up next the documentary titled china's gateway to europe the new silk road part 2 is always more in a website of your account and on social media at interviews i'm sara kelly in berlin thanks for watching. and. different on the islands of to show you here women are in charge. the archipelago has had a matriarchal system for centuries. doing. differently than the legions of the rain starts marching on w. .

7 7 china's new silk beijing's multi-billion dollar the initiative extending right into europe this soon for a section from nearby grades to stop us all and 3rd section from side to super data or constructed the buyer china railway. china aims to get its goods across europe by train and southeastern and eastern european nations are vital to that strategy the enable the transportation of goods to western europe via a single rail corridor. for southeastern europe in particular the new

silk road project back ends with promises of new investments. in these 4 rounds the chinese have come like a gift from 5 of us. but china brings more than cutting edge technology it's also prepared to invest in all other environmental a harmful processes. because tuna york cancer is a really horrible disease there's all of us know what we're in full last architect regime with. it's a region torn between its loyalty to europe and the opportunities that china offers . it would be easy to convince our politicians not to get funds from the chinese for such projects if there ever was a serious attempt off europe to help us in the transition towards the carbon a zation.

you. this is no children's mom toy railway. welcome to the expression room for the process at the wrong area and so i ran away and the territory of servia place for me. is an engineer overseeing the belgrade to budapest route at the china railway headquarters visitors are shown serbia's showcase model. the beijing based engineer has travelled practically all over the world for the new silk road project. for me actually there is no such guy. because i was doing

a lot of international projects not only in pakistan i was in. egypt and i was in iran. argentina political questions are off the table were only permitted to ask about the technical side of the project the chinese government vets all communication the aim to tell a success story china can build railroads everywhere including in europe. from engineers perspective this is not the difficult thing it is a reconstruction project it is a reconstruction project so we have a. lot of experience on that so when these railway line is completed the travel time from and you buy a great station to budapest it will be shortened in 2 or 3 hours.

in recent years serbia has blossomed into china's most favored balkan partner. beijing has granted 10000000000 euros worth of loans to serbia more than to any other country in the region. but the new silk road project has created hardly any jobs here even the construction is largely being done by a chinese workforce that's been a typical feature of the belton road initiative. china imports its own builders stationing them in the host country for months at a time just as now in serbia. investment from china began flowing early as 2011 when the chinese consortium built the poop and bridge across the danube at a cost of 175000000 euros. it became the symbol of sino serbian friendship. most serbs view the flow

of cash from china as a good thing even if the money is only borrowed the loans from chinese state banks are quick and cheap but construction projects are headed and carried out by chinese firms with even materials and machines made in china. serbia's chamber of commerce says it's still a good deal we need and we need good more than the railways where we can not only have a better 100 trains but also good cargo potential. this is it this is you know there's . no hidden agenda with railways. but marco schottische is also well aware that beijing's chief aim with the rail network is to get goods from china to consumers in the west china is initiative is especially good in serbia but this is about infrastructure is about how fast you are able to really

proceed with the projects is all complicated for us and for china serbia is part of the or we should be serbia is just different there is such it is important. i think the most important. aspect of this relation is that we are only waiting for china logistically to the biggest but it's a market the 500000000 people in the. serbia's friendship with china is a much celebrated one. xi jinping and other high ranking chinese officials are popular guests in serbia as evident during this state visit to belgrade in 2016 serbia holds an important strategic positions with a visible regional advantage and it will surely play an important role in this this is a big day for all of saudi offer all its citizens. over the past decade chinese money has flowed into highways bridges and security technology

a serbian copper mines and a steel works have also received chinese funding. now the next project is on the table belgrade's metro system and the chinese want to build it. serbian opposition politician monica temperature is critical of the plans she says there were no public tenders and believes corruption is involved. yes the that's the word alerted us was the drastic difference an estimated cost for building the belgrade subway they put on double the stuff francis called in the initial contract with the french firm almost 10 years ago the quoted cost was 2200000000 euro those. boards then president aleksander church suddenly turned up with a chinese partner and the cost had doubled and that is a book called the now they've said it will cost 4400000000 euro this week

