The New Silk Road | China & The Middle East | Egypt & Iran | The Arab Connection | DOCUMENTARY

[Music] it was a legendary trading route that for thousands of years connected the middle east with asia ancient persia with ancient china it stretched through some of the most rugged terrain in the world deserts mountains raging torrents it was called the silk road [Music] now modern china is building a new silk road connecting beijing to the world and it is fast taking shape already the world's longest railway can carry freight from the heart of industrial china to the middle east and europe the world's longest expressway linking china to europe opened in 2016. the new silk road has brought an avalanche of oil refineries mines factories shops and educational institutions to countries in the middle east chinese investment is reshaping a difficult region [Applause] china is a very good alternative to western products and goods egypt give a very a very really important to chinese the silk road will restructure the world's most important energy sectors china is buying into both the saudi arabian oil structure and also the iranian very unusual given that they're supposedly impactable enemies i'm anthony morse and i'm embarking on this epic journey along the new silk road to investigate how china's plans will shape the middle east [Music] the new silk road also known as the one belt one road plan is a hugely ambitious initiative launched by president xi jinping in 2013. it will link up 65 countries and 4.4 billion people that is about 60 percent of the world's population i've spent the last two years traveling around the world to understand this plan from kyrgyzstan to kazakhstan malaysia to indonesia sri lanka to africa india to greece i've traveled to 12 countries to see how china's plan has impacted millions of lives [Music] this year my journey will begin in china and take me through pakistan and the middle east pakistan and the middle east are places filled with security challenges and economic problems but now china's silk road is bringing change and it is a high-stakes game chinese companies may lose billions of dollars if investments go sour but if successful the opportunities are endless and more importantly the silk road may bring some stability to this problematic region there are huge implications not just for the people living in the middle east but for all of us around the world who depend on the region for oil whose lives are impacted by the refugee crisis and whose homes could be destroyed by radical groups from the middle east to understand this world-changing plan that china has you need to come here first this is ningxia my first stop along the new silk road connecting china to the middle east there are various routes in china's new silk road and different chinese cities have different designated roles for example guangzhou along the southern coast is where the maritime silk road begins lancho in central china connects to the silk road in kazakhstan and central asia and ningxia where i am right now is the start of the middle eastern silk road this is where arabic leaders come if they want to do business with china and this is where the chinese come if they want to do business in the middle east billions of dollars of arab chinese investment flows through the city and it is because of this [Music] has proud islamic roots there are more than 400 mosques here and islamic schools have produced some 7 000 imams whose studies are sponsored by the chinese government to find out how this has come to be i'm at the tongsyan mosque built over 1 300 years ago it tells the story of how islam penetrated the heart of china today is friday and hue people from the town have gathered for friday prayers the hues are the largest group of muslims in china professor yang is my guide to this unique culture his way and also a history expert so we'll need this for the mosque the ways are an 11 million strong group that is also the second largest of china's 55 officially recognized ethnic minorities the hues are closely connected to the history of the old silk road they are descendants of arab and persian merchants who traveled here in the 7th century the merchants married local chinese women and settled here planting the roots of islam in china i'm not muslim but they've graciously allowed me to participate in their ceremony and it is not uncommon for the ways to welcome their curious chinese counterparts from time to time this mosque is very interesting in that it looks more like a chinese temple can you tell me the history of this place [Music] [Music] i see so this then is really a fusion of islamic and chinese cultures has the highest concentration of quay people in all of china muslim hues form one third of the population in this province no surprise then that ningxia has extensive links to other muslim nations whether through faith food or finance is this place the one with the strongest ties to the middle east sure you are like you has been allocated a special role on china's new silk road the city will be the envoy to arab nations and it is hosting a party of staggering scale to celebrate all these flowers have been set up to welcome delegates from the middle east this is the china arab expo of ningxia a huge national event attended by heads of states from the middle east high-level government officials from china and hordes of business people and journalists here's a snazzy video produced by the china team jess for the event [Music] ministers from afghanistan mauritania and egypt took to the stage to talk about their support for the new silk road also known as the one belt and road this expo is where many of china's deals with the middle east are inked and it has been a staggering amount china signed deals with jordan egypt and a long list of other countries in total more than 1 000 agreements worth over 90 billion u.s dollars were secured at the expos besides an avalanche of deal signing ceremonies a major exhibition has also been set up to showcase china's partnership with different countries this place is huge i've been walking around for a couple of