Chinese Dissident Ai WeiWei Says New Silk Road Is Beijing's Colonialism

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has been likened to the Silk Road trade routes of imperial China, was proposed by the current Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, as a blueprint to reposition China in the era of globalization.

Photo Insert: Chinese dissident Ai Weiwei

The thinking behind this $1-trillion project is ambitious. The ruling party in China has laid bare its determination to occupy a leading role in the world, Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei wrote for The Guardian.

The goals of the BRI are pragmatic, unlike those proposed by the Chinese Communist party in their early days, and embodied in slogans such as “Exceeding the UK, Catching the US” in the 50s and 60s.

China, with a huge amount of accumulated wealth and managerial and production experience, has understood that it can fill the gaps in parts of the world that are forgotten and abandoned by the west.

About 145 nations have joined the BRI, which focuses on basic infrastructure and engineering projects, like transportation through rail, road, and ports, to facilitate global trade. As the Chinese saying goes, “If you want to be rich, build roads first.” BRI was not a decision taken on a whim.

The idea comes from an article by Mao Zedong entitled “People of the world, unite and defeat the US aggressors and all their lackeys,” published in 1970 and commonly known as the “520 statement.” Mao prompted the developing world to be united and fight against western political power led by the US.

He stressed the importance of nationalist revolutions, independence, and liberation movements as the wave of unstoppable historical change. Mao quoted the Confucian philosopher Mencius – “a just cause attracts much support, an unjust one finds little” – to illustrate his belief that people in the world would triumph over Anglo-American imperialism.

When my generation was growing up, these thoughts permeated the entire country. I belong to the same generation as Xi. We were encouraged to “have the entire motherland in mind and the whole world in view” and to start revolutions everywhere in the world. These arrogant ideas relate to the ideology of that era.

Based on these thoughts, the belt and road initiative is a strategic move that corresponds to the country’s rapid development. The question is: will its goals be achieved in a world that is much more complicated than it once was? The images clearly depict China’s strategic ambitions, very different from the original Silk Road, which operated from around 130BC until the mid-15th century.

The Silk Road was a network of trade routes, whereas the belt and road initiative embeds a political ambition beyond commerce. The issue in question here is: Who will be the center of the world? Who will rise to world power?

China is not necessarily bringing real benefits to the developing world. BRI, which was launched to benefit China, is tinted with colonialism. It leads this ancient country of 1.4 billion people to a swamp of pragmatism and egoism. While China is pumped up with ambition, it also sinks into contradiction and confusion, because of its lack of self-awareness. The ideological superstructure and economic base will be at odds with each other for a long time, Ai Weiwei warned.

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