Paradoxes abound along route of Belt, Road

In Beijing, you beg for the wind to start, here, in Erenhot, you beg for the wind to stop.
Bordering Mongolia, Erenhot in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is located 700 kilometers north of Beijing. A recent visit to the city brought me messages from the North.
"Mongolia is a brutal and green force, if you plant genetically modified food, they send you to jail."
"Mongolia has no industrial exports, all it has is meat."
"Most Mongolians are quite friendly toward Chinese people, but there are those who treat Chinese otherwise."
These messages came from border people who frequently had social and economic interactions with Mongolians, and the proximity to these sources makes Erenhot a perfect place to contemplate the progress of and impediments to the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor, a key component of the China-proposed "One Belt and One Road" (B&R) initiative.
Officially called the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the B&R initiative was proposed in 2013.
To be sure, there are some paradoxes. Take the transportation sector, for example. On the one hand, China, Mongolia and Russia are jointly experimenting with an overland route to be serviced by freight trucks crossing the borders and delivering goods to clients in all three countries.
On the other, seasoned transportation operators at Erenhot said they just dump their goods onto Mongolian trucks waiting at the border and skip the rest of the journey, because years ago they were harassed by some Mongolians to such an extent that they now avoid the business.
The railway is an even more appropriate example. On the one hand, Mongolia has expressed its willingness to attract more CHINA RAILWAY Express [freight] services to traverse its territory by offering a discounted access fee, according to a document seen by the Global Times.
On the other hand, traders who had actually used the Mongolian railway system sharply criticized its outdated infrastructure and low efficiency. "[In transportation], the Mongolian section has become a bottleneck for the China-Mongolia-Russia economic corridor," said one.
It leaves one wondering: Why is it that even as Chinese-funded railways have flourished from the plateaus of Ethiopia to the savannah of Kenya, a China-related railway infrastructure project in Mongolia is largely ignored?
The matter is at root one of political distrust. Just as Mongolians adamantly defend their traditional, self-sufficient, nomadic lifestyle against globalization and modernization, some Mongolians are also carefully evading the influence of a rising China.
While the two sentiments are understandable, albeit for different reasons, neither is likely to survive.
Many Mongolians visiting Erenhot said that they just feel like visiting a relative's home, and it is based on this cordial relationship of trust that border trade has prospered.
It is undeniable that the Mongolian economy is closely related to China's and Russia's. The effect of a third country, such as Japan, is very limited.
How Mongolia ended in a bust from a boom and it solved its recent debt woes are to a large extent related to its attitude toward China.
On the state level, maybe something can be learned. Only when there is mutual trust, can the bonds of the Silk Road Economic Belt truly link the two complementary economies.

Published Date:2017-05-05