Our guest speaker was new member Robert Lee who spoke to us about the "China Dream" and the "Belt and Road Initiative". Roberts address was extensive and covered a lot of ground. What follows can only be a brief summary of Roberts very interesting and thought provoking address. In a sentence theme underpinning each program is to procure the return of China to a place of pre-eminence on the world stage in terms of economic activity, GDP, political and Militarily The aim of the Belt and Road Initiative which commenced 2013 is to revive the old silk road, the ancient network of trade routes that once connected east and west, not only to facilitate land based trade between China – the ‘stans and west to Europe, but also to develop western china. The aim is to improve trade by infrastructure development. The aim of the “China Dream” is to put into the past the century of humiliation that China endured from the opium wars in the mid 19th century and the lease of Hong Kong and the new territories to the British and through to the mid 20th century, and bring China back into what it considers to be its rightful place on the Global stage, leading the world both politically and economically. The consequence of this for New Zealand is that our focus on Europe and the USA for trade need to change and we will need to consider as China, and to a lesser extent Japan and Korea increase their ecomomic stakes in the world a re-focus on our attention from traditional trading partners to those in the North Pacific. One of the keystones of both the China Dream and the Belt and Road inititative is the Chinese Comunist Party is at the centre of the process. Without it, the CCP says, neither the China Dream nor the Belt and Road initiative will succeed. Roberts address was as noted above thought interesting and thought provoking. |
