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    The Silk Road

    HASAN KANBOLAT
    h.kanbolat@todayszaman.com
    August 10, 2015, Monday
    China: 21st century Silk Road project

    China is undergoing a major transformation. Its high-paced growth is taking a toll on the social structure. For instance, Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution largely undermined the fabric of family and social life. Even members of the same family would report each other's anti-establishment activities. It was an ideology-centric era in China when people were required to hang photos of Mao, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Josef Stalin on the walls of each room in the house.

    Gone are the old days. The wounds of the past were redressed and had started to be forgotten. The practice of wearing single-type attire was terminated in 1973. Although the elder and more traditional members of the Communist Party of China (CPC) continue to stick to this tradition, it is more like a veneration of the past. Mao has come to be accepted and honored as the founding leader of China. China has emerged as the world's primary buyer of raw materials and energy. As the same time, it has become the primary exporter of cheap processed goods. It is the world's third largest foreign investor after the United States and the European Union.

    In 2013, China announced the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) development framework that focuses on the land-based and maritime silk roads. The land-based Silk Road is around 7,000 kilometers and was mainly used between the second and 16th centuries to transfer raw materials and processed goods from China to the West. The Silk Road was instrumental not only in transformation and commerce but also played a major role in improving communication and civilization between East and West. The Beijing administration argues that China, which has implemented a reform and foreign expansion program, has to integrate with the world to fuel its growth, while the world needs close cooperation with China for development. There was certain progress in eliminating inequality among people and countries until the 1980s, after which inequality started to increase. The rise in inequality has sped up, particularly in the wake of the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991.

    The Silk Road project seeks to eliminate inequity and ensure that people and countries are provided with equal opportunities. The project takes into consideration diversities as well. The main purpose of the project is to connect dynamic Asia to developed Europe, help the development of the countries under the project and cement a more balanced structure of regional cooperation. Under the project, China is offering state scholarships to 10,000 students from Silk Road countries. Cooperation will be improved in the areas of tourism, technology, health and science. Investments, commerce and visa procedures will be facilitated. Free-trade zones will be established. The project will avoid competing with other regional cooperation projects and, rather, seeks to have a complementary relationship. China expects a foreign trade volume of $2.5 trillion with the Silk Road countries in the next 10 years. This figure is currently $1.3 trillion.

    In China, the number four is considered to bring bad luck. This is because its ****phone is the Chinese word for death. The number seven is also considered ominous as it is perceived as bringing obsession or getting stuck. In Chinese, the word eight is very similar to the word for wealth. Therefore, if a business employs many eights, it is believed to be successful. When the Chinese words for danger and opportunity are merged, you get the Chinese word for crisis. In Chinese mythology, the lotus flower represents purity and integrity as it emerges from the mud. I hope the phrase Silk Road brings good luck to all the Silk Road countries. This project may or may not be successful, but we need solidarity, peace and development with equality.
    Why do we need a Silk Road thread? Soon come.
    Gene Ching
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    New Silk Road Project will include the "Marco Polo" Connection in ground/maritime master plan: http://thediplomat.com/2014/05/china...sion-revealed/

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    Get ready for a trip

    KungFuMagazine.com's intrepid reporter Greg Brundage begins his Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour: Part 1: Xian, China and the Fabled Silk Road by Greg Brundage.
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    Part 2

    Gene Ching
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    check out more photos

    For more great photos check out the KungFuMagazine.com Google+ Album.

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    Solar Po



    China embraces Kung Fu Panda Power to electrify its new Silk Road
    4 July 2017 | By Joe Quirke

    A solar farm made to look like a giant panda has been connected to the grid in the city of Datong in China’s northern Shanxi province. It will be the first of 100 panda-shaped solar farms that will follow China’s modern Silk Road.

    The 50MW Panda Power Plant covers a total area of 248 acres, with the black part of the panda composed of monocrystalline silicone and the grey and white parts made of thin film solar cells.

    The panda in the photos of the solar farm bears a resemblance to the panda cubs from Dreamworks’ Kung Fu Panda films.

