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PARIS — It's a plan of titanic proportions, with a budget of close to $1 trillion and transport projects, for both land and sea, on almost every continent. No single fund can finance it, and the development bank created for it brings together more than 60 countries. The "New Silk Road," and the figures involved, can make your head spin.
The plan, launched in 2013 by Beijing, wasn't an easy sell France. But since the arrival of a train from Wuhan to Lyon in February 2017, and the visit President Emmanuel Macron made last month to China, where the subject was officially discussed, interest has grown noticeably. More and more informational meetings are taking place, and participants are competing for the best arguments to encourage companies to take part in what they describe as an "astounding Marshall Plan."
But there are several dangers in this approach, the biggest being Western obliviousness, which is encouraged by an overly simplistic approach that's based on short-term thinking and only takes into account the possibility of new business opportunities.
Lofty goals
The New Silk Road was conceived as a scalable concept, meaning there was always room to adapt and expand its scope. And over the past few years, that's exactly what's taken place. From 60 countries initially involved, the number has now risen to about 100. The African continent, for instance, is now clearly integrated into the plan, as is the Arctic, which will have its own Silk Road, and South America, a continent where China is greatly increasing its presence.
It is, first and foremost, an extremely-well-built PR project.
The list of sectors involved has also grown. From transport infrastructures alone, the scope has been extended to cultural or tourism cooperation. The plan's name has changed too — from "New Silk Road" to "One Belt One Road" — and is now an initiative. At home as well as abroad, China has set up brainstorming sessions to give content to this general framework.
It's plain to see that behind its name and the economic projects associated with it, the plan focuses on a number of ambitious goals. It is, first and foremost, an extremely-well-built PR project.
To sing the plan's praises, the authorities in Beijing use a specific language that varies according to the socio-professional category of the people they're speaking to. They don't use the same arguments with researchers as they do with journalists, or business executives, or investors. Bring all of these communication strategies together and what you get is a global message that transforms these new silk roads from a simple starting concept into a pure self-evident fact.
Behind this plan, there is indeed an economic diplomacy dimension that is supposed to enable Beijing and Chinese companies to find growth opportunities abroad. But that's not all. It's also a project that exports China's soft-power and its will to rebuild global governance. Xi Jinping and China want to lead the reorganization of global institutions. The New Silk Road is the perfect label to bring together senior representatives and businessmen from around the world and thus turn China's end-game goal into reality.
Strings attached
You can call it forum diplomacy, an area in which China is very active. Not only does it take part in modernizing infrastructure around the world, it also spreads another, more ideological message. The Chinese President wants to "sell" his development model as an alternative to the policies pursued in struggling Western democracies. Xi Jinping praises a strong, centralized government that's able to make quick decisions and enforce them in a short period of time.
For China, this plan remains a power projection aimed at 2050, when the People's Republic turns 100. By then, China is expected to have recovered the glow it lost in the 19th century. The New Silk Road goes beyond land projects and includes maritime ones as well, from undersea cables to investments in harbors. In the Mediterranean alone, China has its eyes set on dozens of harbors. The ultimate phase of the plan is to have computing data move from one area to another through a fiber optic network.
Yes, this vast plan is going to open up opportunities in the short term. But we shouldn't look at it from too narrow a perspective. China's strategy goes beyond its public goal of spreading peace: It's just as much a strategy of conquest.
China, after all, knows how to protect its interests. Railway lines between China and Europe have much to teach us in this respect. The trains indeed reach Europe laden with all sorts of products from China, but they return to China with significantly less merchandise from Europe. This indirectly raises several questions, including that of market access, which is strongly unequal.
Finally, nothing at this point suggests that foreigners will be able to take part easily in the project China is developing. The economic corridor Beijing is building in Pakistan for some $50 billion looks a lot like development aid with strings attached. No Pakistani company is allowed to do anything in an area that's become a playground for Chinese companies alone.
This doesn't mean that the Chinese plan is entirely and definitely closed to foreigners. But we should refrain from just looking at the magnifying effect of the short-term and from imagining that these new silk roads will be covered with red carpet, that they're a direct and easy path into China and not the other way around.
PARIS — It's a plan of titanic proportions, with a budget of close to $1 trillion and transport projects, for both land and sea, on almost every continent. No single fund can finance it, and the development bank created for it brings together more than 60 countries. The "New Silk Road," and the figures involved, can make your head spin.