hours and i've only covered half the space there are endless examples of chinese companies partnering middle eastern companies this is a rebalancing of global relations at work the middle east didn't have such extensive ties with china now it does displayed here are plans on how the new silk road will transform the middle east and create a new world order [Music] i'm in ningxia in china start of the modern silk road connecting china to the middle east today the governments and business leaders from both sides are gathered at the china arab expo china has impressive plans for the silk road in the middle east and i'm here to check it out inside the hall there are booths from 47 countries and over 1 000 companies amongst the biggest is a booth set up by the egyptians [Music] [Applause] and it's not all song and dance the egyptian investment authority tells me that the new silk road is a top priority for the egyptian government what are your objectives here at the expo i'm coming of course proud to promote egypt and chinese of course cooperation and i hope to attract the biggest companies in power station in energy in industry and in all infrastructure activities big plans are underway indeed china is building high-speed trains in egypt industrial parks and a new capital city these agreements are worth a whopping 15 billion us dollars now what about chinese investment has it exceeded investment inflow from the west uh yeah from two or three years ago chinese companies coming to be newcomers in a large scheme not a small or medium size they were before one of the biggest industrial park in egypt is teda it's the chinese industrial investor developer park there how would you describe egypt's reception of china business look i will tell you i'm i'm have a i mean i'm proud that i'm promote egypt it's a great country the biggest country and for china the same i mean china is as a culture is the history and we were the first really country to make relationship politically with china from the middle east and this is one of the things significant that egypt give a very a very really important to chinese and it's not just egypt that's eager to partner china a long list of countries from the middle east have booths to attract investments [Music] other muslim-majority nations outside the middle east like pakistan malaysia and ghana have also sent delegations this is the largest gathering of muslim businessmen of different nationalities there are other islamic trade expos organized by dubai and malaysia but it's only communist china that has managed to pull off something of this scale and i think it's only in china where you will find samba dancers at an arab states event performing right opposite the saudi arabia booth no less [Music] thousands of arab businesses are also here to pitch deals hi there hello i'm anthony ellie welcome um so tell me how is business going it's good it's good can you tell me a little bit about why you chose to come here to the expo we're here to sell our products our lebanese tasty products live on slavery you can taste it oh yeah sure yeah we produce nuts lebanese flavor and delicious thank you and we are seeking for uh entering the chinese market if one percent of the chinese people will eat our nuts we will not be able to sell anywhere else they will take all our production capacity and we will be growing for sure that sounds like that's good for you thank you [Music] this expo is also an excellent marketing platform for chinese state-owned enterprises over a hundred of them are here pitching their services chinese firms can help to grow food improve manufacturing processes or loan you money chinese companies can also set up computing and infocom needs for an entire country that's not all there are also infrastructure companies power companies solar energy companies and of course the hot favorite chinese high-speed trains that's already been successfully sold to 102 countries they've set up a simulation experience here and i want to give it a go so can i give it a try yes yes look i even get to test drive a train four forward yes am i going too fast right now 190 9700 okay and this train should go up to can go up to 300 right because this is a high speed rail yes chinese companies are here to provide solutions to every governing problem imaginable and i can see why so many officials from the middle east have come here to shop here a minister from morocco is thinking about buying some buses there's nothing like this anywhere else in the world there's certainly no u.s arab states expo no europe arab states expo and what's more china has managed to bring rival middle eastern countries like saudi arabia and iran under one roof for the purpose of business the infrastructure looks impressive and the belt and road deals sound promising but are all these government agreements really having impact on the ground we've seen billions of dollars worth of investments being inked at the china arab expo but what are all these investments what kind of on the ground impact are they really having in the middle east in many ways where wto was about these big agreements and large companies could benefit from that the belton road actually offers a tremendous amount to small and medium-sized business entities as you just load it in at one end and it emerges at the other and it's a means and methodology which was not as available unless you were a big big company and you could get the ports and put up the rail lines and road lines to get your manufacturer products or your global supply chain connected so it's a very very big sea change in terms of who could possibly benefit now in terms of the middle east going back how will it benefit on the ground a lot of term depends on how these individuals and countries react to this and whether or not these connections can be made do you think chinese investment and the new silk road will contribute to stability in the middle east it should in theory i mean the incredible thing is you know as as we were talking about if you look at the list of countries that are have signed on to belt and road many of them are just