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From: Capt
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/d14a00e4-15d0-11e5-a58d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3eWybpqKc
June 25, 2015 6:19 pm
Beijing has not met opposition or Islamist leaders in Asia. This must change, writes Ahmed Rashid
Today it is known as the Karakoram Highway, a twisting road carved high into the mountains along which trucks inch their way south through China and into Pakistan. You can trace the origins of this dizzying pass back to the Han dynasty, when it formed part of a trading route stretching 4,000 miles. Merchants would ferry valuable Chinese silk to markets as far west as Italy, collecting ideas from the world's great cultures and depositing them as they went.
Now Beijing wants to build a new Silk Road across the Eurasian landmass, equal in economic and cultural significance to that ancient precursor. Its ambition is leading it to make deals in a volatile region from which the west — in its preoccupation with east Asia — is essentially withdrawing.
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1 comment:
As a Pashtun, Ahmed Rashid looks to be trying to re-brand himself as a commentator on China's new Silk Road, which coincidentally seems to bypass the Pashtuns due to their perceived unreliability:
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9dafcb30-0395-11e5-a70f-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3ecWJXzhS
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