The plan, launched in 2013 by Beijing, wasn't an easy sell France. But since the arrival of a train from Wuhan to Lyon in February 2017, and the visit President Emmanuel Macron made last month to China, where the subject was officially discussed, interest has grown noticeably. More and more informational meetings are taking place, and participants are competing for the best arguments to encourage companies to take part in what they describe as an "astounding Marshall Plan."
But there are several dangers in this approach, the biggest being Western obliviousness, which is encouraged by an overly simplistic approach that's based on short-term thinking and only takes into account the possibility of new business opportunities.
Lofty goals
The New Silk Road was conceived as a scalable concept, meaning there was always room to adapt and expand its scope. And over the past few years, that's exactly what's taken place. From 60 countries initially involved, the number has now risen to about 100. The African continent, for instance, is now clearly integrated into the plan, as is the Arctic, which will have its own Silk Road, and South America, a continent where China is greatly increasing its presence.
It is, first and foremost, an extremely-well-built PR project.
The list of sectors involved has also grown. From transport infrastructures alone, the scope has been extended to cultural or tourism cooperation. The plan's name has changed too — from "New Silk Road" to "One Belt One Road" — and is now an initiative. At home as well as abroad, China has set up brainstorming sessions to give content to this general framework.
It's plain to see that behind its name and the economic projects associated with it, the plan focuses on a number of ambitious goals. It is, first and foremost, an extremely-well-built PR project.
To sing the plan's praises, the authorities in Beijing use a specific language that varies according to the socio-professional category of the people they're speaking to. They don't use the same arguments with researchers as they do with journalists, or business executives, or investors. Bring all of these communication strategies together and what you get is a global message that transforms these new silk roads from a simple starting concept into a pure self-evident fact.
Behind this plan, there is indeed an economic diplomacy dimension that is supposed to enable Beijing and Chinese companies to find growth opportunities abroad. But that's not all. It's also a project that exports China's soft-power and its will to rebuild global governance. Xi Jinping and China want to lead the reorganization of global institutions. The New Silk Road is the perfect label to bring together senior representatives and businessmen from around the world and thus turn China's end-game goal into reality.
Strings attached
You can call it forum diplomacy, an area in which China is very active. Not only does it take part in modernizing infrastructure around the world, it also spreads another, more ideological message. The Chinese President wants to "sell" his development model as an alternative to the policies pursued in struggling Western democracies. Xi Jinping praises a strong, centralized government that's able to make quick decisions and enforce them in a short period of time.
For China, this plan remains a power projection aimed at 2050, when the People's Republic turns 100. By then, China is expected to have recovered the glow it lost in the 19th century. The New Silk Road goes beyond land projects and includes maritime ones as well, from undersea cables to investments in harbors. In the Mediterranean alone, China has its eyes set on dozens of harbors. The ultimate phase of the plan is to have computing data move from one area to another through a fiber optic network.
Yes, this vast plan is going to open up opportunities in the short term. But we shouldn't look at it from too narrow a perspective. China's strategy goes beyond its public goal of spreading peace: It's just as much a strategy of conquest.
China, after all, knows how to protect its interests. Railway lines between China and Europe have much to teach us in this respect. The trains indeed reach Europe laden with all sorts of products from China, but they return to China with significantly less merchandise from Europe. This indirectly raises several questions, including that of market access, which is strongly unequal.
Finally, nothing at this point suggests that foreigners will be able to take part easily in the project China is developing. The economic corridor Beijing is building in Pakistan for some $50 billion looks a lot like development aid with strings attached. No Pakistani company is allowed to do anything in an area that's become a playground for Chinese companies alone.
This doesn't mean that the Chinese plan is entirely and definitely closed to foreigners. But we should refrain from just looking at the magnifying effect of the short-term and from imagining that these new silk roads will be covered with red carpet, that they're a direct and easy path into China and not the other way around.
Laura Valentina Cortés, Inès Mermat, Renate Mattar et Hugo Perrin
February 02, 2023
Welcome to Worldcrunch’s LGBTQ+ International. We bring you up-to-speed each week on a topic you may follow closely at home, but can now see from different places and perspectives around the world. Discover the latest news on everything LGBTQ+ — from all corners of the planet. All in one smooth scroll!
This week featuring:
Top athletes coming out
Scotland’s trans violence
EU defends inclusive fairytales
… and more
✉️ You can receive our LGBTQ+ International roundup every week directly in your inbox. Subscribe here.
TW: This content may address topics and include references to violence that some may find distressing.