a trait that is that is checking me out of this. or the. temperature is a tireless critic of the close ties between serbia and china she says that the backroom deals often come with strings attached and there's little transparency and belgrade's cozying up to china is a strategic mistake serbia's natural allies she says is here a. single person the need name all the problems i'm sure that no one here has a problem with foreign investment but we do have a problem when the dealings are corrupt this is when far more money is spent and should be the one we have no idea of how that money's being spent with the chinese firms are all being handled with kid gloves because they're protected under a bilateral 2 state agreement you can't even get into their factories and yet then

he's back the next minute there was unique or fog. the serbian government prefers not to comment on the matter. it seems content to close ranks with china especially when there's chance of a photo op. in 2019 chinese police officers took to the streets of central belgrade to go on patrol with their serbian counterparts. a stance of li meant as a nod to the growing number of chinese visitors to the country it also sends a signal. china is looking out for the security of its smaller allies servia. group that same year thousands of surveillance cameras suddenly turned up in central belgrade they've been supplied by the chinese telecoms giant huawei under an initiative to make the city safe for its $1300000.00 residents.

being observed all the time and not being able to be at least health and think that something that is affecting personal self development and in this to say it also affects one thing that is since the cameras were installed activists like nevada research have been trying to find out more about the deal with china but belgrade remains silent for reasons of security it says. you see them on the ground monday through late like a bone this this can go around and it's use for counting the player objects including people and also for facial recognition they all have facial recognition technology embedded. the cameras were installed practically overnight and without any statistical evidence of a rise in crime. again

a ruse it is skeptical of just what is missing in the whole timeline of. hundreds of thousands of cameras is actually a public debates a debate on why we need it why the security sector is of the opinion that we really need it and what is the counter-argument so so we never debated when there was no deliberation in the parliament or in the public or amongst the experts or at least. accessible to the public to understand why why we needed. the surveillance technology is just one part of serbia's cooperation with while with. the telecoms giant plans to open a regional innovation center in belgrade aimed at promoting digitalisation in the finance education and energy sectors. china is one of those those countries they did not recognize privacy as a core human human rights and they comprehension of the right oh of privacy itself

is not the same so for that reason this is this is always the question about whether whether we share information of such sensitive nature with with such companies needless to say transported they the floor. we asked the serbian police for an interview and got no reply however they did tell the activist group that the facial recognition function was not in use the banner is a general group of maps more than 1000 cameras this is the one that was really put down. the aim is to alert people to the presence of the cameras and although data privacy isn't a hot button issue here it could hinder serbia's attempts to join the e.u. if the cameras are found to violate data protection laws.

so just why is the friendship between serbia and china held in such high esteem. pro-government journalist millimeter marriage has a talk show covering national and international issues among them china. and his view of the e.u. is increasingly critical. here prefer that i belong to the generation that dreamt the american dream as a young man i dreamed of joining the european union but i downtown say it happened in my lifetime as you well know. serbia has been in excess in talks with the e.u. since 2014 but its ambitions of joining the bloc are still just distant according to the talk show host this disillusionment has spurred the government to look

around for other partners. or she doesn't feel is your chinese have builders the bridges and roads that the europeans weren't interested. for as the chinese have come like a gift from heaven. if you take a verse locals. but also did most of the work they they'll also. and while the e.u. keeps up its demands for a host of reforms china's loans come with no strings attached its message democracy isn't a prerequisite for economic growth. or what role has them to china invests much more in many other european countries and nato members than subhi. chinese goods are coming in via ports in the north to school book and rotterdam. they are live from him bones from china. but its own

peers that the countries that profit from china's goods are worried about competition when the southern route. it is a finished usually iraq or in this case and when goods can also be imported through the greek port of pyrite or sort of via via serbia italy. that even sometimes even a competition choice with chinese investment is dangerous to us. that's the view shared by the serbian government who says it has a friendship of steel with china since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020 cooperation has expanded even more but despite that the european union remains serbia's biggest financial backer serbia is on the fence trying to maximize its gains from both sides. when chinese aid arrived in serbia during the pandemic but on as much political spin as possible

between the lines the message was clear china success in combating the virus reflected the strengths of the chinese system. what it failed to mention was that the e.u. had paid to transport the aid from china to serbia. all that. day as always our government's emphasis was on the chinese 8 they really went overboard. and to the aid from the european union only got mentioned in passing and i reckon that only happened because of public pressure and pressure from the e.u. itself through most of the artists and was the sound that obscure. 50

