210  F.

Costa Buranelli

capacity and labor force, created by the boom of the last 15 years, but
which now risks being underemployed (Gabuev 2015). The project,
as the name suggests, consists of two distinct but mutually reinforcing
trajectories, the Silk Road Economic Belt, and the twenty first-Century
Maritime Silk Road. These two vectors, alongside the secondary and par-
allel infrastructure, will serve as the two main commercial routes through
which China will foster its own economic development by finding
new export routes, but also promote, encourage, and sustain the eco-
nomic development of the states and territories affected by the project
(Fig. 12.1).
The project has been framed and conceived on the basis of the prin-
ciples of equality and non-interference. While launching the project in
Astana, President Xi Jinping also said that China respects the develop-
ment paths and policies chosen by the peoples of regional countries,
and will never interfere in the domestic affairs of Central Asian nations.

Fig. 12.1  Projects completed and planned as part of the One Belt, One Road
initiative. Source http://www.merics.org/en/merics-analysis/infographicchina-
mapping/china-mapping.html