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Edited by
Jean A. Berlie

China’s Globalization and

the Belt and Road Initiative
Politics and Development of Contemporary China

Series Editors
Kevin G. Cai
University of Waterloo
Renison University College
Waterloo, ON, Canada

Pan Guang
Shanghai Center for International Studies
Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences
Shanghai, China

Daniel C. Lynch
School of International Relations
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA, USA
As China’s power grows, the search has begun in earnest for what super-
power status will mean for the People’s Republic of China as a nation as
well as the impact of its new-found influence on the Asia-Pacific region
and the global international order at large. By providing a venue for excit-
ing and ground-breaking titles, the aim of this series is to explore the
domestic and international implications of China’s rise and transformation
through a number of key areas including politics, development and for-
eign policy. The series will also give a strong voice to non-western perspec-
tives on China’s rise in order to provide a forum that connects and
compares the views of academics from both the east and west reflecting
the truly international nature of the discipline.

More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14541
 Jean A. Berlie
Editor

China’s Globalization
and the Belt and Road
Initiative
Editor
Jean A. Berlie
The Education University of Hong Kong
Tai Po, Hong Kong

Politics and Development of Contemporary China

ISBN 978-3-030-22288-8    ISBN 978-3-030-22289-5 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22289-5

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to
the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The
publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
institutional affiliations.

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Acknowledgment

I thank particularly J. Neto Valente, C. Barthelemy and J.P. Bondil who

inspired me to edit this book on globalization. Without them, this book
would have not seen the light of day.

v
 Praise for China’s Globalization and the Belt
and Road Initiative

“Jean A. Berlie’s book “China’s Globalization and the Belt and Road Initiative” is
about a particularly crucial topic for the future of the Planet: The OBOR (One Belt
& One Road) is a Chinese global program launched in 2013 by President Xi
Jinping, which includes the new land and maritime Silk Road. China is now an
economic and political superpower and its Belt and Road managed to link more
than 70 countries, encompasses more than 70% of the world’s population (4.4 bil-
lion) and will rapidly reach some 70% of the world’s GDP (US$ 25 trillion). This
book proposes an exhaustive economico-political analysis with international impli-
cations. Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor and Africa are
studied in relation with the Belt and Road Initiative. We recall that the historical
Silk Road was mainly concerned with trade and exchange as with the diffusion of
Buddhism. This time, however it is more closely associated with the diffusion of the
Chinese Communist Party’s social-capitalism than Western liberal-capitalism.”
—Professor L. Vandermeersch, Former Director of the French EFEO

“Based on a high coverage, this book offering a comprehensive analysis of the

issues related on One Belt, One Road (OBOR) construction, included the infra-
structure construction, transportation, energy, commerce, finance and its risk, cul-
tural impact, globalization influence, etc. In the meantime, the analysis with many
living cases, included the Hong Kong-Shenzhen-Macao Greater Bay Area, the
issues of South China Sea, and OBOR practice in Asia, Africa and Europe, etc.
This book brings us many new views on OBOR studies, it encouraged to under-
stand the positive influence of OBOR, emphasized the importance of the harmony
in the OBOR practices. It also discussed some sensitive issues like the difference of
“old” and “new” globalizations related to the OBOR, and the replacement of
China’s economic developmental model to the west in Africa, and so on. Anyway,
depended on the new data, new view, new development, this book is an important
and new one among hundreds of publications benefited the understanding of the
background, actuality, risk and prospective of OBOR construction.”
—Dr. Xiao Yun Zheng, Distinguished Professor of Hubei University,
President of China Institute of Yangtze River Culture Studies

vii
 Contents

1 Introduction  1
Jean A. Berlie

2 The New Silk Road 13

Jean A. Berlie

3 Xinjiang and Central Asia’s Pivot of History for the Belt

and Road Initiative 41
Jean A. Berlie

4 Infrastructure and the Belt and Road Initiative 57

Manuel Benard

5 The Greater Bay Area and the Role of Hong Kong and
Macau SARs in the Belt and Road Initiative 77
Jean A. Berlie and Steven Hung

6 China’s Development of Public Goods in the South China

Sea Islands101
Zhang Mingliang

7 China’s Globalization and the Belt and Road Project: The

Case of Indonesia and Malaysia123
Geoffrey C. Gunn

ix
x Contents

8 Timor-Leste and the Australia Treaty on Maritime

Borders and Implications for the Belt and Road Initiative139
Peter Murphy and Jean A. Berlie

9 Africa-China Relations in the Context of Belt and Road

Initiative: Realizing African-Chinese Dreams for Common
Development?157
Raymond Kwun-Sun Lau

10 A Chinese-African Cross Cultural Perspective on Dispute

Settlement and the Belt and Road Initiative: Challenges
and Risks Facing Chinese Investors179
Li Ke

11 Epilogue207
Jean A. Berlie

Bibliography217

Index237
 Notes on Contributors

Manuel Benard is an expert on infrastructure and development. He

worked for the United Nations, the African Development Bank and the
European Central Bank.
Jean A. Berlie is a research fellow at the Education University of Hong
Kong. His main research is on China and Southeast Asia. He wrote a
dozen of books on China and Southeast Asia.
Geoffrey C. Gunn is emeritus professor, Nagasaki University/adjunct
professor, Center for Macau Studies, University of Macau. He wrote some
20 books on history, Asia and in particular Southeast Asia.
Steven Hung is a lecturer at the Education University of Hong Kong.
Li Ke is a researcher at the Faculty of Law of the University of Macau.
Raymond Kwun-Sun Lau is a lecturer in the Department of History at
the Hong Kong Baptist University. He holds a PhD in Political Science at
the University of Queensland, Australia.
Zhang Mingliang (张明亮) is a professor at the Institute of South East
Asia Studies in Jinan University, in Guangzhou. He holds a PhD from
Beijing University in 2004. His major works are centered on the South
China Sea and Sino-Vietnamese ties, and he has authored two mono-
graphs and articles concerning the South China Sea. His books are enti-
tled: Breaking the Deadlock in the South China Sea: What China Could Do

xi
xii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

(超越僵局:中国在南海的选择), and America’s Involvement in the South

China Sea: Backgrounds and Approaches (超越航线:美国在南海的追求).
Both were published in Chinese in Hong Kong in 2011.
Peter Murphy is an Australian freelance journalist who wrote an article
on Australia and East Timor for Palgrave Macmillan’s book (2017) East
Timor’s Independence, Indonesia and ASEAN.
 Abbreviations

ACBRI Australia-China Belt and Road Initiative

ACFTA ASEAN-China Free Trade Area
AIIB Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations
BIT Bilateral investment treaty
BRI Belt and Road Initiative
CICC China International Commercial Court
CIETAC China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission
COC Code of Conduct in the South China Sea
CPC Communist Party of China
DAB Democratic Alliance of Betterment (Hong Kong)
EBRD European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
ECRL East Coast Rail Link
EU European Union
FDI Foreign Direct Investment
FOCAC Forum on China-Africa Cooperation
GBA Greater Bay Area
HKIAC Hong Kong International Arbitration Center
HKSAR Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China
IBRD International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
ICJ International Court of Justice
ICSID International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes
JTM Jornal Tribuna de Macau (main Portuguese daily news of the MSAR)
MoU Memorandum of Understanding
MSAR Macau Special Administrative Region of China
MSR Maritime Silk Road
NYT New York Times

xiii
xiv ABBREVIATIONS

OBOR One Belt, One Road

PCA Permanent Court of Arbitration
PRC People’s Republic of China
SCIA Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration
SCMP South China Morning Post
SCPRC Supreme Court of the People’s Republic of China
SCS South China Sea
SRCIC Silk Road Chamber of International Commerce
T/T Transit time
UN United Nations
USA United States of America
USIDFC US International Development Finance Corporation
 List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 November 15, 2018, the Hong Kong University’s conference
Asia Global Dialogue: “The Global Multilateral Trade System
from Asia” chaired by Victor K. Fung. Photo J. A. Berlie 22
Fig. 8.1 Petroleum Minister of Timor-Leste, Alfredo Pires. NGO La’o
Hamutuk, Dili 150

xv
 List of Maps

Map 2.1 Chinese String, part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Source:
Philippe Raggi 2019 14
Map 2.2 The Belt and Road 15
Map 8.1 Timor-Leste maritime borders 144

xvii
 List of Tables

Table 5.1 Hong Kong and Macau SARs, table of impacts: globalization,
industrialization, economy, legal and political systems 80
Table 5.2 Numbers of Hong Kong visitors and mainlanders visiting
Hong Kong 89
Table 5.3 Hong Kong residents who had worked in mainland China on
age groups in 2013 and 2017 90
Table 5.4 Main visitors to Hong Kong and Macau in 2016, 2017 and
201892

xix
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Jean A. Berlie

Abstract This book concerns globalization and the Belt and Road, also
called the modern Silk Road. The question of infrastructure is sometimes
criticized by those who do not like the new Silk Road. Arbitration and
English language are essential for the development of China’s globaliza-
tion in the twenty-first century. The opportunities and risks of the Belt and
Road Initiative (BRI) will be studied in this chapter.

