China rolls
out the Health Silk Road
In the Belt and Road framework, China is supplying
much of the world including virus-hit Europe with
medicine and healthcare items
By Pepe Escobar
April 02,
2020 "Information
Clearing House"
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When President Xi Jinping was on a phone call in
mid-March with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe
Conti, before the arrival of a China Eastern flight
from Shanghai to Milan full of medical help, the key
takeaway was the Chinese pledge to develop a Health
Silk Road (Jiankang
Sichou Zhilu).
That was in
fact already inbuilt in the Belt and Road Initiative
playbook since at least 2017, under the framework of
enhanced, pan-Eurasian health connectivity. The
pandemic only accelerated the timeline. The Health
Silk Road will run in parallel to the multiple
overland Silk Road corridors and the Maritime Silk
Road.
In a
graphic demonstration of soft power, so far China
has offered Covid-19-related equipment and medical
help to no fewer than 89 nations – and counting.
That covers
Africa (especially South Africa, Namibia and Kenya,
with Alibaba in fact announcing it will send help to
all African nations); Latin America (Brazil,
Argentina, Venezuela, Peru); the arc from East Asia
to Southwest Asia; and Europe.
Key
recipients in Europe include Italy, France, Spain,
Belgium, the Netherlands, Serbia and Poland. But
Italy, most of all, is a very special case. Most are
donations. Some are trade – like millions of masks
sold to France (and the US).
Less than a
year ago Italy became the first G-7 nation to sign a
memorandum of understanding formally joining Belt
and Road – much to the displeasure of Washington and
the Atlanticist galaxy in Brussels and beyond.
Earlier this year in Sicily, I discussed these
intricacies in detail with Enrico Fardella,
Professor of History at Peking University and an
expert on China-Mediterranean
relations.
Italy is
supported on myriad fronts – not only at the highest
political level but also via the Chinese Red Cross,
Sino-Italian associations, tech/logistics Chinese
companies and donations from Alibaba, Huawei, ZTE
and Lenovo. There are three Chinese medical teams in
Italy at the moment.
This all
ties up with the larger Belt and Road picture,
featuring investments in Genoa and Trieste, two key
ports and future Belt and Road nodes.
This
Chinese soft power offensive is carefully calibrated
to offset the current paralysis of global supply
chains. China is now working overtime to supply many
parts of the world with medicine and related
healthcare items – always with the Belt and Road
framework in mind, as if doubling down on
Globalization 2.0.
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