    Designed to improve “youth engagement and innovation” the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and China Merchants New Energy say they will “work together to promote and popularise the promotion of new energy through summer camps and open innovation design contests”.


    Image courtesy of Panda Green Energy

    The camp “will offer participants a deeper understanding of green energies and first-hand experience of environmental protection, with top notch mentors and facilitators in the field to monitor and provide on-site support”.

    The UNDP “will identify outstanding, marginalised youth groups in China to develop and strengthen their leadership skills through an international exchange initiative”.

    There are plans over the next five years build 100 similar plants along the new Silk Road, with some being built outside China.


    Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Johann Balleis

    On the subject of pandas, in March this year China announced that it would link up 67 existing reserves to increase the population of wild bears, creating a space three times the size of America’s Yellowstone National park.

    In 2016 the International Union for Conservation of Nature removed pandas from the endangered species list, they are now listed as “vulnerable”.

    Recently the European Investment Bank supported China’s Silk Road strategy and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged an extra $122bn for international infrastructure schemes as part of the development.

    Top image courtesy of the UNDP
    Kung Fu Panda meets the Silk Road
    Gene Ching
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    Bring on the nay-sayers

    The ‘Silk Road’ Verdict Why China's massive infrastructure plan won't measure up to economic reality By Valentin Schmid, Epoch Times | July 20, 2017 AT 10:54 AM Last Updated: July 20, 2017 2:18 pm


    Chinese workers at a pier in Qingdao, China, on April 13, 2017. The Belt and Road Initiative is supposed to boost trade both by land and by sea. (STR/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)


    The idea, at first, sounded good: Plow trillions of dollars into infrastructure projects in the barren wasteland that is most of central Asia, and trade will start to bloom, economies will prosper, and peace will reign. However, most experts believe real world problems will result in the whole idea turning into nothing but a pipe dream.


    (VCG/VCG VIA GETTY IMAGES)
    The concept is called the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also known as One Belt, One Road, launched by Chinese regime leader Xi Jinping in March 2015. It has two elements: one landlocked route from China to Europe through Asia, called the Silk Road Economic Belt, and one seaborne route going from China to Europe past India and Africa, called the Maritime Silk Road.

    Although estimates vary, China has called for up to $5 trillion in infrastructure investments over the next five years in the 65 countries along these routes. Ports in Sri Lanka, railways in Thailand, and massive roads and power plants in Pakistan are just a few examples of the planned investments.

    Speaking at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing in May this year, Xi said: “In pursuing the Belt and Road Initiative, we should focus on the fundamental issue of development, release the growth potential of various countries, and achieve economic integration and interconnected development, and deliver benefits to all.”

    His statement sums up the problems with the multitrillion dollar project: It talks about desirable outcomes but is exceedingly vague on the details. This is just like the BRI’s official plans. They call for improving intergovernmental communication, coordinating infrastructure plans, developing soft infrastructure, and strengthening tourism and trade, but the specifics are shaded over.

    “There are no concrete action items set out in the Chinese government’s action plan for what has become one of Xi’s most visible policy initiatives. The document contains a number of generic proposals interspersed with platitudes about cooperation and understanding,” research firm Geopolitical Futures states in a July report.

    But despite the lack of concrete programs, the vast sums involved show that the BRI has garnered support from many countries. China-led institutions, like the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, have also pledged $269 billion dollars for the project. Even Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe voiced his support at the recent G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

    It is completely overhyped. The numbers they published, $4 trillion to $5 trillion, they are completely unrealistic.
    — Christopher Balding, professor of economics, Peking University
    Objectives Measured Against Reality
    China’s objectives, explicit and implicit, need to be measured against reality. On this account, most experts think the project is not economically viable—but it will allow China to gain political influence.

    “It is completely overhyped. The numbers they published, $4 trillion to $5 trillion, they are completely unrealistic,” said Christopher Balding, professor of economics at Peking University.