kilometers from belgrade the belgrade budapest line passes close by a nature conservation area. environmentalist markel you bitch is a regular visitor to the wetlands where he comes to spot species of rare birds. plants are important busy for many areas and all of the reason is. the water because you know all the newbies making all on the. level of water is changing so if that lands develop to exist and then it gets carried through will make the big problems for the local cities and villages that are near the danube. you bitch works for the granny nature conservation group on the banks of the danube. he takes local kids on excursions to the wetlands to teach them about biological diversity and the importance of nature. he's

worried about what the railway lines construction will mean for the area. and a lot of for. land will be destroyed by putting ground in sand for the construction of the rally station. and all the birds and leaving the living structure and plants one day reveal needs to find some other place to go to calif and that's the biggest pickle logical problem that the rally station makes. lives and works in. a town of around $8000.00 right on the danube river. but soon the town will be separated from the river by the track. then people will have to take an underpass to reach the danube.

several muckle started a petition but they couldn't influence the planning that was already underway for the railway line you. or. the plans had been signed off on without any local input or democratic participation process. trains probably would be better the rail it would be better but to be honest i don't see the full potential of of construction for the local people. who have nothing for it.

but little bits of the metastases have already sprayed it happened very quickly rees was we went to the don't to together but she told us my father should stay in hospital overnight so that i could examine the findings. for the moment when i came back the next morning i could already see he wasn't doing well as all the approaches from he died just 30 days later because met a static cancer spreads really fast and gets into the bloodstream really fast she. got on star yak lost his father to lung cancer and 2016. if you talk to people and trust luck you'll hear similar stories over and over again. for a long time go on story arc thought he and his family or the exception. pose then others from if we were surprised because we thought it was a mistake he never had any complaints he was never saying it will all of who are 1st we were shocked shocked we knew what was happening with the neighbors and you

could hear them groaning and gasping for air. it's one of the most horrible diseases there is the truth. you have to fight to bring both. deny because we've always thought of it contrary groceries in our community of. yes. it's all saints day and people are mourning their dead. few cities in europe have a worse air quality than the bosnian city of. during the winter months especially particulates matter and sulphur dioxide levels exceed e.u. limits for weeks at a time. the poor air quality is making people sick but only a few actually complain about it. says his mother's death

was a wake up call. there's nothing nice here someone is always seeking everyone is being gradually poisoned and dying out only a few people here die a natural death 90 percent of people die of cancer and almost all of them die before their time wherever in their body their most vulnerable that's where the cancer attacks they too slows air pollution is produced by vehicle and industrial emissions old residential heating systems and decrepit coal fired power plants the bottom line is called power is that. 60 percent of bosnia's total energy is still produced from coal and there are no plans to change that any time soon. a new coal fired power plant is being built

with help from chinese lines. we are in front of the actual construction site for the future blocks of thermal power plant. on the right side you can actually see the old one which is here since 964. and they claim that the new one is going to replace the old well blocks $3.00 and $4.00 and probably 5. so. we see the trucks working on there so this is as they call it the preferred 3 phase. which is done by the local companies. they're actually preparing the construction site for the chinese workers dennis just go has campaigned against pollution here for years bosnia-herzegovina us continue to rely. coal angers him as does the deal with the chinese all it means for bosnians is more bad air

thank the new block 7 of those lost power plant is being funded largely by money from china. china's ex-im bank has put up more than 600000000 euros in loans to the bosnian state i know for a fact that this is something which is going to cost the people of boston health were in a lot of money and a lot so for last. year's a flight because if they build a fit we'll continue to work for another 40 years and continue to follow for another 4 years. while the european commission pushes ahead with its base out of coal power would be e.u. member bosnia-herzegovina isn't giving up welcome news for china which is also using the new silk road project to advance its supposedly clean coal technology.

