The attractions of China's Belt and Road Initiative are undermined by its paradoxes
one winter’s morning, a press of shopworkers—members of the ethnic Han majority, along with Kazakhs and Uighurs—line up in front of border officials to enter the duty-free mall shared with Kazakhstan. Four city officials from the propaganda department have got wind of this correspondent’s presence, and insist on accompanying him, nervously calling their boss for instructions. Even in this zone of declared openness, the contradictions multiply.
The anti-Muslim repression sends ripples across Central Asian borders. In September anti-China protests erupted in western Kazakhstan, in large part against the Xinjiang campaign. It is, a Kazakhstani foreign-ministry official admits, a highly delicate issue. Practically the only thing China demands of Central Asian states in return formoney is unquestioning allegiance to a fight against supposed separatism in Xinjiang.
These flaws are baked into the belt and road. But they do not mean that the project of the century is heading for the buffers. The goodies China offers reflect well on leaders. And Chinese construction companies and workers get stuff done. Even politicians who, in opposition, make much of China’s rapaciousness usually come round once in power. In Malaysia, the threat by the prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, to spike $20bn-worth of rail and other projects turned out to be a negotiating ploy.
Yet one thing is glaringly absent in China’s attempts to bend the world to its will. The last time countries circled in China-centred orbits, before the 19th century, China’s moral and cultural authority played as big a part as its sheer size. Japan, Korea and Vietnam all used Chinese characters in their writing systems and organised their societies according to Confucian precepts. Today, China lacks moral or cultural appeal. Its attraction is its cold, hard cash.
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