Houston Community News >> China Plans 12 New Highways to Central Asian Countries
4/6/2007 -- China plans
to build 12 new highways linking its northwestern Xinjiang region and Central
Asia, state media reported. The planned roads will connect the region with
China's neighbors including Russia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan, the
Xinhua news agency reported late Thursday, citing the regional transport
administration. They will also connect region, populated by people hailing from
Turkic roots, and Istanbul.
Xinjiang region is also known as the Uygur Autonomous Region of China, inhabited
by the Turkic descent Muslim population of China. Especially after September 11
in 2001, China started to increase the weight of the anti-terror arrangements
and one of the main regions of concentration was Xinjiang. Xinjiang is one of
the biggest problem areas for Turkish-Chinese relations because the Chinese
government occasionally accuses Turkey of hosting the leaders of the separatist
movements of the region. Some circles in Turkey believe they have historical and
ethnic ties with people of the region and that they are half-brothers of the
Turks. However, on a political level, Turkish governments have chosen to keep
their neutral position between the Chinese and the Turkic side. Therefore, the
construction of these new roads holds not only cultural and metaphorical
importance, but also political importance, as it will create a direct physical
link between the ‘half-brothers.'
The longest road will stretch from Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang, to Tashkent,
capital of Uzbekistan, the report said. From Tashkent onwards, people traveling
by car will be able to reach Iran's Mashhad, Turkey's Istanbul and ultimately
Europe, the report said. The road will be completed before 2010, it said,
without detailing when the other highways will be opened.
Energy-hungry China has actively courted central Asia's resource rich nations
over the last few years as it seeks to power an economy that continues to roar
ahead at average growth rates of around 10 percent. Although the physical and
political ties are now clear, the economic effects of these roads will have to
be examined in the longer term.
(Contributed by Turkish Daily News)