Keywords Arbitration • ASEAN • Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

• Globalization • Opportunities • Risks • Silk Road

Foreword
This book deals with China’s globalization in the twenty-first century and
the modern Silk Road. It explains globalization with reference to the Belt
and Road Initiative (BRI). Globalization “is the subject of a rapidly prolif-
erating theoretical literature…” (Mittelman 2010: 3, 24). Although glo-
balization studies try to theorize structural change, it would be wrong to
either underestimate or exaggerate the achievements. The new Silk Road,

J. A. Berlie (*)
The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong

© The Author(s) 2020 1

J. A. Berlie (ed.), China’s Globalization and the Belt and Road
Initiative, Politics and Development of Contemporary China,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22289-5_1
2 J. A. BERLIE

called in 2013 One Belt, One Road (OBOR), is China’s project of the
century. It is a challenge to explain what is the Belt and Road because it is
changing, despite its global key purpose, and it has no clear definition in
spite of the existence of memoranda signed by China and other states that
are part of the Belt and Road project. Those who fear and think that China
wants “to create a new world order” have to study more the positive aspect
of the BRI, which is an important theme of my book. It is sure that glo-
balization without risks does not exist. Western globalization and the Belt
and Road Initiative are both not exempted of certain risks which are part
of the present time world economy. Finance and investments in the
twenty-first century always need a serious consideration of the risks
involved. Does China’s Belt and Road need a new Chinese ethic to better
succeed? The world is currently suffering severe economic and financial
problems, so the modern Silk Road, with its long past history of more
than two thousand years, needs initiative, creativity, international gover-
nance and ethic to give some hope and to try to end the US–China
trade war.
What explains this book? It contains various chapters on Central Asia,
the pivot of Asia and the gate of the OBOR, infrastructure, the Greater
Bay Area with Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macau SARs, the
Maritime Silk Road (MSR), the South China Sea (SCS), the ASEAN
countries including Indonesia and Malaysia, the dispute resolution Timor-­
Leste versus Australia secured by a Treaty on Maritime Boundary, and two
chapters on the Belt and Road Initiative and Africa. Harmony, dispute
resolution and arbitration give an actualized definition of dispute resolu-
tion in South Africa, and the epilogue concludes. The positive theme of
this book is essential, and in all chapters a force of the Chinese globaliza-
tion is pointed out, the Belt and Road Initiative is not linked with capital-
ist globalization.
The objective of the book is the opportunities created by the Belt and
Road Initiative, which exists in all the chapters. Some risks of China’s glo-
balization should be mentioned. There are risks on the BRI as in all types
of globalization, especially for the infrastructure projects that involve
loans. In the introduction, in Chaps. 2 and 3, Berlie introduces and
explains the Belt and Road Initiative and the New Silk Road which is a
socialist globalization with Chinese characteristics and the entire book
demonstrates it, we hope. So, a direct comparison of both Western and
Chinese globalization is not so useful, but there are international rules and
China is suggested to try to promote more international arbitration; this
 1 INTRODUCTION 3

is one of the thesis of this book also developed in particular in Chaps. 10

and 11. Since April 2018, the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration
(SCIA) has been trying to be closer to the Hong Kong international arbi-
tration. It is sure that an economic confrontation is unproductive to solve
the question of the world’s economic weakness that the USA and China
try to improve.
Manuel Benard’s Chap. 4 on Infrastructure and the Belt and Road
Initiative is a key chapter. China’s ambition to link globalization and infra-
structure development in Asia and Africa is not always perfect. All coun-
tries should provide free market access to “all developing countries poorer
and smaller than themselves.” Do China and the USA follow this advice in
global governance? (Stiglitz and Charlton 2005; Glenn 2007: 211). The
Maritime Silk Road is essential for China’s merchant navy growing every-
day years. There was other important navy news, a Vietnamese tanker
carrying gasoline cargo successfully reached North Korea (Reuters 2019)
when Trump met Kim in Hanoi, on February 28, 2019. President Donald
Trump prepared key talks on security and cooperation which finally failed
in the Vietnamese capital. Elsewhere on the Belt and Road exist essential
investments to boost the new Silk Road, and investment enhances infra-
structure. This question of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) is essential
and this book will stress this question. Manuel Benard knows the question
of infrastructure from his long experience in Asia and Africa. Chapters 1
and 4 address the question of China’s huge investments on infrastructure.
The giant Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge is an example in which
Hong Kong has invested HK$120 billion so far. The mega bridge was
opened to public on October 24, 2018, and this was officially announced
by the three governments (Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai) five days
before its opening. A more global role of the Hong Kong and Macau
SARs will happen later, but slowly. Chapter 4 also considers the philoso-
phy of infrastructure, sea, rail, road, air and pipeline transportation along
the Belt and Road. It also addresses the important question of energy.
The integration of two Special Administrative Regions with the new
Greater Bay Area is not so easy. “The Chief Executive of Hong Kong,
Carrie Lam, reassured the public on the safety of mega bridge … and area
cities (are) urged to drop rivalry and cooperate” (SCMP, February 11 and
13, 2019). There is no limit to the ambition to develop infrastructure
projects under the Belt and Road Initiative. The Liaoning Daily and South
China Morning Post mentioned the project to link Dadong, Liaoning, and
Pyongyang, the North Korea capital by rail and a new road. However,
4 J. A. BERLIE

China will not try to “push any infrastructure projects with North Korea
while sanctions are still in place” (SCMP, September 15, 2018). Everything
at present do not work so well because the trade conflict between the USA
and China is not yet solved even if the discussions between the two coun-
tries seem to go smoothly. For example, on the GBA, the property market
tries with some difficulty to promote essential Foreign Direct
Investments (FDIs).
The practical study of globalization continues in Chap. 5 written by
Berlie and Steven Hung. It includes the Greater Bay Area and its new
blueprint in February 2019, with the role of Hong Kong and Macau
Special Administrative Regions linked to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Zhang Mingliang is a qualified scholar to write Chap. 6 on “China’s
Development of Public Goods in the South China Sea Islands.” Zhang’s
thesis is that China could improve its position in the SCS by offering pub-
lic services there. His first study on the question was his already published
Beijing University Doctorate dissertation on China and the USA in the
Paracel and Spratly Islands. The question of peace and harmony compels
China and the USA to reconsider their ambitions in the South China Sea.
Security and peace will remain a robust foundation for international politi-
cal stability. The Belt and Road Initiative in the South China Sea needs
time and patience. When China and ASEAN are concerned, careful inter-
national diplomacy is necessary, and the solution is unilateral, state by
state. China has a long history of avoidance of conflict with Southeast
Asian countries, so cooperation, exploration and joint exploitation of lim-
ited parts of the South China Sea, case by case, reef by reef, is a solution
needing great joint Sino-Southeast Asian diplomacy.
To maintain excellent relationships with ASEAN is essential for China.
Geoffrey C. Gunn, Emeritus Professor, Nagasaki University/Adjunct
Professor at the Center for Macau Studies, University of Macau, is a well-­
known specialist of the Malay World, and he wrote Chap. 7 entitled:
“China’s Globalization and the Belt and Road Project: The Case of
Indonesia/Malaysia.” He knows well that China’s globalization is based
on pre-eminent relations with ASEAN and the United Nations (UN), and
the future will tell how the Southeast Asian countries will support the
BRI. Among the leaders of ASEAN, the Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
fully supports the Belt and Road Initiative. China’s main claim of full sov-
ereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands is another question. The
reader will be interested to compare Geoffrey Gunn’s view and Chap. 6 by
Zhang Mingliang. As an introduction to Chap. 8 by Peter Murphy and
 1 INTRODUCTION 5

