China's 'One Belt, One Road' holds economic promise

CHINA has couched its "One Belt, One Road" initiative in grand and cryptic terms, in its typical way. Still, it is possible to qualify what it means in economic terms.

The belt that China has in mind refers to the extensive land routes along the ancient Silk Road corridor passing through Central Asia. The road it envisions, on the other hand, is not of a physical construction: it is the maritime Silk Road route beginning in the southern Chinese coastal province of Fujian all the way to Venice.

In short, the initiative amounts to an infrastructure and strategic roadmap for the global trading community to be connected by a seamless network of transportation links over land, on the sea and in the air.