🇪🇬 In Egypt, Gangs and Police Target LGBTQ+ People Using Dating Apps
The new BBC investigative documentary Queer Egypt Under Attackhas revealed how criminal gangs and Egyptian police officers are using dating apps to target the LGBTQ+ community.
In a two-year-long investigation, journalist Ahmed Shihab-Eldin uncovered the tactics used to lure, and eventually prosecute, LGBTQ+ people in Egypt, where no explicit law against homosexuality exists, but where queer people are more and more at risk of abuse and extortion.
Gangs meet their potential victims on dating apps, where they pretend to be regular people looking for a date, then rob, beat, and extort their victims for money, usually filming these acts and using them to humiliate the victims. The videos often end up online and get millions of views, or they are directly sent to the victims’ families and friends. The police are using the same methods.
While there is no explicit law against homosexuality in Egypt, the crime of debauchery, which is originally a sex work charge, is commonly used to prosecute the LGBTQ+ community. Some of the witnesses interviewed by Shihab-Eldin also declared that they were promised freedom if they in turn became informants and named some of their peers that had the same “perversions”.
🏈 Change Afoot? Top Athletes Come Out In Basketball, Rugby, Tennis
Daria Kasatkina of Russia during the second round of the 2023 Australian Open Grand Slam
A number of high-profile athletes came out this week, such as former pro Australian basketball player Trevor Torrance. Torrance said that he never considered coming out during his career, which coincided with the peak of the AIDS epidemic. “I suffered from anxiety,” he says. “I know I had moments of bouts of depression.”
Russian Tennis Champion Daria Kasatkina also says that being able to come out was a relief to her. “Living in the closet is impossible. It is too hard, it is pointless,” she stated. Kasatkina has also been a vocal critic of the Kremlin and Russia’s war against Ukraine. She officially came out as queer this past summer, but shared in an interview with the Guardian this week that coming out “helped her” and that she is “happy with the outcome.”
Former New Zealand prop Campbell Johnstone has also come out as the first gay All Black. Johnstone said that he has been “leading a double life” and “living a lie” when he came out on television this Wednesday. His coming out has been praised and regarded as “pretty courageous”, especially by All Blacks loose forward Ardie Savea: “He probably doesn’t realize how many people he’s helped internally with what he’s done, so big ups to him.”
🏴 Report Shows Explosion Of Trans Hate Crimes In Scotland In Past 10 Years
Hate crimes committed against trans people in Scotland are rising faster than any other type of hate crime, according to new government statistics published recently, with a 68% increase from 2020–2021 to 2021–2022. Hate crimes targeting the sexual orientation of minorities almost doubled since 2014.
At the center of debates is the Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC), which allows trans people to be recognized properly on many legal certificates. In the UK, trans people must submit a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria before they can obtain one.
In December 2022, Scotland passed legislation that would have removed it to make the process simpler and more accessible. In January, the UK government blocked the reform for women and children protection.
🇮🇳 Delhi Lawyer Denied Judge Position Because Of “Attachment To Gay Rights”
Kirpal, whose appointment as high court judge has been pending for the past five years, is appalled by the matter and claims that the bench is composed of upper caste, heterosexual men – all of whom are biased, which is not a reflection of the society he lives in.
🇱🇹 EU Says “No” To Warning Label On Lithuanian LGBTQ+-Inclusive Fairy Tales
Cover of a children's book containing LGBTQ+ inclusive fairy tales
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that imposing a warning label on a children’s book because it contains LGBTQ+ inclusive fairy tales is unjustifiable and violates the right to freedom of expression.
In 2013, the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences published late lesbian writer Neringa Macaté’s book Gintarinė širdis (“Amber Heart”), containing six fairy tales, two of which had storylines about relationships and marriages between persons of the same sex. After it was published, complaints were submitted and the Lithuanian courts agreed that the book could cause harm to children because of the LGBTQ+ inclusive fairy tales
The Inspectorate of Journalistic Ethics concluded that the book has a negative effect on minors and therefore recommended that the book be labeled with a warning that it might be harmful to children under 14 years of age. But in 2019, the author, who passed away in 2020, took the matter to the European Court of Human Rights. On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that imposing a warning label on a children’s book because it contains LGBTQ inclusive fairy tales is unjustifiable and violates the right to freedom of expression. The court also ordered Lithuania to pay €17,000 to the author’s mother to cover damages and litigation costs.