hardcore enemies you have iran and saudi arabia and israel and palestine everybody and it's basically open so i think perhaps this could be a new template for solving age-old issues listen you know we don't have to get into politics and religious issues if we can just trade and start creating a better environment for the people who live here chinese academic li kofu agrees when xi jinping visited the you know the carol he made you know very you know significant speech in the headquarters of albert league he said the middle east is a land full of the oil resources but at the same time you know this land is also full of the conflicts and the practice what we believe needed most of this region is people not to focus on what china is going to do is we try to help economic development and in this way to provide the hopes for the young people even people have the hopes people have the jobs they believe they could have a decent life that kind of beliefs or hopes would keep them from the radicalism or from the terrorism as the china arab expo demonstrates the modern silk road to the middle east is progressing at full speed with deals being struck in the corridors of power but the silk road isn't just about government and big business it's also about the little guys the traders and merchants and manufacturers and for that story i'm headed to iwo located on the southern coast of china this is the little arab of china i'm traveling on china's new silk road and i've come to iwu along the southern coast of china you may have not heard of this place but you are likely to own something that's been manufactured here soft toy balloons jewelry this is where the one dollar store gets its products what i saw in ningxia are the generals of the new silk road the leaders and bosses who are charting a new trade path what iwo has are the foot soldiers of the silk road thousands of traders from arab countries and all over the world come here and they are here for this the international trade city the world's largest small commodities market looks like i found a friend here this place has over two hundred thousand shops catering to two hundred thousand visitors daily the floor space takes up 6.4 million square meters equivalent to over 1 000 football fields [Music] you'll find all kinds of goods here and don't even think about walking around in this maze of a mall without a guide you can get lost really lost i've been told that it will take more than one year to check out all the shops one year imagine that it's why there are thousands of shopping agents working here to help confuse buyers like me [Music] hi are you shopping hi hey i'm man nice to meet you nice to meet you this place is huge hey right this way this all right all right let's check it out you're an agent tell me about your work and i understand you speak fluent arabic okay now what about the buyers from the middle east what do they normally buy here all right let's do some shopping show me how it works okay okay let's go sounds good [Music] so where to next uh yeah oh in here oh wow [Music] if i wanted to buy this picture here how much would one unit cost them actually that's not bad for the workmanship okay what else what else do you have in here is there more that we can see inside mr ma specializes in islamic art his factory produces intricate carvings of quranic verses and mecca [Music] i've seen similar products like this in markets in the middle east and the vendors there tell me that they're locally made now i know this is not made in the middle east and this is not made in dubai or oman or qatar a lot of what looks like arabic art is probably made in china iwoo has gotten a reputation as a little arab of china because of the number of arab businessmen who come here and they're here because of the incredible business efficiency [Music] who get a commission from each successful deal [Music] but there are also some foreigners who have decided to cut out the middleman i've arranged to meet one such man hello mr hamid yeah hi i'm anthony good to meet you thank you thank you so much today ahmed is helping a fellow iranian to procure headscarves majid has seen a design he likes and he wants it copied in china um and it's a done deal 60 000 scarves will be delivered in 20 days once the boss receives the samples [Music] um this shop is one of over 500 stores manufacturing headscarves in this market hamid still has a long list of suppliers to visit so i have to make my questions quick can you tell me how your business works woman is but can't all these goods be manufactured in iran zailan mayo bam fashion [Music] so business must be good profits are up similar the arrival of these middle eastern traders echoes the arrival of their ancestors on the ancient silk road thousands of years ago the ancient silk road is really a memorial to the power of thousands of individual traders and for the new silk road to be successful it will also depend on the businessman and entrepreneurs who ply the road do not underestimate these small business transactions in may 2014 iwoo exported 77 million us dollars worth of small plastic decorations 44 million dollars worth of unnamed plastic manufactured products 36 million dollars worth of imitation jewelry that's all in just one month and in 2016 this city exported more than 17 billion dollars worth of products that's more than the annual gdp of countries like laos or brunei eu hosts buyers from all over the world from europe to latin america to southeast asia but it's the large number of middle eastern traders that gives iwu its reputation of being little arab in china and there's been an explosion in the culinary scene dozens of middle eastern restaurants have been set up in the city to cater to these traders and in the process of business the sparks of romance have also been ignited i'm meeting a jordanian restaurant owner who married a chinese wife [Music] so tell me about your story how did you guys meet and fall in love [Music] you both come from different cultural backgrounds were there any objections from your families when you first met what about today are your families