    Economically, it is mostly about investment and exports. “China has surplus capital and excess productive capacity, which is motivating this set of initiatives. With a high savings rate in China and a slowdown in industrial investment at home, they are looking for overseas projects that can be financed and a new outlet for Chinese exports,” said James Nolt, professor of international relations at New York University.

    The result is the BRI, which would see China team up with countries along the routes to raise money for building infrastructure to facilitate trade. And Chinese companies would do the construction.

    The China Overseas Ports Holding Company has expanded the Gwadar Port in Pakistan and has an operating lease until 2059. This is just the first, small step in connecting the Silk Road Economic Belt with the Maritime Silk Road. Highways, pipelines, power plants, optical connections, and railways are planned for the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor, with a total investment of $62 billion.

    Of course, local and international companies are going to bid for these projects as well, but with China providing most of the funds, Chinese state owned enterprises (SOEs) will get most of the contracts.

    If Chinese companies got $5 trillion in contracts, this would indeed boost exports, but there are several problems with this notion even in theory.

    First, infrastructure projects are very resource intensive, and with few exceptions China simply doesn’t produce commodities. Much of the value-added, therefore, will be absorbed by international commodity producers like Australia (though the Chinese steel industry will certainly get a boost).

    Impossible to Finance
    Then there is the question of financing these investments. The countries where the investments are going to take place, like Pakistan and Cambodia, don’t have the money to spend trillions and also can’t raise it in international financial markets. This leaves China to come up with a way to get the hard currency financing to achieve its economic goals.

    At the beginning of the BRI, China still had almost $4 trillion in foreign exchange reserves, and it was looking to diversify. These have dropped to $3 trillion in 2017, a threshold the central planners in Beijing have made clear they will not cross.

    “They have to tap international bond markets for that money, or they have to exhaust their foreign exchange reserves and even then go out and borrow. Even by global bond market standards, a $5 trillion bond sales program spread out over a couple of years is an enormous number. They are not going to shoulder that type of repayment risk and they are not going to deplete their reserves,” said Balding.

    Research by investment bank Natixis estimates that such a borrowing binge would increase Chinese external debt from 12 percent to 50 percent of GDP. This would expose the country to exchange rate risks and put it in the same vulnerable position that the Asian tiger economies were in during the financial crisis of 1998.

    Loans from China denominated in yuan from Chinese banks are not an option for two reasons. This “poses its own risks to the overly stretched balance sheets of Chinese banks. In fact, their doubtful loans have done nothing but increase during the last few years, which is eating up the banks’ room to lend further,” especially for risky projects, wrote Natixis Chief Economist for the Asia Pacific Alicia García-Herrero, in a blog post.



    In addition, recipient countries could only pay back a loan in yuan by selling goods and services to China, thus procuring the Chinese currency. This would be directly counterproductive to the goal of promoting exports from China with construction contracts and eventually through improved trade infrastructure.

    “How is Pakistan to repay a yuan loan? They are going to generate a trade surplus in yuan. So China has to run a trade deficit with all the countries it lends to. Even if they don’t do that, Pakistan is going to have to generate some type of trade surplus with another country to have enough capital to pay back China,” said Balding.

    Given that most of the infrastructure will be built to facilitate trade with China, this is highly unlikely. So in the end, China will be left to vendor finance these projects. The only way to achieve its economic objectives will be hard currency loans that are completely repaid, with interest—which China currently has no clear means of financing.
    continued next post
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    Continued from previous post

    Bad Risks
    All of the economic indicators regarding the most prominent BRI projects point against this repayment scenario.

    There is a reason countries like Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Pakistan, and Mongolia don’t have good infrastructure. They have a generally poor macroeconomic framework, underdeveloped institutions, and a high degree of corruption. Building roads and railways will not change that.

    Additionally, “Central Asia, a patchwork of states whose borders were drawn to make the countries more easily controlled from Moscow during the Soviet era, is hardly a promising market for Chinese goods,” states the Geopolitical Futures report.