china says the total a 7 block will meet all e.u. standards and to slow the deal with china is being hailed as a success the power plant is the biggest employer here by far. in the negotiations i'm prepared to every phase of his deal the chinese showed a high level of professionalism. along 7 isn't banff ours to project. present in serbia from long time. the chinese who we were involved with. knew our culture and our country. but also they were familiar with the economic and social situation here. and i don't know almost made sure that they would be able to carry out these projects and they had reference or. whatever. it might look inviting but these waters are awash with highly toxic chemicals they're the waste product of the power plant

a few kilometers away. the waste is disposed of in the surrounding environment and left to seep into the groundwater. dennis is just going his team have complained for years that there are no environmental standards when it comes to getting rid of the waste produced by the power plant. that's also the case for the new chinese block under construction. ah it's basically killing people in nature i mean that that's the shortest explanation you can get there are no proper prevention measures for this to prevent this pollution to spread around in the area there are no liners to prevent this water to penetrate and poison the underground water there are no prevention measures once the surface dries out in summer the wind just picks up the dust and takes it through into the

center of town. disco is saying that the bosnian government signed the deal with the chinese he doesn't hold the chinese investors responsible though he sees his own government as largely to blame there is a market our politicians are interested in doing building coal and china is the only one providing the lot of willing to give loans for such projects . when we had meetings in the chinese embassy let's say 56 years ago. when we asked the same question why why are you providing loans for coal and not for renewables for wind for solar for what they were because they produced everything and the answer was very simple it's your authorities which are asking us loans for this type of technology if they're for wind or if they asked for 4 for solar we would be more than happy to provide that also.

dennis just go has invited politicians energy policy experts and concerned citizens to a round table meeting near the power plant the seeping. the big question how should the surrounding towns and cities deal with the power plant waste the ash the dust for the next 40 years. the end of the green away season between turkey and the town of luke are terribly polluted by industry but also by private households with their own heating systems and by traffic emissions couples that only we just shouldn't be destroying even more nature in our region by turning it into a dumping site for action up the city. residents here are no longer willing to accept the waste on their doorsteps. yet or on story act also helps to raise the

pressure on the politicians and force them to take action. rather to me of the i understand people who work in the energy sector their whole business model rests on block 7 being built now no israel and on doing all of that now that wouldn't be easy to leave the only moment to go it will enable you to. even so dennis has managed to get the issue on to the. janda. and the local politicians have agreed to try to find a different disposal site for the power plant waste. site far enough away to spare . feeding daily is the mayor of luka bots 'd the town right next to tesla. its election campaign time. daley chan is supporters are cleaning up the river.

the politician says the new total box 7 guarantees no one need worry they'll have to go without energy. our economy because it is now is a very much depends from and the just sector so right now we have existing terminal power plant which will stop in the next 5 years so you nor to ensure continuation of fun gee we need to replace this all blocks with. and what is also from if you come to consider investing in a building or book 7 will rapidly increase and merriment the situation in this area even with the same level of energy produced the argument is that a modern coal fired power plant will help protect the environment and the shift away from coal to renewables is just not affordable at the moment for bosnia-herzegovina one of europe's poorest countries investment from china means opportunities if you don't mind i will be very open very direct we are thankful to

everybody who support or in midst here it doesn't matter it is from china or from turkey or any other country and i'm sure most people will be even more happy if you european community come with some other solution better than. china or any other country. lives with his family and book a new district. not far from the power plant. right behind his house is an old ashdown. there used to be 500 residents here now there are only 100. his are the only children. he'd like to see bosnia phase out coal power more quickly. growing national museum reason is you our problem is that we're surrounded by waste disposal dumps we live between 2 coal ash dumps and a thermal power plant source and we know those in the church the church we're hoping for a change in the government so that the west can have some influence clearly at the

moment the government is only acting in its own interests and doesn't care about the people here. wish to do that pushed on some sort of. in. the rail corridor or that begins at the greek port of piracy and travels by in belgrade is meant to end one day in budapest it will become the delivery route for many chinese goods coming to the you. hungary's close ties with china go back decades we come to meet garrick a shallow and expert on china and its policy. change taking us through budapest's china town. from here chinese goods go on to be distributed around europe it's

all started in $1009.00. 180 and for some reason hungary and china. raised in agrement about not requiring visas from each other in $1809.00 after the tiananmen square massacre. actually another political refugees but many a small businessman left the country. and they looked at the map tried to find a country. they could reach easily and they found out that i'm going to be integrated a visa from them so $50000.00 chinese small businessman came to me very suddenly. these 50000 around 30000 remain today. since hungry became the 1st eastern european country to officially sign up to the new silk road initiative in 2011 their numbers have grown further. but

