#CHINA: Covid-19 is going to lead a much bigger shift away from the USA towards China. China’s handling of Coronavirus was much better than USA. It will take a long time for the USA to recover its economy unlike the financial crisis of 2008. China has shown to the world its competence and capability in handling Coronavirus while others including the USA have revealed absolute incompetence and chaos.

China’s GDP grew 36.7% from $11 to $15 trillion between 2015-20. Chinese economy is projected to be $19 trillion in 2025 assuming slower growth due to Covid-19.

In 2019, China foreign trade increased to $4.14 trillion. Export reached $2.23 trillion and import $1.51 trillion. The European Union remained China’s largest trading partner followed by ASEAN, total nearly about $1 trillion.

China started the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on the request of Mahathir Mohammad of Malaysia in 2013 to avoid congestions and accidents of ships in Strait of Malacca. China has signed deals with nearly 130 countries and 30 international organizations under the BRI framework and 80% of this BRI is passing through Muslim countries. The trade with “Silk Road” countries rose to $1.1 trillion accounting for 29% of total trade. Thus, China has changed the paradigm of super power for the next 30 years.

Recently, China and Arab countries have adopted a declaration and an action plan to deepen cooperation in the 9th Ministerial meeting of the ‘China-Arab States Cooperation Forum’, held via video link on 6th July 2020. Both sides spoke highly of China’s proposed BRI and its broad prospect for mutually-beneficial cooperation. Both sides agreed to advance mutual consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits within the framework of BRI.

China will build “High-Speed Trains” in Iran connecting Tehran-Qom-Isfahan-Tabriz. From Tabriz, 2,300km New Silk Road will connect to Urumqi (Xinjiang, China), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and then via Turkey into Europe. More than 5,000 Chinese security personnel will be in Iran to protect Chinese projects and the Persian Gulf. China is also building its biggest ‘Warehouse in UAE’ for Chinese goods.

China has invested billions of dollar in railways, new ports, and roads’ network in Africa such as Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. China has constructed African Union (AU) Complex in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and gifted this to Africans. China is building a new Capital for Egypt near Cairo with an investment of $40 billion and has a military base in Djibouti.

#GERMANY:

In Europe, Germany has much better economy than rest of the Europe. It will survive the Covid-19 and will remain an economic power. The Nord Stream 2 undersea Baltic gas pipeline to Germany and the TurkStream pipeline through Turkey are two major pipelines of Russia to supply long term energy needs of Germany, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary and Slovakia.

(My Post on Facebook dated 28th July 2020 in Hindi in August)