Berlie, “The UN in the beginning had to rely on Australia and the Australian
Defence Force to lead and send troops into what was then an Indonesian
Province” understanding China’s interest in ASEAN and its will to develop
the Belt and Road Initiative. China strongly supports the ASEAN candi-
dacy of the newest country of the twenty-first century. China is also inter-
ested in Timor-Leste and Panama because both countries use the US dollar
as their currency. Not yet fully implemented in August 2018, Timor-Leste’s
recent Maritime Boundary Treaty with Australia signed on March 6, 2018,
in New York, is also a very interesting example of international arbitration.
This chapter examines this question and the Timorese strong will to estab-
lish a Liquefied Natural Gas plant in their country. This arbitration case
lasted only seven months thanks to the successful Australian–Timorese dis-
cussions, mainly by emails exchanged by the Australian and Timorese
teams in charge of the communication with the International Court of
Justice in The Hague, the Netherlands. A treaty was finally signed in March
2018 as we know, and it is an excellent example of harmonious interna-
tional negotiations for both countries, Timor-­Leste and Australia, but in
2020 the key question of the Liquefied Natural Gas plant will probably be
resolved with difficulty.
Raymond Kwun-Sun Lau, in his Chap. 9 entitled “Africa-China
Relations in the Context of Belt and Road Initiative: Realizing African-
Chinese Dreams for Common Development?” examines the role of Africa
in China’s BRI. It argues that China’s policy toward Africa under President
Xi Jinping has been motivated by Beijing’s growing self-confidence and
belief that it can offer a Chinese model of economic development as an
alternative to the Western model. This chapter suggests that President Xi’s
strong push for BRI in Africa has to be understood in the context of
Beijing’s efforts to institutionalize and formalize its relations with Africa
since the establishment of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation
(FOCAC) in 2000. Africa, in particular, continues to play an important
role in defining China’s infrastructure development and President Xi’s
vision of global development. Following the 19th Party Congress, Foreign
Minister Wang Yi elaborated on the CPC’s approach to global leadership,
stating that “China will actively explore a way of resolving hotspot issues
with Chinese characteristics and play a bigger and more constructive role
in upholding world stability” (Wang Yi 2018). There is also “a search for
alternatives to capitalist globalization.”
In this respect, the Belt and Road can be perceived as something differ-
ent. An alternative to capitalist globalization is “socialist globalization”
6 J. A. BERLIE

(Sklair 2004: 40, 48). Nevertheless, we cannot be sure that it defines the
new Belt and Road with its own vision which does not include a definition
of socialism or democracy, an intrinsic part of the capitalist Western glo-
balization. This book does not answer this question. We will continue in a
logic which tries to see if the BRI is sustainable. One of the main problems
of the Belt and Road Initiative—it seems—is that the sustainability of this
extraordinary type of globalization has not been studied objectively.
More generally, the main question is peace and harmony promoted by
international arbitration when necessary. Arbitration and negotiation are
essential to secure harmony in the Belt and Road Initiative. Conflicts may
occur along the modern Silk Road. Following a careful analysis of the
China–South Africa Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), Li Ke’s Chap. 10
is entitled: “A Chinese-African Cross-Cultural Perspective on Dispute
Settlement and Belt and Road Initiative: Challenges and risks facing
Chinese investors.” China knows that dispute resolution and arbitration
are important, but has not yet really accepted international arbitration. It
is sure that contrary to “negotiation, mediation, inquiry and conciliation,”
arbitration is followed by a “binding decision,” usually on the basis of
international laws (Merrills 2005: 91). However, “mediation as a viable
mode of resolving commercial disputes will not vanish so long as culture
and tradition continue to strongly influence Chinese society and its com-
mercial practices” (De Vera 2004: 193). In contrast to the former colonial
powers or empires generally using a rather rigid agenda, modern China is
not “colonial,” prefers soft power and has its own agenda on globaliza-
tion. The Soviet Union criticized American imperialism in the twentieth
century, but it is not appropriate to accuse China of imperialism in the
twenty-first century. China and Africa are both part of the developing
world. This book, with two chapters on Africa, helps in understanding
that China remains big and powerful. China’s growing interest and
engagement in Africa is a fact. The question of energy and Africa is also
important. In Uganda, Chinese and American companies are in increasing
competition; Chinese loans “promised immediate financing,” but
American consortia finance projects “by selling shares to investors.”
Uganda’s lakes are rich in oil and gas resources and energy officials “need
the financing. The Chinese can do it” but, the “American proposal means
less debt risk.” In 2013 in Beijing, Uganda President Yoweri Museveni
signed and smiled as he “shook hands with Chinese executives.” We do
not know what will happen there in 2019 “despite the fact that China
might prevail, all major decisions end up before Mr Museveni.” Uganda
 1 INTRODUCTION 7

“expects to finalise a $2.2 billion loan deal with China’s Exim bank … to
pay for part of a railway line to connect Kenya’s Mombasa seaport with
Kampal” (Reuters 2018; see Chap. 9 in this book).
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China (SAR) can deal
easily with China, because it is part of it and has a Basic Law, but Hong
Kong can only indirectly deal with the USA. It is not direct because Hong
Kong SAR’s foreign affairs are the realm of Beijing. Its British historical
past before the year 1997 is very useful. An example of the global vision of
Hong Kong is given by the DAB lawmaker Holden Chow who ‘met US
State Department officials to discuss Hong Kong political and trade issues’
and Democrat Party’s former chairwoman Emily Lau, with ‘long-­
established ties with foreign politicians’ who also tries to reduce the risks
for Hong Kong of ‘the dispute between the United States and China’
(SCMP, February 8, 2019). On June 28, 2018, in the Belt and Road
Summit at the Hong Kong Convention Centre, for the third year, busi-
nessmen and government leaders discussed opportunities in infrastructure
investment and financing, risk management and dispute resolution (Belt
and Road Summit 2018). Five thousand participants attended this confer-
ence, including 70 distinguished speakers. The importance of dispute
resolution along the Belt and Road was stressed.
On the maritime Road of the OBOR, let us start with a simple network
of ports which includes Fuzhou, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Kolkata,
Colombo, Nairobi, Djibouti and Athens. Although frequently mentioned
by China, we are not yet sure that India will collaborate with the Belt and
Road. Things are changing, and cooperation between China and India for
the port of Chabahar in South Iran can change the international relations.
According to the Hong Kong Consul General of Iran, Dr. Mehdi Fakheri
(interview, on November 3, 2018), “China is not involved anymore with
this strategic harbor.”

Positive and Negative Aspects, Including the Risks

of the Belt and Road Initiative

One of the main risks of the BRI is the question of infrastructure. The
example of Sri Lanka for the case of the port and airport of Hambantota
will be studied in the Chap. 4. The case of the port of Chaukpyu in
Myanmar is more complicated and will not be studied in this book because
it includes ethno-religious problems and the Muslims of the north-­western
Rakhine State, called Rohingyas (Saito 2014: 26, 28, 36; Berlie 2008).
8 J. A. BERLIE

The Chap. 2 and the epilogue mention the risks of the BRI mainly on
infrastructure. This chapter also mentioned in 2017, the risks along the
Pakistani corridor of the Belt and Road; Xi and Modi understood that they
had to collaborate to stop the border conflict over the Doklam Plateau,
and thereby a serious risk was solved. However, globalization and also the
Belt and Road helped the world to progress through “travel, trade migra-
tion, spread of cultural influences, and dissemination of knowledge” (Patil
and Gopal 2002: 295). Economic globalization and Belt and Road both
produce intricate interchanges and continuities that are part of the posi-
tive contemporary development. For example, we have seen that the
European Union (EU), which in 2015 celebrated its 40th anniversary, is
now investing in Kazakhstan, China’s main partner in Central Asia. The
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has
invested 8 billion Euros in Kazakhstan. China also is investing “over
10 billion dollars for Central and Eastern Europe.” For some scholars
“China strategic market for EU can only increase,” so reciprocal trade and
cooperation are inevitable (Djordjevic c.2016: 54, 61).
Harmony is a particularly important theme in this book because it is
related to dispute resolution. Without harmony, the Belt and Road cannot
work properly. Harmony is a communication and public relations concept,
and a part of China’s soft power push along the Silk Road. Harmony along
the Belt and Road is essential, but the spiritual question should be consid-
ered. Numerous states exist along the Belt and Road and they have their
own culture that China must respect. Harmony in early China “was a
reflection of the cosmological order … Although drawing a border between
two city states the sheer act of bordering made it a ritual space, where
movement and actions took on a symbolic meaning” (Motoh 2018: 71).
To have more countries accepting the modern Silk Road, China has to
push harmony at its borders. However, there are risks in the Belt and Road
Initiative as in all types of globalization, especially for the infrastructure
projects that involve loans. In Beijing between June 18 and 20, 2018,
Bolivia’s President Evo Morales positively responded and joined “the Belt
and Road Initiative.” On September 14, 2018, in Beijing the President of
Venezuela Nicolás Maduro asked for a new US$5 billion to President Xi
Jiping and Premier Li Keqiang, but “still owes Beijing about US$20 bil-
lion.” It will be “gradually paid off with oil shipments.” Venezuela “signed
a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on (the BRI) to boost trade
links and infrastructure” (SCMP, September 15, 2018). After Legislative
elections, Juan Guaidó is for the moment self-declared president. It is not
yet possible to say if the USA and China will cooperate to find a solution.
 1 INTRODUCTION 9

The Belt and Road Initiative Related to the Ancient

Silk Road, Also Need International Arbitration for
Its Development
To have an idea of the impact of the BRI in Chinese, the number of new
publications on the main topic—the Belt and Road—reach yearly 100
books or more and pamphlets. In English the number of publications on
the Belt and Road and the maritime Silk Road is also impressive. “In
2016, the number of academic articles is a double to 2015. By July 2017,
there are 40 academic articles related to ‘Belt and Road Initiative’. The
sharp increase implies that ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ attracts certain atten-
tion in English academia” (Academic Articles n.d.).
To return to the reality of the Belt and Road, the arbitrator Samuel
C. C. Wong thought that the Belt and Road “cannot be bad for Hong
Kong” (personal interview). It concerns the BRI because arbitration is an
important question, for example, the China International Economic and
Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) of Hong Kong is the most
important international Center of arbitration in South China. The first
office of the CIETAC in Hong Kong SAR was established in September
2012. The Hong Kong International Arbitration Center (HKIAC), estab-
lished in 1985, is totally independent and free from governmental inter-
ference. Hong Kong SAR has the ambition of being able to deal on
arbitration with the different countries of the Belt and Road Initiative and
to be the seat of arbitration (HK Arbitration 2017). Will the common
language of the Belt and Road be English? We do not know yet how fast
the Belt and Road will answer these legal questions; there is a will of the
Chinese arbitrators to move ahead, but the Belt and Road authorities
will decide.
The Belt and Road has a global reach, accepted by more than 80 states
and including Central Asia; Iran; Pakistan; Europe; Southeast Asia; South
America, including Bolivia and Venezuela; and the Pacific, and is in need of
international arbitration due to the many cultures and systems of law involved.
The long history of the Silk Road will be overviewed in the next chapter.

