On September 7, 2013, during a speech on China’s Central Asia strategy at the Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan, President Xi Jinping proposed that China and Central Asian countries build an “economic belt along the Silk Road”, a trans-Eurasian spanning from the Pacific Ocean to the Baltic Sea. Xi said the proposed economic belt is inhabited by “close to 3 billion people and represents the biggest market in the world with unparalleled potential”. To create the new economic belt, Xi suggested China and Central Asian countries accelerate policy communication, improve road connectivity, promote unimpeded trade, enhance monetary circulation and deepen understanding. Xi also said the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will work on a transportation agreement to improve road connectivity. Gao Yusheng, China’s former ambassador to Uzbekistan said the new Silk Road will become another global growth locus once Western China is better connected with Central Asia. Yao Peisheng, China’s former ambassador to Kazakhstan, told the China Daily reporter that the proposed economic belt cannot be accomplished without political and cultural efforts.

This policy reorientation has to take both the international reality and China’s domestic evolution into careful consideration. Can China afford to do things alone without maintaining a great power relationship with the U.S.? In other words, will China invite the U.S. to join the endeavor? Can China convince enough members to push forward the "trinity" without improving relationship with many key nations that is discussed earlier?  What kind of international coalition China needs to put in place in order to put the plan into action? Will China’s developed Eastern provinces support this gigantic effort? Does it involve infusion of capital from these provinces into the Big West? Does the proposed railroad building make economic sense? Will local people in the building areas resist this effort? Does the Chinese leadership have the vision and courage to initiative political reforms that are necessary for the success of the plan?

There is no doubt the plan is one of great vision and potential. But it is also one with large number of uncertainties and carries a high risk of failure. It is doable. Making it work will be the greatest challenge President Xi and his team will face in the coming decade.

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