    “People talk about [the BRI] as if China is giving away money. In almost every case, it’s the Chinese credit card company giving a credit card to a despotic dictator, like in Sri Lanka or Venezuela. None of that has ended well,” said Balding.



    The nature of the value proposition of the BRI leads to the worst countries needing the most infrastructure and the most financing. Economically stable and healthy countries like Malaysia and Vietnam need less investment than troubled states like the Kyrgyz Republic and civil war-torn Ukraine. These countries have an economic health ranking of 44 and 38.2, respectively, compared to Malaysia’s 66.8, according to a ranking by Oxford Economics.

    “Where financial development is relatively weak and governments are heavily indebted, BRI financing will be crucial,” states the report by Oxford Economics. It is precisely these places that offer the lowest chance of repayment.

    “While a new airport or railway can be built in just a few years, amassing the human and institutional capital needed for them to operate efficiently and contribute to economic and social progress is a slower process,” states a report by research firm TS Lombard.

    Small Scope
    Given the constraints in viable economic projects as well as available financing, the scope of the BRI will likely remain small, while China can still focus on its political objective to exert greater influence over the participating countries.

    “What this leaves us with is a much more modest program of $15 billion to $30 billion a year,” commensurate with the $269 billion already pledged by the China-led institutions, Balding said. “I don’t want to say that it’s irrelevant, but it is irrelevant. The United States is spending $300 billion in direct investment every year overseas.”

    One of the initiatives that makes sense but needs little infrastructure and investment is protecting ships from pirates. “The cooperation with Singapore to keep the sea-lanes safe is promising, and that would have happened either way,” said Nolt.

    While Chinese propaganda is touting that the BRI will revive the spirit of the ancient Silk Road through central Asia to Europe, it may have missed the boat on that one.

    Given advances in shipping technology, it is far easier and cheaper to transport goods by ship rather than by land. That’s why most of China’s and the world’s trade (80 percent) is done by sea.

    In the end, keeping out pirates and building a few ports in Pakistan and East Africa is a worthwhile endeavor—but it’s one that falls far short of building trillions worth of landlocked infrastructure.

    “The Silk Road was a constantly evolving marketplace that moved goods across a vast continent where they could be exchanged for other goods. And unlike today, Eurasia was the center of world civilization, home to the most important economies,” states the Geopolitical Futures report.

    Today, the most important economy, also for China, is the United States, and it is best reached by sea through the Pacific Ocean, far away from the Maritime Silk Road and the One Belt.

    CHINESE INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS IN ASIA


    BOATS AT THE GWADAR PORT IN PAKISTAN ON THE ARABIAN SEA. China Overseas Ports Holding Company is leasing the port until 2059 and has already started expanding it. China has been looking to secure sea trading lanes along the so-called Maritime Silk Road, and the Pakistani port is an important piece in the puzzle. (J. PATRICK FISCHER/CC BY-SA)


    A SKY TRAIN IN BANGKOK ON MARCH 20, 2013. Thailand will borrow a total of $69.5 billion to fund high-speed railways and other transportation mega projects, with most of the money coming from China and Chinese companies providing the construction. Thailand’s railways will form part of the Kunming– Singapore railway system. However, Thailand will repay the loans with rice and rubber exports, thus running a trade surplus with China and going against the objective to generate export growth. (NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)


    THE BANKS OF THE IRRAWADDY RIVER IN BURMA ON OCT. 2, 2015. Although not officially part of the Belt and Road Initiative, the $3.6 billion Myitsone Dam project is an example of a Chinese infrastructure project in a very poor country that hasn’t gone as planned. Construction has been suspended for six years, as both countries could not agree on how to proceed. (YE AUNG THU/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
    A lot of criticism has come out in the press on this lately.
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    Our newest exclusive web article

    Our intrepid reporter explores Wushu in the Land of Cush. READ The Rainbow Continent Kung Fu Friendship Tour Part 2: Ethiopia by Gregory Brundage



    THREADS
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    African Martial Arts
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    “One Belt, One Road” The Chinese Taiji Culture World Workshop

    I need to post this here because this is are 'One Belt, One Road' thread.