supportive of your marriage so what about the new silk road and now that you have more people from the middle east coming here are you seeing an increase in cross-cultural marriages foreign we always hear about the silk road of trade but here's something you don't often hear discuss the new silk road of love i'm curious to know what you think these inner marriages what impact they'll have this love story has been going on for a long time a traitor coming in and marrying a local uh girl or man or whatever they have automatically they have a it might be love but it's also very practical because now you have a web of connections and understanding you have somebody who you can trust who can tell you what the situation is and there's an exchange of cultures so it's not just good for romance it's also good for business [Music] and with more inner marriages come a new generation of silk road ambassadors this is iwu a city in china known as little arab because of the number of people from the middle east living here you'll find them in the city's malls and restaurants and also in local public schools i'm here at a local public school and i'm told there are many international students studying here and i'm about to meet them [Applause] [Music] so what are you guys doing a clapping game yes yeah [Applause] and how very good job there is a serious purpose to all these fun and games it is part of the school psychology program for foreign students how does your school help the international [Music] now with the development of the new silk road do you find that there are more foreign students coming here [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] it's not just these kids that are being educated in the chinese way all across china thousands of scholarships have been offered to foreigners to study in chinese universities and i'll also visit government-funded chinese language institutes that have sprouted all over the middle east in countries like afghanistan iran and lebanon all these education institutions are part of china's soft power push on the new silk road its leaders know that friendship is the glue to making its business deals a success you'll notice that when xi jinping starts talking these days he's so much about person-to-person communication diplomacy exchanges educational things they know they have deficits now china is a world power but it doesn't necessarily have a lot of people who are very first in this area and vice versa from these other countries china looms large on the headlines but the details can be sometimes overlooked in terms of how many people speak chinese so china has a lot on its hands in terms of doing this they're trying to pursue it in terms of people-to-people exchanges education things like that but some very aggressive kind of an initiative from trader to trade minister from small deals to mammoth agreements the new silk road will cast a web of connections across the middle east and the rest of the world and what's needed to power the factories and ships and trains and cars that drive the new silk road is this oil why should we care about oil well think about the worst threats in crisis the world has faced in the last 40 years isis al qaeda 911 assad gaddafi saddam iran they are all related to oil and now china has become the biggest buyer of this product underpinned by solid growth and as a mounting number of its citizens acquire cars china's thirst for crude is not likely to be quenched anytime soon oil will continue to be very very important in china until electric or something else comes along we know that china has bought huge amounts of oil from the middle east but now they're also buying up portions of these oil companies saudi aramco in saudi arabia the iranian national oil company and so forth what are the implications and will china play a more active role in guarding um or maintaining stability to safeguard its uh investment good question they're buying into both the saudi arabian oil structure and also the iranian very unusual given that they're supposedly impactable enemies china is trying to stabilize the situation by having foot foot in every camp and not as i said playing politics but simply trade if they stay on the trade things they have some hope of dealing with it that's very much kind of the the rhetoric around this right this is a win-win for everyone involved you start looking at the members who have signed on to the belt and road initiative the silk road obor whatever people like to call it um it's amazing because you have traditional enemies you you have iran and saudi arabia you have israel you have palestine everybody is involved do you think that chinese investment and the new silk road will contribute to stability in the middle east yes of course definitely it will take time what we are going to do in the midst we try to link the regional countries their own strategy of developments with china's and the framework of the one build one road politics in the middle east is messy and malicious and as china builds its silk road it will have to deal with these political risks the new silk road is all about connectivity it includes railroads highways oil pipelines and it affects governments traders women and children china is keenly aware that in this globalized world what happens in the middle east will also impact people here and it seems it can no longer stand on the sidelines and watch the middle east descend into [Music] chaos [Music] you

Channel: Moconomy

Views: 73,254

Keywords: xi jinping, china arabia, china foreign policy, china trade war, China in africa, china egypt, full docs, belt and road, documentaries, china africa, documentary, docs, world trade, docs economy, middle east, docs economics, documentary video, youtube documentaries, china vs usa, documentary english, economy films, silk road, new silk road, full documentary, trade war, China economy, chinese economy, china news, china usa, Middle east usa, international trade

Id: pAbz_eeUozY

Length: 45min 3sec (2703 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 08 2020

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