i'm. going. to make a low mania or a cleverly planned offensive. china is building a new silk road an infrastructure project the likes of which the world has never seen. by offering loans the chinese hope to entice foreign governments to construct highways and rail lines but is china a partner or a rival made in germany next on t.w. . which way is europe heading france's president claims europe is in the grip of a civil war in italy hungary impose

a leading politician say the fighting to save christian soul which way it will become to those critics coming to grow christian no push only peace security that's all the great only a few possible fish in the hearts of conflict so folks including ossman believe. and action packed life want blocked off on a anything's possible as long as our coffee and his friends can drain our. country's movie theater continuous dada refugee camp. his life story may have ground to a halt. twenty seven years ago but there's no holding back his dreams. thank

you for what. cinema starts may twenty seventh two double. the silk road conjures images of dusty caravans and fragrant spices carried by traders on the central asian plains the original trade route connecting the far east to the west may be history but china wants to create a new one the new silk road looks more like this highway in montenegro built by thousands of chinese workers the seed money is also from china one billion euros a huge sum for a tiny balkan nation. for beijing just one stone in

a larger mosaic the new silk road it's our theme today on made in germany. now officially it's the chinese government's belt and road initiative a trillion euro series of infrastructure projects meant to smooth the way for chinese goods across the globe that translates to highways bridges railways ports a network stretching across asia africa and even to europe partner countries are often eager for investment and for improvements the old infrastructure the new silk road is a charity project of course china is lending money and spreading debt sri lanka even handed report to the chinese after nearing the fault and then there's the geo political significance china is aiming for a new influence on world markets. these are cooling and heating units for industrial buildings soon they'll be shipped to the u.s. pakistan bangladesh and mexico the manufacturer broad group a company headquartered in hunan china specializes in energy efficient air conditioning in the next few years the firm with more than three thousand employees

hopes to further expand aided by china's belton road investment scheme. a few years ago projects in other countries relied on financing by local governments or companies things proceeded slowly but since fun and things become available we're seeing projects develop much faster. china is pouring billions of euros into projects around the world at the end of april thirty eight world leaders gathered in beijing to discuss the initiative widely known as belton road. road opens a new space for growth in the world economy. it creates a new platform for international trade and investment and provides new ways for global economic governance and contributes to the wellbeing of people in many countries. sometimes called the new silk road the built in road

initiative is a massive infrastructure investment scheme new railways are intended to provide better connectivity across the eurasian continent investment in. new maritime trading routes according to official figures the total value of projects already signed exceeds five hundred billion us dollars. the projects are largely carried out by chinese state owned firms they've gained experience with big construction projects during china's own infrastructure push of the past forty years but there is criticism of the international initiative many western countries including germany are reluctant to sign bilateral belton road agreements and one of the critics in the global south is malaysia's premier have been mohamed. this. and reach. the threads.

have unfortunately increase oil spill. all of these. concerns for participating partner countries ranged from the environmental cost to sustainability of debt levels in some places china friendly governments have been voted out of office malaysia and other countries have cancelled a renegotiated contracts fearing debt in view of china's own mega construction boom critics call many of the chinese investment projects over ambitious. the biggest lesson for the chinese government was that you cannot just go ahead and build what you want you have to consider what local governments and people want and how the international community reacts to. the fact if you ask whether some of those countries came as a surprise to the chinese government. i would say it was not just a surprise it was a shock and that. the architecture of broad groups headquarters points to their

international ambitions from europe to egypt so far broad has opened offices in eighty countries and most belt and road projects are carried out by chinese state owned companies private businesses like broad are seeing improved market access in many countries. one such country is pakistan jason stays in touch with the local staff via video conference recently islam about in beijing agreed to allow bilateral trade in chinese renminbi bypassing the dollar as an exchange currency. we are hoping to reduce currency risk by investing renminbi and receiving renminbi in return so we are now looking carefully into these agreements. so far international trade rules have been shaped by western countries chinese companies like broad hope that through its massive investments

china will gain a greater say in these rules to make them better serve chinese businesses. go away the golden road is a great project according to our internal analysis we expect the next fifteen to twenty years continue providing our company with excellent opportunities abroad. what china's ambitions are on the table it's now up to the rest of the world to react. china's new silk road is a highly centralized plan that leans on loads of cash and diplomacy from beijing the original silk road by comparison was a looser collection of trade routes the stretch from the far east across the plains of central asia and to the west world so what similar apart from the name you might say that the original silk road was worth lobel ization got its start let's take a look. a brief history of the silk road. six