    “One Belt, One Road” The Chinese Taiji Culture World Workshop
    The Tiger Claw Foundation is supporting the “One Belt, One Road” The Chinese Taiji Culture World Workshop on Friday February 8th, 2019 at the Royal Palace, 6058 Stevenson Blvd., Fremont CA 94538, and Saturday 9th, 2019 at the Redemption Church, 105 Nortech Pkwy, San Jose CA. The “One Belt, One Road” Taiji Ambassadors include Grandmaster Chen Zhenlei, Grandmaster Wang Zhanhai, Grandmaster Yang Jun, Professor Huang Kanhui, Master Wu Dong, and Master Qiu Huifang. Contact Gigi Oh for tuition rates at 408-209-8150 gigitcmedia@hotmail.com.

    In cooperation with nccaf.org and KungFuMagazine.com.
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    Italy

    In the tradition of Marco Polo, I suppose.

    Italy joins China's New Silk Road project
    23 March 2019


    REUTERS
    There was long applause as the two leaders met to witness the signature of the deals

    Italy has become the first developed economy to sign up to China's global investment programme which has raised concerns among Italy's Western allies.

    A total of 29 deals amounting to €2.5bn ($2.8bn) were signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Rome.

    The project is seen as a new Silk Road which, just like the ancient trade route, aims to link China to Europe.

    Italy's European Union allies and the United States have expressed concern at China's growing influence.

    What is the Chinese project about?

    The new Silk Road has another name - the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) - and it involves a wave of Chinese funding for major infrastructure projects around the world, in a bid to speed Chinese goods to markets further afield. Critics see it as also representing a bold bid for geo-political and strategic influence.

    It has already funded trains, roads, and ports, with Chinese construction firms given lucrative contracts to connect ports and cities - funded by loans from Chinese banks.



    The levels of debt owed by African and South Asian nations to China have raised concerns in the West and among citizens - but roads and railways have been built that would not exist otherwise:

    In Uganda, Chinese millions built a 50km (30 mile) road to the international airport

    In Tanzania, a small coastal town may become the continent's largest port

    In Europe too, Chinese firms managed to buy 51% of the port authority in Piraeus port near Athens in 2016, after years of economic crisis in Greece

    What projects were signed in Rome?

    On behalf of Italy, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio, leader of the populist Five Star Movement, signed the umbrella deal (memorandum of intent) making Italy formally part of the Economic Silk Road and The Initiative for a Maritime Silk Road for the 21st Century.

    Ministers then signed deals over energy, finance, and agricultural produce, followed by the heads of big Italian gas and energy, and engineering firms - which will be offered entry into the Chinese market.

    China's Communications and Construction Company will be given access to the port of Trieste to enable links to central and eastern Europe. The Chinese will also be involved in developing the port of Genoa.

    What's in it for Italy?

    Italy is the first member of the G7 group of developed world economies to take money offered by China.

    It is one of the world's top 10 largest economies - yet Rome finds itself in a curious situation.

    The collapse of the Genoa bridge in August killed dozens of people and made Italy's crumbling infrastructure a major political issue for the first time in decades.

    And Italy's economy is far from booming.

    The country slipped into recession at the end of 2018, and its national debt levels are among the highest in the eurozone. Italy's populist government came to power in June 2018 with high-spending plans but had to peg them back after a stand-off with the EU.

    Mr Di Maio told a news conference: "Italy has arrived first on the Silk Road and therefore other European countries at this moment have taken a stance on our trade decisions.

    "They have taken a critical view and they have the right to this opinion."

    "We do not want to override our European partners. We firmly remain in the Euro-Atlantic alliance and we remain allies of the United States in Nato," he added.

    There is, however, dissent within the Italian government. Mr Di Maio's coalition partner, the other Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, who heads the right-wing League, was conspicuously absent from all official ceremonies.

    Mr Salvini has warned that he does not want to see foreign businesses "colonising" Italy.