References
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Trend-of-Belt-and-Road-Initiative-in-English-Academic-Articles/obor/
en/1/1X000000/1X0ADSN1.htm.
10 J. A. BERLIE

Belt and Road Summit. June 28, 2018. Hong Kong. Accessed September 23, 2018.
http://www.beltandroadsummit.hk/en/information_centre/programme.html.
Berlie, Jean A. 2008. The Burmanization of Myanmar’s Muslims. Bangkok:
White Lotus.
De Vera, Carlos. 2004. Arbitrating Harmony: “MED-ARB” and the Confluence
of Culture and Rule of Law in the Resolution of International Commercial
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Initiative/Case-study-Belt-and-Road-disputes-Choosing-Hong-Kong-as-the-
seat-of-arbitration/obor/en/1/1X000000/1X0AAU5D.htm.
Merrills, J.G. 2005. Arbitration. In International Dispute Settlement, ed.
J.G. Merrills, 4th ed., 91–126. New York: Cambridge University Press.
First ed. 1984.
Mittelman, James H. 2010. Hyperconflict: Globalization and Insecurity. Stanford:
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ed. Tomaz Grusovnik et al., 61–73. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
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article/topNews/idAFKCN1N71P5-OZATP.
———. February 28, 2019. Accessed March 13, 2019. https://in.reuters.com/
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Saito, Ayako. 2014. The Formation of the Concept of Myanmar Muslims as
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news/hong-kong/politics/article/2185302/politicians-both-sides-hong-
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 1 INTRODUCTION 11

Stiglitz, J., and A. Charlton. 2005. Fair Trade for All: How Trade Can Provide
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xwdt/t1541669.htm.
 CHAPTER 2

The New Silk Road

Jean A. Berlie

Abstract The name Silk Road is ancient and continues to be very attrac-
tive with 2000 years of history. Globalization also has a long history but
came into fashion late in the 1980s. The Western empires succeeded to
develop trade and economic exchanges, culture and education, which
were also part of the colonial discourse. At present globalization is much
more global. For China, it is implicitly linked with the Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI) which starts in Central Asia. China’s discourse on political
economy, geopolitics and world trade occupy a very important space.
Infrastructure development is essential to really establish the Belt and
Road program, which was initiated in 2013. The Belt and Road Initiative
(BRI) predicates modernity, multiculturalism, interdisciplinarity and the
Internet strengthens it. International arbitration has to be developed to
make the New Silk Road more global.

Keywords Africa • Arbitration • ASEAN • Belt and Road • Central

Asia • Development • Globalization • Harmony • Infrastructure
• Silk Road

J. A. Berlie (*)
The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong

© The Author(s) 2020 13

J. A. Berlie (ed.), China’s Globalization and the Belt and Road
Initiative, Politics and Development of Contemporary China,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22289-5_2
14 J. A. BERLIE

The Modern Silk Road in 2019

The new silk road of President Xi Jinping, called the Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI) in 2017, does not come from a dream; it is based on ancient
historical facts. At present, the Silk Road Chamber of International
Commerce (SRCIC n.d.) “is mainly composed of national chambers of
commerce of the Belt and Road countries, (it) is the first transnational busi-
ness confederation. Currently SRCIC has 129 organizational members
from 77 countries, including state-level and regional chambers of commerce
and millions of affiliated enterprises. SRCIC serves as a bridge connecting
enterprises and governments, providing a cooperative platform between
business associations and SRCIC members. It is also a key voice in the pro-
motion of Belt and Road construction.” Jordi Yang Zhijun (杨志俊) at
Xi’an is a Division Director of the SRCIC since 2015 (Maps 2.1 and 2.2).

50˚ 130˚ 140˚

C h i n e s e s t r i n g o f p e a r l s
R u s s i a
40˚

Georgia
Armenia
40˚
Azerbaijan Sea of Japan
Kazakhstan
Mongolia (East Sea) Japan
North
Korea
Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan
Beijing South
Yellow Korea
Kyrgyzstan Tianjin Port Sea
Tajikistan Qingdao
30˚
Iran
30˚
C h i n a
Afghanistan Shanghai
East China Sea
Chittagong (Bangladesh)
Port facilities
Pakistan
Fuzhou
Namhkam (Myanmar)
U.A.E.
Strategic Transportation Corridor Taiwan

20˚
20˚ Oman Hainan island (PR China)
Nepal Bhutan
Yulin Naval Base Hong Kong

Bangladesh

Paracels Islands Philippine

Gwadar (Pakistan) India
a Naval base and Myanmar Woody island airport Sea
Laos
Maritime monitoring Bay
of Bengal Philippines
South China
Sittwe (Myanmar)
Port facilities Sea 10˚
10˚ Thailand
Spratly Islands
Coco Islands (Myanmar) Vietnam Strategic hydrocarbon potential
Naval base and Cambodia
communication
and interception device Gulf of
Thailand
Mergui islands (Myanmar)
Maritime monitoring
Andaman Southern Thaïland Brunei
Sri Lanka Sea Kra Canal

Chinese maritime routes

0˚ 0˚
Malaysia
Chinese pearl
Malaysia

Singapore Borneo Celebes I n d

Hambatota (Sri Lanka) Sumatra
Container terminal

I n d i a n O c e a n Java Sea

10˚ 0 475 950 1 425 1 900 Km Java 10˚

C Philippe Raggi 201970˚ 80˚ 90˚ 100˚ 110˚ 120˚

Map 2.1 Chinese String, part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Source: Philippe
Raggi 2019
 2 THE NEW SILK ROAD 15

Map 2.2 The Belt and Road

The Greco-Roman trade with India started with Eudoxus of Cyzicus in

130 BCE. Long ago, the ancient Silk Road had links with the Roman
Empire. The Silk Road and globalization are “a continuing historic pro-
cess” (Marsh 2008: 11). “It is right that the Silk Road should live in our
memory and imagination as one of the greatest of all human pathways”
(Chinese silk and Roman gold, ideas, religions, products and skills of all
the people across Eurasia) (Franck and Brown 1986: 280). Kofi Annan
observed, “Arguing against globalization is like arguing against the law of
gravity” (Annan n.d.).
The twenty-first century Belt and Road links Asia and the Pacific, but
the limits of China’s globalization probably has to be re-defined by the
Government of China after the recent American declaration of taxation of
selected Chinese products. The important Chinese government blueprint
on the Belt and Road published in 2015, was reprinted in April 2018 (not
available after), and carefully mentioned the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) which has ten member states (Action Plan on the
16 J. A. BERLIE