traditionally the chinese population here keeps to itself. vision she's family story is a typical 130 years ago his parents came to hungary on business but he grew up back in china 10 years ago he came here himself to work. with me my parents don't live here anymore but some of my other relatives do when i left school and was looking for a job i realised that opportunities outside china were a lot better some of my relatives were already in hungary and so i came here to help them. she feels at home here the hong guerin's have been very open toward him also an important factor and business is good as a member of the e.u. hungary offers easy access to the rest of europe. how much of that business might

involve illegal dealings no one knows for certain. i believe the fact that the government is quite friendly to the chinese immigrants vs the whole policy toward china and chinese people. reflects. a desire to have. close relations with china and this why i say is that. going to government is quite on friendly to immigrants . in hungary and public discourse the chinese people living here they do not count as immigrants. indeed orbán rarely passes up an opportunity to publicly do his chinese partners it's no accident that it also sends a message to the e.u. hungry has its sights set on the east. beyond crucial to develop this region we

need external technologies and financial help. for you for european money alone is no longer enough so we welcome as a sign as being a new world order but china is looking to peace region as a place to get involved in development yankee violently under this new world order hungry has decided to profit from china as much as it can. and that despite the fact that most of the money flowing into the country comes from the e.u. . and yet again shell out works for hungary's institute for foreign affairs and trade which also produces analyses or the foreign ministry. i don't think that this is only the hanging government maybe the government is the loudest in the region but whole of central and eastern europe turned toward china about 10 years ago and he came to depend. and on the rest in turning to the east.

these countries try to get some more room to manouver and they are trying to. decrease their over dependence on the best. the railway line that the chinese engineers are already working on in belgrade will one day and in budapest. though the project is much vaunted by the hungary government construction still hasn't begun. bennett at sale has been a member of the hungry in parliament since 2012 she's a boucle critic of prime minister orbán and his government her chief concern is the rule of law in our country and the increasing pivot towards an autocratic china

it's pretty clear that to me all the want to live in a liberal model the liberal democracy here in fingery or one doesn't need say once the war the leave it alone way and the chinese what they can see they do not really see or they do if we ask any questions about they were a democracy values or didn't have any expectations about the democratic values the european ties they do have. the e.u. commission has sharply criticized the rail project not least because it initially lacked the public tender required under e.u. rules. hungary finally addressed concerns by giving the project to a joint on kerry and chinese venture. work on the route is estimated to cost $1800000000.00 euros 85 percent is loans from china. as a result to show you in fact there would be only champ

a background of flagship avant joint. since the modernization national council passed round of ages it educate program research is going to be of strategic importance for transportation on the new silk road that's like. saying any a nation doesn't need this investment he doesn't need we don't need the railway from budapest to bankrate at all it would need this money to the bang theory and already existing river system because it's the very best shape that the situation is even the very worst because we are very soft with this investment arm the chinese lol is pretty big for him gary owns and he will never. get to the end of paying it back. not far from central budapest parent will eventually be the final station on the

belgrade budapest line. it's the only new silk road project that china and hungary are currently working on. all the money that hungry spent hoping to see from china hasn't begun flowing yet. could the chinese be losing interest in central and eastern europe. most of the governments. in this region believe that all the chinese are coming to the barracks full of money and they will invest here and they will be all those roads and railways and everything that we want to use actually has not happened and many countries became disappointed in china but i'm going to steal a stink story if we try to get as much. assistance from china as possible. but i would advise them to be more realistic and realize that even dorothy. and is

already good in making you feel that you are very special for her for them. being a baby are not brave you know very significant role in the economy or from going to be in the end foreseeable future. the belgrade budapest route is planned for completion in 2025 it would be the film and of china's dream the 1st chinese built railway lines are finally reach they are opinion.

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this is. from. military attacks protesters with. but they refused to back down taking to the streets again in a number of cities defying a crackdown but it's fair to have killed at least 18 people over the weekend. also coming up democracy supporters in gathering home calling as 47 dissidents appear in court charged with the subversion of the territories.