Diplomatic World_nummer 56.

EUROPEANS AND THE CHINESE
NEW SILK ROAD INITIATIVE
Dr Pierre-Emmanuel Thomann
Geopolitician - President - Eurocontinent
China is a major demographic and nation-size
civilization. With the New Silk Road initiative,
China positions itself on territory and in time as
a central player on the Eurasian and global scales.
The objective of the project also called Belt and
Road Initiative (BRI) is to connect China to the
world through rail, road, maritime, airport, energy
and technology connections. The project has a longterm
horizon since it is expected to be completed by
2049. If it is implemented, even partially, the project
is likely to change the global geo-economic and
geopolitical balance of power.
Europeans have no choice but to position themselves in
relation to these plans, putting forward their own interests
and ambition for strategic autonomy. The New Silk Road
initiative, if conducted taking into consideration the
interests of European nations, but also those of China’s
global Eurasian neighbours and other global powers, is
likely to contribute to the stability and prosperity of the
Eurasian continent.
A geopolitical approach is useful in examining
European interests regarding this initiative. The
geopolitical angle has two modes. Geopolitics is a
tool for making a diagnosis that highlights the stakes
of a geopolitical situation. Then, the elaboration of a
geopolitical strategy (applied geopolitics) helps to develop
priorities on territory and in time in the service of an
objective.
a political objective is a decisive advantage and a central
element of sovereignty. This mastery depends on the
capacity to appreciate the space and time constraints of
others.
GEOPOLITICAL DIAGNOSIS
China seeks to regain global geopolitical centrality through
the New Silk Road project. Although various elements of
the project are still largely in a virtual state, some projects
are already under way, or aim to renovate connections that
already exist.
Not all projects will materialize and succeed but the
multitude of transport bundles imagined in this long-term
plan will lead to the implementation of at least some of
them.
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In the twenty-first century, in order to navigate in a
world that is in a state of flux, a geopolitical strategy,
conceived as a spatio-temporal whole and functioning as
a means of balancing other powers, is required. This is
because the mastery of territory and time in the service of
The New Silk Road initiative responds to several issues at a
number of geographical scales:
At the national level, China’s western-oriented
infrastructure of the initiative aims to develop areas west
of its territory. These regions, particularly the Xinjiang