Belt and Road Initiative 2015). The importance of ASEAN for China is
essential and studied as a show case. I defined China’s globalization, the
maritime and land Silk Road in the introduction. This book is a multidis-
ciplinary study.
Trade from the Roman Empire started in c. AD 90–130 (Thorley
1971). From the eighth century, Muslim merchants followed the back and
forth movement of the caravans along the Silk Road and the maritime
route of the monsoons. Without the perseverance of the first travelers and
the resilience of the Bactrian camels, the crossing of the great deserts of
Central Asia would have been impossible.
In 1271, Marco Polo set out for China with his father and older brother.
After a journey that led through Jerusalem and Mesopotamia and along
the Silk Road, from Hormuz they traveled through the Afghan city of
Balkh, the Pamir Mountains and the Tarim Basin. On this Belt Road he
went not far from the famous Mongol Ilkhan Bazaar, Tabriz in northwest-
ern Persia (now in Iran). From the Taklamakan Desert’s southern rim they
managed to reach Khan-balik. At the court of Kubilai Khan in 1275,
Marco Polo met the emperor of China in his summer court, north of
Khan-balik, now Beijing. “Lord of Lords, whose name is Cublay, is such
as I shall now tell you. He is of good stature, neither tall nor short, but of
a middle height … the eyes black and fine, the nose well formed … The
Emperor hath, by those four wives of his, twenty-two male children”
(Polo 1993: I-356, 359). Kubilai Khan gave to the Polo expedition a
golden tablet on which was inscribed the command to be given “every-
thing needful in all the countries through which they should pass” (includ-
ing horses, ships to cross oceans and escorts to protect them). Kubilai
Khan won the historical Battle of Dali in Yunnan in 1252, so the emperor
sent later the Polo family to visit Dali and its lake, Chengdu and Xi’an dur-
ing around two years. Marco Polo returned by the maritime Silk Road
from Zaitun, now Quanzhou, via Malacca, India and the Middle-East and
reached Hormuz. He continued his travel by land to Constantinople,
sailed to Venice and reached the end of his mythic travel in 1295. Following
this ancient merchant route tradition, the Italian main bank, the Bank
UniCredit, is now established in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing.
The other well-known early traveler to mention is a Moroccan, Ibn
Battuta (1332–1347), who also reached the harbor of Zaitun (Quanzhou)
and traveled Central and Southeast Asia. By sea, Zaitun was developed by
the Arabs, had its golden period during the Song dynasty (960–1279 AD),
eclipsed Guangzhou and became China’s largest port (Chau 1911; Cartier
 2 THE NEW SILK ROAD 17

2001). In the sixteenth century, the Portuguese reached China by the

Maritime Silk Road and the Pearl River Delta, now called “the Greater
Bay Area (GBA).” The New Silk Road concept needs to be fully accept-
able with the GBA.
The seven travels of Admiral Zheng He (1405–1433) should be also
noted as part of the maritime Silk Road toward Southeast Asia. Zheng He
is the grandson and son of a Haji and he himself also did the pilgrimage to
Mecca. Through his relationship with the long-distance Arab navigators of
the monsoon winds from the Arab ports to Zaitun-Quanzhou port in
Fujian, he became an extraordinary explorer and commander of a fleet of
some 10,000 sailors. He should be remembered as the precursor of the
historical modern maritime Silk Road and one of the initiators of the
extraordinary relation of China with Southeast Asia. Admiral Zheng He is
also the honorable precursor of the extraordinary present development of
China’s navy. The Maritime Silk Road is particularly important to deal
with Southeast East Asian nations (Yang 2017).
A proof that Europe and China were linked very early is the establish-
ment of Macau in the 1550s. Later, Macau was the first point of globaliza-
tion, with its use of Mexican silver to buy silk in the seventeenth century and
later. The Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions of China
(SARs) and Zhuhai Special Economic Zone (SEZ) have opened the giant
bridge to public traffic on October 24, 2018. Local, but also international,
Hong Kong more than 20 years ago became in 1997 a part of China ruled
by its Basic Law. The Hongkongese must finally accept the maritime and
land Silk Road; will they embrace it? The “real challenge … is rather a global
leadership deficit or vacuum in which both the United States and China can-
not lead on their own while they do not want the other to lead” (Chan et al.
2012: 28). But more important: “China’s changing view of the multilateral
dispute settlement could generate positive externalities for other areas of
global and regional governance” (Li 2012: 88). In the twenty-first century,
countries, companies and enterprises, will be pleased to have international
arbitration or mediation along the Silk Road. It is useful to “solve (rationally
and internationally) disputes which could sometimes lead to insecurity”
(Mittelman 2010: 20–21). “Social and economic climate in Belt and Road
jurisdictions will have an important bearing on the success of Belt and Road
investments” (Grimmer and Charemi 2017). This also suggests that fair
arbitration and mediation will contribute to promote the new Silk Road.
The document mentioning the “Belt and Road” and signed by 34 lawyer
associations that want to be part of the BRI exists in Hong Kong at the
Hong Kong’s main lawyer association, the Law Society of Hong Kong.
18 J. A. BERLIE

Toward Globalization
Ancient Silk Road was not global and centered on trade, but the Belt and
Road Initiative links now China to the Pacific to Asia, Central Asia, even
Europe where Italy seems ready to be part and France follows, Africa,
South America and all continents. The Encyclopaedia Britannica very sim-
ply defines globalization as an experience and a diffusion of commodities
and ideas “standardized around the world.” We prefer to follow an Indian
way to define globalization: Internationalization, liberalization, universal-
ization, westernization or deterritorialization (Patil and Gopal 2002: 23).
From a Chinese viewpoint, the concept globalization 全球化quanqiuhua
is more complex and did not emerge in the 1980s, but lately in the 2000s.
However, the adjective “global” 全球 was known earlier in Mandarin.
One of the reasons for the late introduction of the concept “globaliza-
tion” in Chinese is the isolation of the country during the Cultural
Revolution, between 1966 and 1976. This book deals with China’s glo-
balization in the twenty-first century, and the modern Silk Road. Hopkins
(2002: 3) categorized two main ancient historical types called: archaic and
proto forms of globalization. The current Chinese globalization enters in
the modern category of this concept. “China in the 21st century bears
partial similarities to the British Empire in the 19th century,” but
“Although millions of Chinese have settled in Africa, Latin America,
Southeast Asia and North America, they … did not claim sovereignty in
these regions, while European armies and settlers did” (Toh 2017: 17).
The spirit of Shanghai, “a place of radical change” (Guthrie 2009: 1) with
former long contacts with Western culture and economy is favorable to
steer China during its long travel of the Belt and Road, which is not yet
finished. Books on globalization are numerous. An example is given with
the four volumes: China and Globalization edited by Linda Yueh (2013,
rep. 2014). President Xin Jinping launched the concept Belt and Road
and the Chinese people have understood that the present time is a flow of
trade, capital and people across the globe. The fashion for globalization
and the Belt and Road developed also the interest to write on the Silk
Road (Zou 2017). Guo Yemin (2018) wrote the maritime history of the
West. Arabs in fact came first to India and China with the April–September
monsoon winds and returned with the November–February monsoon.
The Portuguese were the second to navigate so far and cannot be forgot-
ten with their development of the trade of Goa, Malacca and Macau. The
Middle-Eastern countries are now praised and promote the Belt and Road.
 2 THE NEW SILK ROAD 19

More important for this book, the world’s first point of globalization was
Macau in the seventeenth century when this Portuguese harbor linked three
continents: Asia, Europe and America. In the period from 1640 to roughly
1900, from the Pearl River Delta to Mexico back to Macau, the Portuguese
did succeed to launch an innovative and pioneer global commerce linking
faraway peoples and trading silk for silver (Flynn and Arturo 1996).
Before the twenty-first century, China’s globalization was initiated by
Deng Xiaoping who developed exponentially the economy and the Special
Economic Zones of China between 1990 and 1997, and also opened
China to Central Asia. And in 2013, Xi Jinping has been the architect of
the most ambitious global geopolitical and trade policy initiative (Action
Plan on the Belt and Road Initiative 2015):

On land, the Initiative will focus on jointly building a new Eurasian Land
bridge and developing China-Mongolia-Russia, China-Central Asia-West
Asia and China-Indochina Peninsula economic corridors by taking advan-
tage of international transport routes, relying on core cities along the Belt
and Road and using key economic industrial parks as cooperation platforms.
At sea, the Initiative will focus on jointly building smooth, secure and effi-
cient transport routes connecting major sea ports along the Belt and Road
[…] there is a great potential and space for cooperation. They should pro-
mote policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial
integration and people-to-people bonds as their five major goals.

In 2014, Wang Yi, the Foreign Minister, said the initiative “One Belt
One Road” was President Xi’s most important foreign policy. President Xi
Jinping’s globalization of the twenty-first century, was initially called “One
Belt, One Road” (OBOR)一带一路yidai yilu, and since mid-2017, it was
re-named the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in English. “Initiative” was
not translated in Chinese later, why? Some say that it is only a matter of
translation. The concept remains unchanged and keeps only its four char-
acters since 2013, so the numerous authors of a book entitled “One Belt,
One Road” in Chinese ignore this question and do not add any other
character. It is anyway a multicultural and interdisciplinary concept, and
the Internet strengthens it. Globalization is interconnected via trade, cul-
ture and education as well as economic exchanges via air, land and sea
transport routes.
The former direct flow of goods of the Portuguese is a good historical
example for the modern Greater Bay, being an early prelude to the current
globalization trying to encompass trade, investment and information in
20 J. A. BERLIE