thousand four hundred kilometers searing fifty degree celsius heat there cold of forty below across depths deserts high mountains with the constant threat of armed bandits. the silk road a perilous challenge the bones of pack animals litter the way as if in warning. but the world's oldest and most important trade route was not a single road it was a vast network of many caravan routes. by the second century b.c. the silk road connected china to the roman empire but it was only given its name in eight hundred seventy seven by german geographer. silk was highly sought after by roman women. but only the chinese knew how to

produce the valuable textile the two year long trip with up to one thousand bactrian camels was worth it they didn't just carry silk but also spices lockers furs and porcelain. in return europe's and gold gem stones and glass. inventions too such as paper and black gunpowder were spread and even religions were transmitted buddhism arrived in china and japan across the silk road. cities along the silk road flourished in summer khan and tashkent there was ruling trained most merchants only travelled short distances then stone their wares to the next buyers this made the goods more expensive. but diseases were also transmitted along the train route from. the bubonic plague

killed a third of europe's population in the fourteenth century. the demise of the silk road began mainly because it was replaced by new maritime routes customs duties and bandits could be avoided and goods reached their destinations more quickly. and today it's estimated that china's new silk road will devour one trillion euros with its roads railroad tracks and harbors it's not a matter of reviving the glories of days gone by but of shrewd economic calculation . blossoming trade and prosperity or bandits and pestilence the significance of the original silk road was in the eye of the beholder today's version as well take that massive highway project in montenegro that we saw earlier brussels would demand the public planning process transparency measures and lots of paperwork before any such project began. simply doesn't it just invests the highway in montenegro it runs through an

environmentally vulnerable area and it doesn't seem to bother the local authorities . a gigantic construction site part of a highway said to run one hundred seventy kilometers across montenegro financed with the help of a one billion euro loan from china this stretch of construction is along the charles river part of a unesco world heritage site some environmental activists say the decision to build here was a mistake there had been eight pet methods to teach the sex meant and why is that we agree a great question none of these is just considering that this is the site and some other bit of an official be taken with. the tower of river gorge is one of the deepest in europe the river basin is a biosphere reserve. the water that flows from the higher elevations is crystal

clear. environmental activist natasha kovacevich says it's one of the most ecologically important regions in montenegro. it's host for many putting speeches to the species like species. similar so. that one study one hundred kilometers because it's a really important piece to the head because this is. about one hundred kilometers downstream is where the chinese financed highway will run directly across a tributary of the charles river. building on this terrain is complicated and expensive the activist believes that the valley route was chosen because it's the cheapest option biologists studying the issue say that the construction project is destroying the habitat of various fish and plant species all this river is nothing to the place we have ten people on the bridge if we can see in the middle of.

that stuff it's life it's all put it and if destroyed it's all from the button traditionalists and really it doesn't look at itself and on one man and biosphere site it should be up to four thousand construction workers from china have been working here during peak construction phases chinese companies are raking in the profits but paying precious little in tax plus all the construction materials and equipment imported from china are exempt from customs duties. which is environmental organization employs fifteen people their work is supported by donations as well as some funding from the european union. while we're filming a guard pops up and orders us to leave the area even though we're on a public road. chinese manager just said that we have to leave the plane. because we can take

a week and i think the reports of the construction because bass is something that should be forbidden so the site. a local resident shows us some of the damage dirt and sand from the construction site is silting up the river. the fisherman believes the habitat of the trout that used to be plentiful in these waters is being destroyed. fish like this. the new highway will connect montenegro's to coast to the north of the country. in the capital port greta the state run agency money to put it's responsible for the construction work the director insists it's all in accordance with east standards. we're on the right path because we want to develop north montenegro that helps the country and europe as a whole the north of the country is underdeveloped compared to the south. but the

north has enormous potential in the areas of industry tourism and energy. months is an anti corruption watchdog that keeps a close eye on the montenegran government. is investigating the financial impact of the billion euro alone. it's a difficult task because the government is keeping the financial details under lock and key. is research shows that construction contracts to domestic firms are only going to companies with close ties to the government he's also discovered that under the terms of the loan an arbitration court in china would have jurisdiction over any legal disputes and if montenegro can't repay the debt in time china would be able to make collateral claims.

