While the US is prioritizing the “America First” agenda, Xi Jinping is taking advantage of the blank spaces that President Trump is leaving.
The trade wars are escalating, as the US and China (the main superpowers of our time) are imposing higher tariffs to each others exports, issue that is right now reshaping the political and economic map of the future. Meanwhile President Trump is leading a complex offensive, the government presided by Xi Jinping is changing its attitude towards Asia and Eastern Europe.
Jinping wants to build a global belt that will ease trade routes towards China in all source of ways: maritime, terrestrial and aerial. The giant of Asia is committing itself to become not just a fierce competitor of the United States, but the main force that rides the chains of commerce around the world.
Chinese diplomat Li Keqiang has been meeting leaders from central and eastern Europe in order to discuss investment opportunities. New roads and rail projects are funded by the Chinese government extending its influence all over the region as a result. Everything must unfold at the “16+1 Cooperation” annual meeting in which Keqiang is going to persuade representatives of 11 EU member states. The agenda will be around:
- How to ease commerce between China and Eastern European countries.
- The recent growth in the industrial relations between those nations.
- Solidify the high-tech sector in order to ensure better agreements.
- The Infrastructure that needs to be done.
- The impact of tourism on these economies.
- Better solutions for the agricultural sector.
The enthusiasm can be seen, while supporters of these new partnerships are celebrating the possible influx of Chinese cash (around $13 billion in credit lines) in the coming years, detractors are very skeptical of the consequences, and tend to think that the plan is just a very clever maneuver to undermine decades of European cooperation between countries.