the five continents. We will use the shorter term Silk Road which includes
the Maritime and the Land Silk Road. China is currently developing its
own globalization, “between economic and political domains” (Clark
1999: 3); many countries want to collaborate and be part of it. Silk Road
is an ancient name that continues to be very attractive and has 2000 years
of history. However, the ancient Silk Road was concerning China, Central
Asia, India, the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Syria, Greece and the Roman
Empire, and the New Silk Road global and involves much more than
trade. The New Silk Road is the modern globalization, a totally global
project. Just a part of the Belt and Road Initiative, the Sino-Portuguese
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed by the Presidents of
China and Portugal, on December 5, 2018, also part of the Belt and
Road, will be followed later by the other memoranda in the Lusophone
World. It includes policy coordination, infrastructure, mobility and con-
nectivity, cultural exchanges, tourism, cooperation, financial investment
and trade (Macao 2019).
India is a state among the 80 countries that do not want for the moment
to be part of the Belt and Road. India’s trade deficit with China in 2017
was US$51 bn. “China and India together could be an enormous force for
regional and global stability” (Bajpai et al. 2016: 213). In 2017, Xi and
Modi understood that they had to collaborate to stop the border conflict
over the Doklam Plateau. Following a recent remark of Christophe
Jaffrelot, a French specialist of India and Pakistan, commentators noted
that the Belt and Road “encircles India.” The soft power and globalization
of China march on, and China’s most powerful tool is economic policy
(O’Neill 2018: 60). However, at the end of November 2018, for the sec-
ond time, China’s consulate in Karachi was attacked. The attack failed, but
collateral damage occurred. “The area is at the heart of an ambitious
Chinese project, the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The
corridor is a string of huge investments by China in Pakistani infrastruc-
ture, which aim to link its western Xinjiang province with the Arabian Sea
port of Gwadar in Balochistan, as part of the One Belt, One Road
Initiative” (Karachi 2018).
In the twentieth century we cannot forget the leading global role of the
USA, but we are now in a coming Chinese time and we try to interpret it
correctly. In the twenty-first century China is the second largest economic
power since 2013 when it supplanted Japan. China is “our elder by more
than thirty centuries” wrote one of the most original French authors of the
nineteenth century, Pierre Loti (1911); the long history of China helps to
 2 THE NEW SILK ROAD 21

understand what its current soft power and diplomacy is. We hope that the
present international tension following the APEC and G20 summit in
November 2018 will not last. In this tension between two superpowers,
the leadership of China is backed by its ability to deal with soft power. Soft
power “has become a new, and until recently, at least, surprisingly success-
ful part of the Chinese foreign policy armory” (Beeson and Xu 2016: 173).
Consequently, to secure harmony—a communication and public relations
concept, and part of China’s soft power along the Silk Road—mediation,
negotiation and international arbitration (Lat. arbitratus “Judgment by an
arbitrator”) are essential for the success of the Belt and Road Initiative.
However, China sometimes does not fully cooperate with international
arbitration institutions as when it refused to accept the international court
judgment: the Philippines versus China (2016). China claims full sover-
eignty on the Paracel and Spratly Islands (Xisha and Nansha Islands).
Beijing claim is known as the nine-dash-line presented officially in response
to a joint submission by Vietnam and Malaysia to the United Nations over
their respective claims (Chan 2016: 189). However, at present, China is
global, and hardworking Chinese live everywhere in the world. Nevertheless,
as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, China has
the right to designate one judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The ICJ is “a court of and for the whole world” (Abi-Saab 1996: 3). Could
we say that globalization needs a new legal order of the world including
mediation and international arbitration?
Global China is member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and
able to defend its international rights. China responded to the American
trade war—mainly with an increased taxation on Chinese products in
2018—and we do not know if this conflict may trigger a new economic
crisis: “Trade war intensifies as Beijing targets U$12 bn soybean imports
produced in Trump heartland” and “Trump administration escalated its
trade dispute with China (…) saying it would impose [new taxes] on
roughly U$200 bn worth of Chinese fish, petroleum, chemicals, hand-
bags, textiles” (Trade Conflict 2018). At the Hong Kong University on
November 15, 2018, during the conference Asia Global Dialogue, “The
Global Multilateral Trade System from Asia” was chaired by Victor
K. Fung, vice-director of the Asia Global Institute (Fig. 2.1).
The USA–China economic tension discussed during this Dialogue was
confirmed by the South China Moring Post (November 17, 2018): “The
two sides agree to anything” despite the G20 summit in Argentina, China
has no alternative than improve “technology and innovation.” China is
22 J. A. BERLIE

Fig. 2.1 November 15, 2018, the Hong Kong University’s conference Asia
Global Dialogue: “The Global Multilateral Trade System from Asia” chaired by
Victor K. Fung. Photo J. A. Berlie

global with the Belt and Road Initiative, but South China and the Greater
Bay Area are also important to motivate Hong Kong to participate more
and the Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor
tries her best in February 2019 to convince the Hongkongese. We fol-
lowed Professor Wang Gungwu who was the former Vice-Chancellor of
the University of Hong Kong, and Director of East Asian Institute of the
National University of Singapore from 1997 to 2008. Before Professor
Wang studied the Pearl River Delta, now he mentions the Belt and Road.
On November 12, 2018, at the University of Hong Kong, he presented
without notes, a conference entitled “China’s South, changing perspec-
tives.” The ASEAN was noted as an intrinsic part of the Belt and Road,
with the clear mention of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Professor Wang
always wanted: “the best for China and the people in China”; and the
“future developments to proceed without serious conflict” (SCMP, August
12, 2018; The China Quarterly No 136).
 2 THE NEW SILK ROAD 23

The economic power of China is backed by its merchant fleet—the

third largest of the world (see Chap. 4)—and its increasing number of new
deep water harbors. Soft power and the globalized Confucius Institutes
show that China has the non-declared ambition to link five continents and
develop jointly trade, culture and education. In comparison, the Goethe
Institute, the British Council and the Alliance Française are mainly educa-
tional institutions. However, English is the global language which replaced
French after Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, but on the Belt and Road of the
twenty-first century, Mandarin Chinese, or “Putonghua” 普通话, will
have difficulty to replace English even if China’s Silk Road becomes the
main global reference. The problem is not to have multilingual talents
along the Belt and Road, but to use a common language to communicate
and promote the Silk Road, no other language could replace at present
English as a global language. The world’s most spoken language by total
speakers are as follows:

1. English (1.121 billion)

2. Mandarin Chinese (1.107 billion)
3. Hindi/Urdu (697.4 million)
4. Spanish (512.9 million).

So proposing English as the communication language along the Belt

and Road seems logic. A board of the BRI in Beijing should probably
decide, later, when? (Languages 2019).
China cannot be alone to succeed. How do Asia, Europe and Africa
accept China’s Silk Road at present? At the end of July 2018, President Xi
Jinping traveled and developed the Belt and Road Initiative in Africa, par-
ticularly in Senegal—a very important country in West Africa—and South
Africa. These two countries constitute a first step toward the future
­development of the new Silk Road toward South America. China and the
Belt and Road in Africa include the Li group which has different branches
“computer, food additives, construction, telecommunications, fiber optic
equipment.” Mohan (2013) has pointed out that in Kano, Nigeria,
“Chinese-owned factories have been the most resilient” and for the local
workers “hard bread is better than none.” Africa, South America and also
Hong Kong need harmony and appropriate guidelines. For the former
Hong Kong Chief Executive, C.Y. Leung, “the Belt and Road is a long-­
term vision,” a very ambitious project of the twenty-first century (news.
gov.hk. April 7, 2018). China’s trade, globalization and the “win-win”
24 J. A. BERLIE

motto may succeed better if mediation and social welfare programs take
into account the real interest of the African and South American people.
Is it the case in the following case study?

The 7th Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC)

was held later, in September 3–4, 2018 in Beijing. To develop the Belt
and Road in Africa, the Chinese pharmaceutical firm 3A, Yiyao Longdou
医药龙头 invited the African delegation of this Forum to visit Shanghai and
this company. (Mingbao Hong Kong, June 9, 2018: A1)

It is possible to look back at ancient China which traditionally devel-

oped moral principles, while ethic comes from ancient Greece (Jullien and
Marchaisse 2000: 414). Both the Greco Roman World and the Han-Tang
Chinese World ended in comparable ways: “the first half, the political
core—was first weakened by ideological conflicts and then succumbed to
the invasions, whereas the other half was preserved.” On September 26,
2014, Zhang Lihua of Tsinghua University was invited by the Onassis
Foundation under the patronage of the Hellenic Foundation for Culture
which supports the new Silk Road and China’s soft power and investments
in Greece (Trigkas 2014).