montenegro is a small country with a population of just over six hundred thousand the average income is around five hundred euros a month. the chinese loan is worth almost one fifth of montenegro's g.d.p. . we ask monte puts director for his assessment. but it is there are always risks associated with any construction project. the government investigated these risks in full detail. so we can say that the project won't be a problem for the month on

a grim budget. and it's important to know that every cent of highway tolls will go into paying back the loan but we believe we'll be able to pay it back down to the last cent. we had to an area just south of the capital where another section of highway is under construction pitted against a billion euro project environmental activists like natasha kovach which are very much underdogs but she's determined to speak out against the lack of transparency and rampant environmental destruction issues that we are coming from the democratic background then we we will learn to discuss about things especially when they had this big impact with the chinese investor and their culture actually it's more about just straightforward being and doing things without the two questions and of course the it also causes some questions and on the understanding. for the time being this is still a highway to nowhere whether the new superhighway will ever reach neighboring

serbia is very much an open question. environmental protection public disclosures even a clean bidding process the new silk road often falls short on transparency one reason why germany has declined to formally partner with china. the western german city of duisburg sees things differently however it's transforming itself into europe's largest distribution point for chinese goods the city has struggled since the closure of coal mines and steel factories new silk road brings along hope for thousands of new jobs. will be the end of the line for an eleven thousand kilometer long railway creating a land shipping route from china to germany it takes only fourteen days. alone in europe other regions stand to profit from china's ambitions and yet critics urged vigilance they say beijing's checkbook diplomacy shouldn't divide europeans.

in my twenty years as a business journalist we've seen the importance of china grow in almost every sector. everyone wants to share in china's rapid economic growth chinese people today and on average one hundred times more than their parents did forty years ago . china is an important part but some reporters do express concerns about china's economic might. the country sells a billion euros worth of consumer goods to europe every day should we be afraid of china i also who grew up in beijing and now lives in germany. i want to find out if china's giant silk road investments in europe are a wake up call is china a partner or a rival. humanize. and.

china's a partner aspiring to be a rival just because they're trying to be a world leader that's already a kind of rivalry. and europe has good reason to be cautious. not because of the initiative but because of the possibilities that might accompany the initiatives. even though nobody in china is ambitions might not be limited to the new silk road or the back of the country could aspire to lead european and domestic markets. by the way where will this leave european industry especially industry in western europe. and last but not least it's also possible the chinese technology will come to europe you know the chinese tech takes top spot europe will have given up one of its last remaining resources and that would be very bad because this let the aerialists how realistic is the project itself of this huge investment even in china some a critical of the initiatives at the system

. you know within china itself there are three different kinds of criticism one is a nationalist one which says why should we throw money around the world when our own social problems are so enormously significant. goals and. the second criticism is that many investments are flowing into in secure regions. there's also the issue of massive debt. she maine says this could become an economic threat for the whole world. we tend to see china's obvious strengths and is definitely true to that but the same time we have to recognize the major problems the country is struggling with. china is itself up to its ears and. if this turns into a debt crisis the world won't be able to save china this is nor will the country be able to save itself. that scenario is of course very remote at the moment but it's not impossible. it's

a scenario that certainly worries me no one knows how likely or unlikely it is. but right now other problems have a higher priority the new silk road is dividing europe. some e.u. members are concerned about becoming too reliant on china others are delighted with the inflow of chinese investment including italy mostly says our. ally europe has to join forces even just to counter the sheer weight of china. more no single european country even comes close to being able to match china on its own there's no real alternative for european countries if they want to outperform china . after all some one point four billion people live in china a country with powerful economic potential. europe wants to make sure the new silk

road isn't a one way street and then there's the question of how a closer connection with china could affect european relations with the rest of the world the new silk road has a large political component those concerns are less prominent however in some african countries where large infrastructure projects often languish due to lack of investment. and that means that railway projects for example are welcomed with open arms like this one in kenya that connects the port city of mumbai with the capital nairobi the new line has drastically lower travel times but could such progress sour into an expensive burden that something kenyans themselves will have to decide . express a high profile undertaking that aims to bring prosperity to southern kenya and to two cities in particular. time to board the mombasa nairobi standard gauge railway or s.g.r. kenya's most expensive infrastructure project the distance between kenya's capital nairobi and the port city mumbai just under five hundred kilometers and two years

ago in twenty seventeen this journey that we're on would have taken up to ten hours in fact some passengers on the train say that up to twenty four hours have been spent trying to bridge that gap between these two cities. for business to make it to town. very fast and business goes on right a fast. phase two is bound to happen which means of the standard gauge will be will be running across the country of kenya and eventually leading up to a regional partners uganda and eventually south sudan opening up the region to trade and movement of persons on the route it will also be just freight transport for example dealers usually have their new and used cars brought from by truck it's hoped that the new rail option will help lower prices for car buyers and make it more secure to move because you look great on term would prove

a lot. of spin on your own through a driver because you're so used to that which before the railway was built by chinese contractors and financed largely by chinese loans that poses a debt burden. putting all this together hasn't come cheap three point eight billion dollars kenya has had to fork out in order to get this done and the tricky thing is ninety percent of that funding came from the china eggs in bank the foreign investors celebrate the results and the promotional videos the chinese provided both financing and technology to operate the railway for the first five years.