Chinese Association for International Understanding

Maritime transport is like as the backbone of international trade as well as the global economy. About 90 percent of world’s trade is carried out by the sea in the contemporary fiscal years. The maritime domain has been always considered as cost-effective transit for merchandising trade among the countries. In this regard Maritime Silk Route is one of the proposed maritime economic routes (which are introduced by the upcoming superpower China). The main objective of Maritime Silk Route is to improve connectivity and trade link among the littoral regions of south and south-east Asia, costal part of Africa and Mediterranean part of Europe. The maritime silk route has emerged as a newer initiative of economic cooperation among the nations.

Maritime Silk Route is one of the proposed economic routes along the water body of China Sea through Indian Ocean to Arab and Mediterranean Sea. The “Silk Routes” refers to an extensive pan-Asia interconnected water body network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting Eastern, Southern, Central, and Western Asia to the Mediterranean world, including North Africa and Europe. 2’The Silk Road’ is a series of?trade routes between China and the Mediterranean Sea, extending some 6,400 km (4,000 mi).

The Silk Route begins in Quanzhou (Fujian) and hits other southern Chinese ports before heading to the Malacca Strait. From Kuala Lumpur, it heads to Kolkata, and then crosses the rest of the Indian Ocean to Nairobi and, from there, around the Horn of Africa and into the Mediterranean-with a final stop in Greece before reaching Italy. It heads southwest to Iran before passing through Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Crossing the Bosporus heads through Europe, traversing Bulgaria, Romania, the Czech Republic, Germany and Rotterdam in the Netherlands-from which the path runs south to Venice where it meets the Silk Road on the land. Other side Maritime Silk Road extends southward from China’s ports, through the South China Sea, the Straits of Malacca, Lombok and strait of Sunda and then along the north Indian Ocean to the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. It also provides access at ports like Guangzhou in southern China that led to maritime routes to India and Sri Lanka. It Connects the littoral nations through maritime sea lane and a population of about four billion, which 1.35 in China, 1.6 in South Asia, 0.6 in south East Asia and rest of the population are in Africa and in Middle East.

Marine transportation is an integral, although sometimes less publicly visible, part of the global economy. The marine transportation system is a network of specialized vessels, the ports they visit, and transportation infrastructure from factories to terminals to distribution centers to markets. Maritime transportation is a necessary complement to and occasional substitute for other modes of freight transportation. For many commodities and trade routes, there is no direct substitute for waterborne commerce. The maritime silk route is one of the various proposed economic belts as a Chinese economic initiative in order to develop the marine transportation system. It would increase economic investments and speed up the collaboration through the regions proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his speech in the Indonesian parliament. 3 It is an attempt in order to transform the economic race into a constructive scheme. Undoubtedly the 21st century demands a smooth flow of trade in the recent years because the world has faced the biggest economic rundown and financial crisis, to cover up the crises only business and trade over the international machinery can help.

The significance of Maritime Silk Route is beyond description. To increase economic investments, trade and faster the collaboration through the regions is the most important features of MSR. Solidarity In terms of mutual development and business communication will strengthen ties among the societies and boost up sustainable development through the region. Today China is the biggest production machine and it has the highest trade rate over the world.4 . The MSR holds immense significance over economic and other arena of the regional and intercontinental development.

Maritime transport worldwide had always been and still remains to be a very important catalyst for the economic development. It is the backbone of international trade and key engine driving globalization. Establishment of a maritime silk route will accelerate the global economy as well as regional development. Increase economic investments and the collaboration through the regions will be ensured.

Diverse Economic activities and different development projects will provide job to the unemployed. As an example one of the most promising sector rise of the global shipbuilding market the ship builder countries like Bangladesh can contribute and earn a lot from there.

Revitalized Maritime Silk Route will bring geopolitical stability through the regions. It could help promote more positive foreign policy outcomes within Asia. In the present era trade interests determine the foreign policy of any particular state. And it is apprehended that Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions that have been facing political instability in most cases. The success of the MSR initiative will be very consequential to regional stability and global peace because it will be led by the trade interest which provokes to act most moderate in international political arena. Trade interests of different nations can maintain the geopolitical stability throughout the regions. And promise for cooperation in terms of trade and business will indulge all the parties to care for balance in order to maintain a free flow of goods through the route.

It is generally accepted that more than 90 per cent of global trade is carried by sea. Throughout the last century the shipping industry has seen a general trend of increases in total trade volume. Increasing industrialization and the liberalization of national economies have fuelled free trade and a growing demand for consumer products. Advances in technology have also made shipping an increasingly efficient and swift method of transport. 5. So the maritime silk route initiative must provide a new opportunity to further accelerate the seaborne economy of the costal developing countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and such other African costal nations.

The relationship between the people in the region and the seas goes way beyond recalling historical accounts. Maritime transport and maritime affairs in general should be considered as a very important source not only in economic but also for social development of the modern world. It is a multi-dimensional and complex relationship that extends beyond the waters as a provider of resources. It may develop a universal or pan-costal brotherhood. Economic developments in African littorals like Ethiopia by delivering proper assistance and providing works for them. It aims to strengthen exchanges among people of different nations, regions, classes and religions to explore the potential.