Infrastructure
The Belt and Road Initiative aims at linking different geographical regions
through infrastructure construction, transport corridors and bridging
China with the rest of the world in varied ways physically, financially and
socially. Developing transport corridors that deliver sustained economic,
social and environmental benefits is a core goal of the Belt and Road
Initiative (UNDP 2017). Since the year 2013, Chinese infrastructure
investment in the Belt and Road countries has ballooned. Physical infra-
structure, as the backbone of economic development supporting a slew of
industries, is critical to the success of the new Silk Road. With China’s
economy growing by 3 or 4 percent per year—not the 8 percent of the
past—China’s ambitious programs are sometimes slowing down.
Outspoken Chinese lawmaker Yin Zhongqing told the Post that “local
government debt ballooned to at least 20 trillion yuan in the past three
years, based on bank data and internal sources.” The cause is too much
investment in infrastructure, but investment is necessary. Is it right?
(SCMP, August 15, 2018).
 2 THE NEW SILK ROAD 25

In 2016 China established the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

(AIIB), centered in Beijing, a new multilateral development bank accord-
ing to international standards (Campbell 2007: 25). Analysts said that if
Trump (2017) backed US membership of the AIIB and endorsed China’s
efforts to revive trade routes along the ancient Silk Road, it would be a big
sign of goodwill from Washington to Beijing. Wang Huiyao, a director at
the Centre for China and Globalization, a think tank in Beijing, is sup-
porting the cooperation of the USA toward AIIB. It is not planned any-
more by President Trump (Wang, November 2017). Tourism is also part
of the concept of Belt and Road. The USA’s new Indo-Pacific Economic
vision with Japan and Australia under the US International Development
Finance Corporation (USIDFC) needs Senate approval to proceed. It is
supported by the US Chamber of Commerce but is supposed to use an
American Investment Fund that is in difficulty, so we must wait to see if
USIDF works and is able to challenge the powerful and rather solid infra-
structure development under China’s Belt and Road (2018).
Elsewhere, Harsh V. Pant, professor of international relations at King’s
College London said: “For Iran, Chabahar [harbor] is a significant project
because it portrays Iran as not entirely isolated,” he said. From India’s
perspective, Chabahar is crucial because of the access to Afghanistan and
Central Asia. “The Chabahar port would accelerate post-war reconstruc-
tion while also bypassing Pakistan […] successful operation of Chabahar
would bring Afghanistan and India closer, theoretically curtailing the
influence of Pakistan and China” (Infrastructure: SCMP, July 31, 2018).
On the Belt and Road China and India—not yet member—have tried to
improve their international relations in 2018. Some important questions
such as Pakistan and India relations are also related to the Belt and Road.
Southeast Asia, also a main target of China’s Belt and Road, is eco-
nomically active, and Chinese mass tourism is visible. Between 2017 and
2021, the Vientiane–Kunming rail link is under construction. The China–
Laos Railway (420 km track) is said to be ready by January 2022. China’s
possible tourism flow toward Laos could be re-oriented to more popular
destinations such as Bali, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam.

Harmony Along the Belt and Road

Western countries are interested to secure harmony. This clearly shows
that arbitration and mediation are essential for the future of the Silk Road.
In November–December 2017, the global firm White & Case LLP,
26 J. A. BERLIE

founded in New York in 1901, interviewed 922 respondents from 30

countries and 42 cities: “London was selected as the most preferred seat
(for arbitration) in all regions” (2018 IA: 10). However, “arbitration (is)
conducted everywhere” (2018 IA: 14). For the Belt and Road Initiative,
China’s “Officials have said the courts, to be based on the judiciary, arbi-
tration and mediation agencies of the Supreme Court of the People’s
Republic of China in Beijing, will follow international rules and will invite
legal experts from outside China to participate” (Guardian, July 30,
2018). We do not know how China will finally deal with this important
question, but one thing is clear, the Silk Road needs rigorous definitions,
linked concepts, realism and arbitration when necessary. Many talented
Chinese arbitrators trained in the USA returned to their country, mainly
to Shanghai. Some of them served in international courts of justice, and
many are arbitrators trained in the USA. To create harmony international
arbitration is useful around China. Dr. Wu Shicun of the Hainan Provincial
Party Committee proposed to develop an international legal system and
arbitration in Hainan. It will take time, but there are hopes. This gives
official new hope after the visit of Xi Jinping for the 30th anniversary of
Hainan Province, which became “the name card of China.” On April 13,
2018, the island of Hainan became a pilot free trade zone. Is it a sign that
arbitration will be also promoted? Hainan is now a part of the Belt and
Road Initiative. In reality, to create the modern Silk Road, the support of
many countries will be needed.

Support for the Silk Road: Its Legal Development

and Arbitration

The Silk Road essentially came into being from the first century BCE, fol-
lowing efforts by China to consolidate a road to the Western world and
India. Our theme supports the positive importance of the Belt and Road
Initiative. The Maritime Silk Road is ancient, but needs the support of
Southeast Asia and India to succeed. China is an active member of the
ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). ASEAN should intensify the role of the
ARF with China, Japan, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and
the Republic of Korea, Russia and the USA (Pitsuwan, May 19, 2017).
I had the honor to interview the former ASEAN Secretary-General
Surin Pitsuwan (2008–2012) at the ICAS10 (International Convention of
Asia Scholars) in Chiang Mai on July 20, 2017. He noted the lack of eco-
 2 THE NEW SILK ROAD 27

nomic commitments by the states promoting development policies. He

also supported Timor-Leste’s ASEAN candidacy, but was unable to pre-
dict when it will be effective. Dr. Pitsuwan further stated that globaliza-
tion is essential during his talk on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of
ASEAN. He said “ASEAN needs to expedite negotiations and boost intra-­
ASEAN trade, […] and encourage developed countries to support tech-
nology transfer, as well as research and development in the region.”
Long ago, as early as March 22, 2002 Dr. Pitsuwan was part of the ILO
World Commission on Globalization meeting in Geneva. In 2008, he pre-
sented Globalizing Asia or Asian Globalization? In 2017, few month
before his death, at the 50th Anniversary of ASEAN he developed the
theme of globalization, insisting on infrastructure in particular: “ASEAN
has benefited greatly from the waves of globalisation in the form of open
trade, free flows of investment, relocation of manufacturing, effective
transfer of technology, and human resource development” and “China
now is the world’s second-largest economy and all ASEAN countries have
become dependent on its market” (Pitsuwan 2017: 140–141). The harbor
of Kyaukpyu in Myanmar’s Rakhine State is a case in point, a challenge on
the Maritime Silk Road. It was the residence of peaceful citizens without
identity, the Arakanese Muslims. China, the world leader in infrastructure,
promotes Kyaukpyu but cannot intervene directly. The world will be more
global, this is sure, but it is difficult to forecast when the Silk Road will
really succeed. However, the Memorandum signed by the presidents of
China and Portugal is auspicious. It paved the way to include Europe at
the end of March 2019, with the particular travel of President Xi Jinping
in Italy, France and Monaco forecasting that the Belt and Road Initiative
will have a particular relation with Europe, in spite of some rumors being
less positive. President Xi likes to walk in the steps of Deng Xiaoping, who
favored Nice, and President Macron invited him for a dinner at the Villa
Kerylos in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, near Nice.
There is almost a continuous corridor of the Belt and Road joining the
Pacific, Asia with its center in Beijing, and even Europe after the signatures
of China and Italy. If Taiwan is fully authorized to freely invest and be part
of the Greater Bay Area, de facto Taiwan and mainland China, will become
economically closer.
The development of the globalization process, with the China factor
cannot overshadow the extraordinary diversity of the social, state and
religious questions. Traditions or cynically modernist factors, regardless
of their rationalizations, constantly feed the flow of capital. China may
28 J. A. BERLIE

finally accept international arbitration, and then India will probably join
the Silk Road network. Successful Chinese companies will make the Silk
Road and BRI more prosperous as demonstrated by Alibaba Company
owned by Jack Ma (马云) and Tencent. “Economic future in China is
really global technology”, similar to America. “Alibaba’s e-commerce
sites—Taobao, Tencent and Tmall—are the most profitable online mar-
ketplaces in the world”. Shenzhen is powering ahead with Huawei,
Tencent and ZTE (a Chinese multinational telecommunications equip-
ment company). On the Belt and Road, Simpfendorfer praised the
global companies: Alibaba, Walmart and Carrefour. Nothing is sure,
Tencent (teamed up with Lego), the world’s largest video game business
by revenue has lost US$190 bn “since January [2018]” after a mainland
China “Government decision to suspend licenses for new video games”
(SCMP, September 13, 2018).
Why is international arbitration useful for such successful companies?
Nowadays international arbitration is essential even if China prefers medi-
ation (De Vera 2004). However, every country has its own arbitration
system, and China always prefers the arbitration of the Supreme Court of
the People’s Republic of China 中华人民共和国最高人民法院 (Zhonghua
Remin Gongheguo Zuì Gao Renmin Fayuan). More international legal
involvement by China seems really needed. In October 2016, Wuhan
Arbitration Commission declared the establishment of an OBOR
Arbitration Court and designated Liu Jianqin as its president (Wuhan
2016). In April 2018, the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration
(SCIA), and in particular its president, Liu Xiaochun, clearly declared their
will to develop international arbitration using Hong Kong as an interna-
tional legal platform. In China, this is positive toward a dynamic evolution
of international arbitration, but we are not sure that China will really
accept international arbitration. Changes introduced recently in this field
“should be welcomed,” but “the solutions seem to be rather incomplete”
(China 2017, Monika Prusinowska). However, there is also a recognized
traditional Chinese way to solve commercial disputes by mediation (De
Vera 2004). This spirit of conciliation, peace and international harmony
was useful to solve the question of maritime borders of East Timor versus
Australia and will continue to be useful also along the Silk Road. China
soft power and excellent relationship with the ASEAN are essential for the
success of the Silk Road in Asia. “It is difficult to foresee how China’s
globalization will end” (van de Ven 2002: 189). “China is a key player …
of global free trade … this possibility can become reality is whether China
 2 THE NEW SILK ROAD 29

can eventually transform its developmental model” (Hung 2009: 1, 199).

