The Super Power of China With the Silk Road Project

Joshua Rasia

The days are gone when Marco Polo described how long the path towards Asia was, and what he could barter during the incredible travels he accomplished at the time.

Nowadays China, the destination of his previous commercial trip is a super power, pushing to get some major deals in Europe whereas Italy and Austria are the last countries to join the big plan for the Silk Road. Having sealed important deals with Italy not long ago in terms of knowledge exchange and company development the China superpower is boosting their economy with some important giants of the Italian energy industry and metal producers and look to be ahead of the competition to bond with Europe following Brexit.

When this major event will happen, whether it is going to be in a few months or in a year’s time the entire European Union will suffer from a drastic swift of economic power hence why it is now so important to seal some international trade deals with the USA or China with the latest getting the edge recently in Europe.

The Belt and Road initiative, named BRI involves infrastructure projects around the world in an attempt – which is going greatly so far seeing their economy growth during the last term – will be even more positive after their new deals will fall in place. Lately Austria is also getting involved, with the joy of the government able to seal up to 30 deals in the commercial plan with the Chinese government.

Geographically and strategically located in a very favorable position Trieste will be the starting point of the Silk Road whereas the Austrian and Prussia old Empires are involved as a natural bridge between the old continent and the road towards Russia and later, China.

THE USA AND CHINA TRADING WAR

On the other side USA isn’t enjoying these deals and is trying to reach an agreement with the Chinese government while a potentially dangerous trade war is taking place between the two most powerful economies in the world.

The United States are threatening tariffs on billions worth of goods in the importations from China while the government of Asia’s largest country has realized there is a gap in negotiations, as the US has many enterprises with a lot of vested interest and investments in China. If they continue to attack the Chinese, they will also have to deal with a much bigger impact in terms of American businesses operating in Chinese territory. The government has recently confirmed they will not simply sit down and watch as the US government charges them high tariffs. Instead they will hit back.

There isn’t a clear winner in this contest: the United Kingdom could boost Chinese businesses in Europe as a result of the effects of Brexit, whereas a weaker European Union market area will be more than keen to accept the Chinese economic lure. Russia, politically closer to Beijing, may be the key figure in deciding how this will end. So far they haven’t applied any charges to the US, but China turns to them when they need raw materials, which may be a turning point in the trade war between the two giants.