🇲🇽 Mexico Police Arbitrarily LGBTQ+ People On Grounds Of “Lack Of Morality And/Or Good Manners
In the State of Mexico, phrases such as "lack of morality" are used by the police to harass, extort and arbitrarily detains LGBTQ+ people in public spaces. The findings are shown in an analysis of the 125 municipal governments of the State.
Ricardo Torres, president of Fuera del Clóset A.C. explained “we have been documenting arbitrary arrests, extortion, and harassment by public servants, especially municipal police, for 10 years… And this is something that not only occurs in the State of Mexico, but throughout the country, which uses the figure of ‘lack of morality’ or ‘exhibitionism’ as the perfect excuse for the detention of LGBT+ people."
🇫🇷 France Mourns Bullied Gay Teenage Teenager Who Committed Suicide
Lucas, a 13-year-old gay boy committed suicide on Jan. 7 in Vosges, France. According to his mother, during a press conference last Monday, he was the victim of harassment in the form of teasing and insults due to his homosexuality. A march in memory of Lucas will be held Sunday, Feb. 5.
On Friday, Jan. 27, public prosecutor Frédéric Nahon announced that four students will be tried in the spring for harassing and pushing Lucas to suicide, He also announced the opening of an “incidental investigation against X for non-disclosure of ill-treatment of minors”. During Monday's press conference, broadcast live by the news channels, Lucas' mother said: "It's not just these four young people, it's not just them [...] But it will be the court that will decide. I just want my son to rest in peace and for justice to be done.”
The news has shaken the country with many institutions being scrutinized. One wrote to the French President: “Mr. Macron, stop saying that primary school is "far too early" to deal with questions of sexual orientation and gender identity.“
🇺🇬 Ugandan LGBTQ+ Rights Activist Margaret Sekaggya Receives Lifetime Achievement Award
The U.S. Mission in Uganda has given activist Margaret Sekaggya the Dorothy Ngalombi Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her outstanding service and achievements as a human rights defender during the U.S. Mission Alumni Impact Awards Ceremony.
Before she founded the Human Rights and Peace Center, of which she is currently the executive director, Sekaggya served as the Chairperson of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC), which she also helped establish. Sekaggya was also the first United Nations special rapporteur for human rights defenders.
Sekaggya is also known for having successfully opposed the 2010 Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda that would have imposed on an offender imprisonment of at least five years, and in the case of a non-governmental organization, the canceling of its certificate of registration and criminal liability for its director.
🇬🇧 London’s Trans Inclusive “Vagina Museum” Gets Eviction Notice – Again
The world’s only vagina museum dedicated to “vaginas, vulvas and the gynecological anatomy” currently located in London, UK, has been yet again asked to vacate the premises, less than a year after it moved into its Bethnal Green site.
The museum’s aim since it opened in Camden Market in 2019 has been to promote queer and trans-inclusive education about anatomy, which has subjected the venue to severe transphobia. After welcoming 40,000 visitors free of charge during the past ten months, the Vagina Museum will be closed to the public from Feb. 1 so it can vacate the premises.
🇺🇸 Utah Bans Gender-Affirming Medical Care
The Republican-dominated state of Utah has become the first U.S. state to ban gender-affirming care for young trans people. The new measure, passed into law on Jan. 28, will include gender surgery, puberty blockers, and hormone therapy for minors that had not been yet diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
Utah Governor Spencer Corx affirms that this ban was brought on by a desire for “more and better research” to understand the “consequences” of gender-affirming healthcare. But Brittney Nystrom, executive director of the ACLU of Utah, affirms that this bill “bans access to life-saving medical care for transgender youth in Utah”. Another 18 other states are currently considering similar legislation.
🇳🇱 Dutch Constitution Changed To Ban Sexual Orientation-Based Discrimination
“A disability, or who you fall in love with, should never be a reason to be excluded,” said Habtamu de Hoop, member of the PvdA, a left-wing opposition party in the country.
🇺🇸 Trans Model Laith Ashley Stars As Taylor Swift’s Love Interest In New Music Video
Trans model and actor Laith Ashley is Taylor Swift’s love interest in her new music video. Laith Ashely co-stars as the singer’s love interest in the new music video for “Lavender Haze,” the second single from her 2022 album Midnights. Ashley has previously appeared in campaigns for Barney’s and Diesel, walked the runway for Marco Marco, and was the first out trans member of the “pit crew” on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Swift’s choice of casting for a video she wrote and directed herself has been defined as “a big moment for representation” by Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation’s director of trans representation Alex Schmider.