PERSPECTIVE
GEOPOLITICAL SCALES
OF ONE BELT ONE ROAD
“Let China sleep; when she wakes she will shake the world.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte
BY ASANGA ABEYAGOONASEKERA*
I
n the year 1271 in the 13th century,
a young Venetian began a 24 years’
trek to emperor Kublai Khan’s
court in Cambulac – modern-day
Beijing and returned on a different
route. He visited the Indian Ocean
island of Sri Lanka on his way home.
This historic route travelled was later
named “Seidenstrasse” (Silk Road) by
a German geographer Ferdinand von
Richthofen in 1877. Further back in
“Western” history, during the reign of
emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180
CE) Chinese silk was the most valued
commodity in Rome. In a manner of history repeating itself
Robert Kaplan a contemporary writer aptly titled his latest
book “The return of the Marco Polo’s world”. Argument and
speculation surrounding a revival of this world rang true with
an MOU between Italy and China connecting Rome to Beijing
and her network at the highest levels. Italy is the fi rst G7
country to endorse China’s Silk Road the One Belt One Road
(OBOR). The Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte opened
the doors for the dragon to re-enter Europe, just as President
Rajapaksa pledged his support for the grand strategic Chinese
project to enter Sri Lanka fi ve years ago. A few months ago, I
was visiting NATO headquarters in Brussels with some scholars
from Asia. At the meeting a question was raised: Will NATO
ever bring China and the South China Sea to its agenda? The
answer was a defi nite no as it is far from its global agenda.
Today, the Trump administration has tabled the Chinese
agenda into NATO, especially on Chinese infrastructure
projects and telecommunications expansions in Europe. This
is with particular reference to Chinese telecom giant Huawei’s
investment in Europe’s 5G infrastructure network. It is seen
by some as a Trojan horse for Beijing’s digital espionage. Jens
Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary-General, made a comment
at a speech stating that China’s rise also presents a challenge
with its investment in Europe’s critical infrastructure, including
its fi fth generation, or 5G, wireless communications networks.
With the new development of Huawei seen as a national
security threat in the United States, the United States has
threatened to curb intelligence cooperation with allies that
allowed Huawei to build up new mobile internet infrastructure.
More than 70 percent of Sri Lanka’s mobile network is on
Chinese infrastructure belonging to Huawei and ZTE. It is
essential to see how Sri Lanka will manage its US relationship
when awarding the next tender to Huawei. The Chinese
foothold is seen very clearly with its infrastructure projects in
Sri Lanka and many other South Asian countries. Looking at
Italy’s entry into OBOR and China’s surrounding commercial
infl uences at important ports, including Rotterdam, Antwerp,
Hamburg, and Piraeus, China has already placed its strategic
footprint in the European continent. It could infl uence future
policy decisions in favour of China. This weakens a US liberal
hegemonic grip in Europe. The Trump administration will use
NATO to curb rising Chinese infl uence in Europe in addition to
an existing incomplete list of duties, including deterring Russia
and the wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Marco Polo
is described by President Xi during his visit to Italy as the
“fi rst bridge” between Italy and China. The modern version is
more sophisticated with a network of ports, railways, tunnels
and other infrastructure spanning 60 countries over land and
sea. In a lecture held at the Venetian University Ca’Foscari
in 2016, I highlighted the signifi cance of the OBOR and its
infl uence to Sri Lanka including the Hambathota Port and how
the $1trillion OBOR will infl uence the geopolitics of Eurasia.
Today, Professor Renzo Cavalieri, at Ca’Foscari University of
Venice says “Everyone is somehow involved in the project, but
no other G7 country has signed an MoU of this kind…what
Italy has done, in quite a disordered way, is take a step ahead to
38 • Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Diplomatist • Vol 7 • Issue 4 • April-May 2019, Noida