The Rise of Chinese Eurasianism. The 2018 article but more relevant now than in 2018. 中國歐亞主義的興起。 2018 年的文章，但現在比 2018 年更相關 by SF Bay Area China Group 8-31-22

https://besacenter.org/china-eurasianism/
新浪新闻下载地址： http://sina.cn/j/d.php?k=38

Alfred Thayer’s Mahan’s The Influence of Sea Power Upon History was a two-volume work that argued that sea power was the key to military and economic expansion. Published in 1890 and 1892, the book was an instant classic that proved highly influential in both American and international circles. The rise of Great Britain (GB) and the US follow his theory almost to the book.

The GB used its strong navy to control the oceans and all critical waterways for transport of goods, for controlling all important ports and the land mass accessible from these ports. This is how the GB was able to control its Indian colony with a small land force. The strong GB navy was used to assure safe transport of its (and those of its allies) goods and interfere or stop those of rivals. It also created chaos and many divisions in countries accessible through the ports it controlled to control these countries.

With a strong industrial base and military, GB could force sales of its goods onto other countries. This then forms the foundation for the use of the British pound as the international trading and reserve currency.

After WWII, the US took over the same role from the GB.

Now, it is the first time that it is possible to create a thoroughfare land transport route across the Eurasian landmass between East Asia, Europe and Africa, bypassing the choke points of the US naval and air power. This is made possible by the virtual alliance between China and Russia. The contradiction between Russia and China across their long border is rather secondary to the main contradictions between them and the US. Russia is turning eastward and allows Chinese influence in central Asia in preference to that of the west which would undoubtedly try to get in.

For the first time, a country with strong industrial, infrastructure building and financial capability in China can construct this route and provide mutually beneficial relations between all countries along this thoroughfare land transport route. This was not possible with the Russian Empire or the Ottoman Empire. That is the reason many nations previously under the thumb of the US are now all looking to join this new club, including hitherto rivals like India and Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia. And all are turning to the use of the RMB for trading to avoid being sanctioned or robbed by the US.

The US miscalculated in provoking Russia over Ukraine and attempting to prolong the war into a long term conflict between NATO and Russia in the proxy war. This finally made Russia make up its mind to turn east. While in the short term the US is making buckets of cash in selling arms, resurrecting NATO, and forcing capital flight from the EU and Japan to support the US stock market, in the longer term, it is making a big mistake.

The above is what I have learned from watching a number of Chinese language videos. I sent out one of them recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9bRQfC1zJY

The importance of the trans-Eurasian-African overland linkages is great! This is a really important aspect of the BRI, although of course maritime trade remains critical as well, especially in terms of oil. But the emerging capacity of China and its network of developing countries to trade goods overland via the rails and roads is definitely weakening the power of western imperialism to dominate the global economy by means of the sea. This will all take more time to develop, but it is a clear trend and I think we have yet to begin to see its true dimensions.

In the early 20th century, the Oxford geographer Halford MacKinder predicted the end of sea-power based Empires (“the Columbian Era”), to be replaced with land-based powers, in particular in the Eurasian continent, which he called the “geographic pivot of the world’. He saw this as due to the development of overland transport systems using rail. China is making this a reality through its BRI.

The world is being offered a choice at the current moment:

Join the US/West, join NATO–a warmongering machine of genocide, lose your sovereignty, and sanction and escalate towards destruction while sacrificing your people and your country’s welfare and economy.

Or join the BRI, BRIC, SCO, EEU, trade and develop in mutual respect and benefit, respect sovereignty, and develop your country’s wealth and wellbeing.

This is not a hard decision for a sovereign government to make. It’s made even easier when a US top official arrives in, say a former western colony in Africa, lands in state-of-the-art airport built by China, drives on a six-lane highway built by China, and addresses the leadership or legislature in a magnificent government building built by China, and delivers a scolding lecture to these leaders about the “threat” China poses to them, and on the importance of choosing the right side “between authoritarianism and democracy”.