Maritime highways like MSR will require building infrastructures like port, container depot and other facilities. It is about build and maintain the ports, which are the departure and arrival points of ships and as a link between shipping other types of transport. Conditions of infrastructural network within the whole regions have vital role in fortifying the trade amongst the countries. If economic development would be compared to the human body then the sustainable transport would be considered as the blood. 6 The initiative is aimed at boosting infrastructure development and structural innovation in the littoral regions. The initiatives will prioritize building ports and improving infrastructure in littoral countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and others.

It is hoped that the MSR initiative will bring the greater Asia-Africa-European coastal communities under an umbrella. People to people contact will help to develop public diplomacy along the countries and communities through the region. It may construct a ‘Pan Silk Route Community’ of shearing social interactions among a huge number of people as we experienced what globalization did in the early stage by turning the world into a global village. The more the people get together the more their intimacy grows up. It will foster the social development and modernization through the greater region by sharing their opinions and newer ideas.

Rise of economic activity will make the stake holders more cautious to ensure the safety of the maritime domain. Protection from pirates by regular patrolling particularly in the Indian Ocean to keep the sea lane safe for trading, and illegal trade and fishing will be terminated. The navy and coast guard of different countries can work jointly to regulate the sea lane. Also the Indian Ocean region is very vulnerable for some of illegal migration through the maritime waterway in the recent years several fleet carrying illegal migrants were caught in the Bay of Bengal and other sea area close to south Asia. The workforce to maintain the safety of the MSR can eradicate these problems from the entire region.

Coastal and maritime tourism is an important tourism sector. Maritime transport plays important role in the sustainable tourism development and consequently earning revenues from tourism for the littoral and tourism potential countries. Tourism development can be measured in the context of job creation, income growth and also improve the availability of basic services such as health, education and cultural opportunities as well as reducing levels of inequality.7 The initiative of maritime silk route is strategically designed for more Growth and Jobs in Coastal and Maritime Tourism. It may introduce a new strategy to enhance coastal and maritime tourism in Asia, Africa.

Environmental degradation is at a very alarming stage now a days, and the effects are being reflected in the marine life such as sea level rise, and water pollution etc. The common picture is most of the fleets show less consciousness when they are in the high seas. Unregulated oil dumping into the water, human waste and sometimes other wastes and filths are dropped in the water that cause mass natural and environmental hazards. Regular patrolling by a joint force for environmental and marine protection will ensure the environmental standard of the sea. The littoral states of MSR will also have an obligation to preserve the sea as a common stake holder. Effort should also be taken to develop the capacity of Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs).

In times of rapid globalization countries growth and development depend on wider framework of trading and exchanges. The new silk route will provide interconnectivity across the littoral states which will eventually grow to a level of interdependence. The countries among the littoral states are at their various stages of economic development they can therefore share their individual strength and expertise with other nations or countries of the littorals.

Alongside economic significance MSR has some other long term social significance. When people to people contact takes place some intellectual development and newer ideas spread beyond borders. The MSR development can also act as a ‘thought corridor’ as people trade, come in contact with each other and link with nations they will also establish a corridor to expand their intellectual thoughts and ideas. MSR therefore will be not only a trade route but a route for new intellectual ideas and visions.

Trade is a great unifier it prevents tension and conflict. The economic interest leads the international politics. Behind every political movement there are some economic motives. Trade and economic interest makes states friends or the clash of interests turns them into enemy even leads them to fight a war. It is so to say that MSR will tie the economic interest up together of lot of states will bring them in the same field in the sense of comprehensive trade and smooth market access. This type of common interest and interdependence will work as a Confidence Building Measure among the countries when their interest is same.

The Asia and African littorals are one of the most vulnerable territory natural disasters. Often cataclysmic natural calamities affect some of the countries like Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Srilanka causing massive destructions. If an active and interconnected maritime trade lane and mutual understanding and assistance take place through the MSR initiative It ensures security and provides energy, food, goods, and also aid in terms of massive destructions like Tsunami, Cyclone “Sidor” etc. So the Maritime Silk Road will ensure a quick response to disaster management through the region.

Revitalized Maritime Silk Route could help promote more positive foreign policy outcomes within Asia and other contagious regions. To enhance partner capacity and promote burden sharing a multinational approach could improve the effectiveness and efficiency of unilateral and bilateral efforts by improving regional stability through confidence building among the parties. As individual merchants usually do not travel from one end of Eurasia to the other instead they handle long-distance trade in stages newer form of cooperation and mutual trade interest may meet at a new dimension to the littoral states.

Maritime routes may connect numerous countries, cross geographic combatant commander boundaries, and involve more than one group or network. All the littoral states including economic giant India should come forward in the name of a sustainable economic development through the region. Alongside the trilateral agreements, bilateral cooperation is as important as the former: in Northeast Asia, bilateral trade rates find themselves in fast development and it raises economic dependence among Asian countries8

The regional seas along Asia and Africa are rich with resources which provide livelihood, Food to many people. The expansion of an intra-regional and international trade has enhanced the role of the maritime sector in accelerating the economic growth of several nations through shipping and port services and in many ways. Maritime Silk Route deserves more emphasize because of its proximity to a large number of world population and development potentialities. . It will create huge opportunity not only in Asia but also in greater Middle-eastern, Africa and Europe which will extend beyond borders.