deliberately revived. This serves to remind the world of the wisdom of the Eastern World and its desire to share with others in spreading prosperity.

For this purpose, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has built the Urumqi International Land Port Area (ILPA) on land spanning 67 square kilometres. This becomes the main gateway of the modern Silk Road economy.

This port will be a massive land-based logistics and trade hub connecting Asia and Europe. On this expansive site, various modes of transport will be integrated to create connectivity that is effective and efficient between wheel-based vehicles and rail tracks.

Thus, this land port will become the hub for the China-Europe Express freight train to Central Asia and Europe. At this site, there will be a one-stop service, a single-window service, reducing the waiting time for shipments between the PRC and its partner countries.

This will, of course, have an extraordinary economic impact. For this infrastructure will connect China directly and rapidly with Central Asia, Russia, and other European countries.

As a result, Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, becomes a new economic hub in western China. This will also positively affect the economic life of neighbouring PRC countries in Central and South Asia.

When the time comes, the economies of these countries will gain momentum. When that happens, the centre of global progress and civilization will shift from Europe and America to Asia. Thus, China will become its locomotive.