    "Before allowing someone to invest in the ports of Trieste or Genoa, I would think about it not once but a hundred times," Mr Salvini warned.

    What's in it for China?

    Italy's move is "largely symbolic", according to Peter Frankopan, professor of Global History at Oxford University and a writer on The Silk Roads.

    But even Rome admitting the BRI is worth exploring "has a value for Beijing", he said.

    What China's One Belt, One Road really means

    "It adds gloss to the existing scheme and also shows that China has an important global role."

    "The seemingly innocuous move comes at a sensitive time for Europe and the European Union, where there is suddenly a great deal of trepidation not only about China, but about working out how Europe or the EU should adapt and react to a changing world," Prof Frankopan told the BBC.

    "But there is more at stake here too," he added. "If investment does not come from China to build ports, refineries, railway lines and so on, then where will it come from?"

    Grappling with China's growing power


    OXFORD SCIENCE ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAG
    Explorer Marco Polo's travels along the Silk Road were immortalised in the "Book of Marvels"

    The "made in Italy" label carries a reputation for quality worldwide, and is legally protected for products items processed "mainly" in Italy.

    In recent years, Chinese factories based in Italy using Chinese labour have been challenging that mark of quality.

    Better connections for cheap raw materials from China - and the return of finished products from Italy - could exaggerate that practice.

    'Predatory' investment

    The agreements signed in Rome come amid questions over whether Chinese firm Huawei should be permitted to build essential communications networks - after the United States expressed concern they could help Beijing spy on the West.

    That was not part of the negotiations in Italy.

    But a little over a week before the deal was due to be signed, the European Commission released a joint statement on "China's growing economic power and political influence" and the need to "review" relations.

    As President Xi toured Rome, EU leaders in Brussels considered their approach for relations with China.

    "Our aim is to focus on achieving a balanced relation, which ensures fair competition and equal market access," Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, said.

    In March, US National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis pointed out that Italy was a major economy and did not need to "lend legitimacy to China's vanity infrastructure project".
    Gene Ching
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    HuaHua

    I'm not going to even try to pretend that I understand what's happening here. It just amuses me that China is so invested in Godzilla.

    MAY 9, 2019 7:29AM PT
    China to Remake Classic Balkan Films as Part of Diplomatic Charm Offensive

    By REBECCA DAVIS


    CREDIT: COURTESY OF WARNER BROS.

    China’s Huahua Media has signed on to remake two classic war films from the Balkans as part of a push to improve diplomatic ties between the Middle Kingdom and countries taking part in its “Belt and Road” global infrastructure project, Chinese reports said. The news follows Huahua’s return to the spotlight as an investor on the upcoming “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” franchise film, though the company was better-known in the past for a short-lived slate financing deal with Paramount in 2017.

    The ambassadors to China from Serbia and from Bosnia and Herzegovina were present as Huahua inked a deal with the Sarajevo Film Center and a Serbian production company to remake two Serbo-Croatian-language films: 1969’s “The Bridge,” about the defense of a span against the Nazis in World War II, and 1972’s “Walter Defends Sarajevo,” helmed by the Bosnian director Hajrudin Krvavac.

    “The remake is not only a tribute to the classics; it will also further promote deep cultural exchange between the three countries,” the website Sohu Film said. It cited Huahua CEO Wang Kefei as saying that the partnership “responds to the call of the state by bearing the important weight of strengthening ‘Belt and Road’ cultural exchange.”

    Last week, China signed a major infrastructure deal and numerous other agreements with Serbia, the most significant of which will see cooperation between the two countries on the construction of a new metro system in Belgrade. Critics of the Belt and Road Initiative in the Balkans cite fears that such projects might create untenable debt.

    China-Kazakhstan co-production “The Composer,” the first to be made from a co-production treaty to bring the mainland closer to another Belt and Road nation, was selected as the opening film for the Beijing International Film Festival last month and is set for nationwide theatrical release in China next Friday.
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    Our newest exclusive web article

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    Our latest free web article offering

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