Letters: Chinese display

China believes building network of economic corridors will facilitate cultural exchanges

The One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative is an ambitious project ostensibly for achieving what Chinese President Xi Jinping has termed “sustainable globalisation”. He casts himself as a champion of global free trade at a time when the US and parts of Europe are closing down their economic borders and becoming protectionist. Even though Beijing claims OBOR is aimed at putting “geo-economics” above “geo-politics”, it is an announcement of China’s growing geo-political clout and a display of soft power. Such is the scale of the project that it will link Asia, Africa and Europe and touch the lives of almost