The Chinese One-Belt-One Road (OBOR) initiative is a US$ 1
trillion plan, with an estimated economic multiplier of 2.5. However, since the
initiative was first announced in 2013 by President Xi of China, only 5% of
this budget has been spent. There are as many plans as interested countries,
and China is talking to most of them.This impressive transport network consists of a “Belt”, i.e., overland transport connecting China to Europe through Central Asia; and a “Road”, i.e., a maritime return-route from southern Europe, through Suez, back to Asia. The Mediterranean Basin is therefore ‘central’ in this network which, looking at Chinese investments in Australia, central- and south America, could be easily extended to a global around the world transport system. Such a development assumes more concrete credence, after president Trump’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and, possibly, from NAFTA too in the near future.
Although Arabian Gulf ports are not yet part of this network in any visible way, the Region’s importance cannot be underestimated, as seen also by Chinese investments in Oman, Qatar, etc., as well as India’s interest in the Iranian port of Chabahar, so as to ‘bypass’ the (for her worrisome) Pakistani port of Gwadar, developed by China.
In short, and particularly for ports in the Upper Gulf (MAK, Umm Qasr, Bandar Imam Khomeini), the region could constitute a (land) alternative to Suez, at the same time connecting the Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea. In addition, a ‘port system’ such as this, would and could serve the vast hinterlands of Iraq, Iran, Turkey, all the way up to Moscow, thus connecting to OBOR (Belt) through Russia’s North South Transport Corridor (NSTC).
Could such a scenario be feasible in the short- to medium term? The answer is 'yes', and much of the infrastructure is already there. The only thing it will take is a firmer understanding that progress and welfare are better achieved through economic cooperation rather than political conflict. HH
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