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Wednesday, April 19th, 2017

China to gather friends for biggest summit of year on New Silk Road

Author:     Ben Blanchard
Source:     Reuters
Publication Date:     Tue Apr 18, 2017 | 4:30am EDT
 Link: China to gather friends for biggest summit of year on New Silk Road
Stephan:   By exiting and disparaging trade agreements Trump has opened up an opportunity door for the Chinese, and they are only to happy to step over the threshold into enhanced world stature. Here's one of the reasons I think this.

China’s President Xi Jinping during the official welcoming ceremony in front of the Presidential Palace, in Helsinki, Finland April 5, 2017.
Credit: Lehtikuva/Martti Kainulainen/via Reuters

BEIJING — China will gather its friends and allies together for its biggest diplomatic event of the year in May, a summit on its New Silk Road plan, with most Asian leaders due to attend but only one from a G7 nation, the Italian prime minister.

President Xi Jinping has championed what China formally calls the “One Belt, One Road” or OBOR, initiative to build a new Silk Road linking Asia, Africa and Europe, a landmark program to invest billions of dollars in infrastructure projects including railways, ports and power grids.

China has dedicated $40 billion to a Silk Road Fund and the idea was the driving force behind the establishment of the $50 billion China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced on Tuesday a list of those attending the conference, including some of China’s most reliable allies – Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Cambodian […]

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