Oman to be a key player in China’s Silk Road revival plan

Tokyo: Oman is positioned to play a significant role in China’s efforts to revive ancient maritime trade routes on land as the Sultanate had been at the centre of an Indian Ocean empire encompassing countries linked to China via old Silk Road.
Within this context, Oman has fully embraced ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR). Moreover, as a stable country, Oman’s cohesion and security can only raise Beijing’s interest in the Sultanate.
The OBOR initiative is China’s ambitious vision for restructuring the global economy.
The ‘Diplomat International’ magazine published from Tokyo, affirmed that the Sultanate can be of special importance in the Silk Road Economic Belt, an initiative by China with the aim of reviving the old Silk Road, dating backto 2000 BC.
The road was used for transporting goods between China, Central Asia, Persia, Arabs, Minor Asia and Europe. A report published by the magazine said that Oman, situated closer to East Africa, India, Iran, Pakistan, Yemen, and the Indian Ocean region rather than other GCC states, will be of immense strategic value to OBOR plans.
As the world’s largest planned economic corridor, OBOR encompasses 60 countries and links China to Europe through ports, highways, bridges, tunnels, communications grids, and rail links along two pathways that traverse several regions.
The “Belt” (the “Silk Road Economic Belt”) stretches from Western China to Europe via Central Asia. The “Road” (the “21st century Maritime Silk Road”) links China to Europe via the South China Sea, Indian Ocean, and Red Sea.
It should be noted that China is currently spending about $150 billion on the countries that agreed to be part of the initiative, which was unveiled in 2013.