“On June 29, 2018, the Supreme Court of the People’s Republic of China
(SCPRC) officially launched its First and Second Commercial Courts, the
China International Commercial Court (CICC), in Shenzhen and Xi’an
respectively to handle a wide range of international commercial disputes”
(Clydeco 2018). Ik Wei Chong, is the director of Clyde and Co in
Shanghai and Singapore; this company deals with shipping, insurance,
international trade and energy, and focuses on disputes and investment
connected with China and the Asia Pacific. Companies such as Clyde and
Co are favorable for the future evolution of the Belt and Road. Finally, we
are not sure yet that the Supreme Court of the People’s Republic of China
is ready to directly deal with this question of dispute resolution. Dispute
resolution and infrastructure investment of China along the Belt and Road
in Central Asia and Eastern Europe depends upon “Mutual trust and
unconditional devotion” to China but also from its partners (Djordjevic
c.2016: 61).
On April 21, 2018, Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration
(SCIA), in a Seminar on arbitration, showed great respect for the
International Bar Association (IBA), which uses rules on the taking of
evidence in international arbitration (IBA Guidelines 2014). The panelists
that day discussed some provisions that lawyers who practice civil law are
unfamiliar with, as well as the significance of those rules. On what issues
should lawyers in the civil law system pay attention to? A general affirma-
tion emerged that the IBA Guidelines apply to both commercial and
investment arbitration, but uncertainty may appear for the generalization
of these rules to investment arbitration. The total number of lawyers gives
an idea of the development of the profession and the evolution of arbitra-
tion in China. We do have the following figures: in Hong Kong in March
2018, there are 9367 solicitors. In Shenzhen there were 2000 lawyers and
75 important firms (SCIA). Guangdong had a total of 29,138 lawyers and
2502 law firms. In 1988 China had about 2000 lawyers. This number now
exceeds 230,000, being a ratio of about 1:6000 of the population. In
comparison, the ratio in the USA is of the order of 1:250. Many Chinese
lawyers recognize the importance of the International Bar Association
(IBA), established in London in 1947, and are ready to follow the General
Principles of legal professions.
30 J. A. BERLIE

ASEAN
ASEAN, essential in this book, is an important association among the 80
countries part of the Belt and Road’s network, as geographic studies con-
cerning China’s export trade flows to Belt and Road from 2007 to 2016:
“The results showed that a Belt and Road country had greater trade flows
from China when it had smaller geographic, factor endowment, and cul-
tural distance and greater institutional distance from China” (Fu 2018).
Evidently, communication “infrastructures in the Belt and Road coun-
tries should be improved” and an institutional system “should be strength-
ened to improve the facilitation and transparency of trade cooperation.”
China is the Center, the first-circle includes: Russia, Turkey, Indonesia,
Saudi Arabia, Poland, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Malaysia,
Thailand (the author is inclined to consider Kazakhstan to be part of the
first circle instead of the second circle). India is not part of the Belt and
Road. We will insist on ASEAN. On September 12, 2018, Vice-Premier
Han Zheng was the main guest of the important 15th China–ASEAN
Expo in Nanning, Guangxi, and he mentioned that China wants to
upgrade the ASEAN–China Free Trade Area (ACFTA). Hang Hongyi,
vice-president of China Communications and Transportation Association
mentioned “infrastructure renovation and consumption upgrades” in the
Belt and Road in ASEAN countries. China has 4000 companies estab-
lished in ASEAN countries (China Daily, Hong Kong, September
13, 2018).
The ASEAN way is essential and characterized by consensual forms of
cooperation where conflicts within the member nations are largely left for
them to solve with limited criticism or interference from the others. There
are stable political conditions in the region since the end of the last cen-
tury. Mutual criticism has been regarded as improper and threatening the
stability of the organization. Consequently, serious rivalries are rare. To
maintain an excellent relationship with ASEAN is essential for China. For
example, China and Malaysia have agreed to increase their trade volumes
(China-Malaysia 2018); Indonesia also benefited of an equivalent good
trade balance. ASEAN certainly is part of the maritime Belt and Road.
ASEAN is a priority for China, which supports East Timor (Murphy 2018:
91–112). Joining ASEAN as a member state constitutes the best option
for Timor-Leste’s future, but despite the strong support of the former
President Ramos-Horta, the Timorese ask questions about this candi-
dacy. One of the arguments is that if Timor-Leste joins ASEAN, the
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“Dat why Anton Mescal come here an’ make him demand,” he said.
“But he never succeed. Da boy is safe.”
 CHAPTER XII.
DELORES UNMASKS.

The suspicions of Juan Delores were allayed at last, and he left the
boys with Felicia, while he retired to an adjoining room to prepare the
supper. Frank and Bart were given something to talk about.
“Mescal is near,” said Merry. “He may have that message on his
person. If fate will only bring us face to face once more!”
“If fate had directed one of my bullets!” exclaimed Hodge. “What do
you suppose that message contains?”
“You have asked me a question to which I cannot imagine the
answer.”
“Your father was very rich.”
“Yes.”
“And peculiar.”
“True.”
“Where is his wealth?”
“Heaven knows.”
“Where is his will?”
“Give it up.”
“That message must have told where to find his wealth and the will
he has left.”
“Perhaps so. But something tells me that was not all. I am certain the
message held something more—a secret of great importance.”
“Mescal is a desperate scoundrel. He will not be driven away easily.”
“I hope not.”
Felicia came and climbed on Frank’s knee once more.
“You have had trouble,” she said, in her tender, sympathetic way.
“Your papa is dead. Was the Good Stranger your papa?”
“I think so, little one,” said Frank.
“He was kind to me,” said she; “but he loved Dick most.”
“Dick—who is Dick?”
“Dick is my cousin. He lives here.”
“Here? Why, I have not seen him.”
“Oh, no! He is away now.”
“Away where?”
“He has gone with Old Joe. Once before he went away with Old Joe,
and was gone a whole month. But I miss him so much, for I love
him.”
“Is his name Dick Delores?”
“I don’t know. All I ever called him was just Dick. Oh, but he can
shoot and ride, and Joe is teaching him everything he knows.”
“How old is Dick?”
“One year older than I am.”
“The boy we saw with the old Indian!” exclaimed Bart.
“The boy who saved my life!” said Merry, who then told Felicia what
had happened at the entrance to the valley.
“That was Dick!” she cried, “and that was Old Joe! But why did Old
Joe want to shoot at you?” she speculated, her face clouding. “He is
papa’s friend.”
“He must have thought me your father’s enemy,” spoke Frank.
“He must,” nodded Felicia gravely. “Old Joe would not wish to shoot
a friend.”
“The mystery of the Indian and the boy is solved,” said Merry.
“Still, it’s rather singular,” muttered Bart. “Why should Delores let the
boy go with that old savage?”
“Papa sent Dick away with Old Joe,” put in Felicia.
“Sent him away?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, but I think he was afraid the bad men would carry Dick
off, same as they tried to carry me.”
Frank’s face showed that he was thinking deeply.
“Why should they carry Dick off?” he asked himself. “It must be that
there is treasure buried near here, and they are seeking to wring it
from Delores. But the man took extra precautions to protect the boy,
while he did not seem to fear for the safety of his own child, as he
left her entirely alone. There is much about this affair that is not clear
to me.”
Then Delores appeared at the door and announced that supper was
ready. They went back to the dining-room, Merry carrying little Felicia
in his arms.
The room was quite as pretty as the living-room. In the center stood
the table, covered by a clean, white cloth, with the dishes and food
upon it. A sideboard had been built in the wall. The chairs were of
the rustic variety, plainly also the handiwork of Delores. The cook-
room, in an ell-like part of the cabin, was shut off from view by a
swinging spring-door.
“Welcome,” said Delores.
“Thank you,” bowed Frank. “Your hospitality is appreciated, you may
be sure.”
“That’s right,” said Bart, as his eyes ran over the table. “Don’t believe
I was ever hungrier.”
They sat down, Delores at the head, with Felicia opposite. Frank and
Bart sat on the opposite sides of the table. When they were seated,
the little girl placed her soft white hands together, bowed her head,
and said “grace” in a simple, touching way.
Then, when the “amen” had risen from the lips of the three men at
the table, Delores lifted the cover of a platter and revealed to view
some broiled steak, the sight of which made Bart Hodge positively
ravenous.
That supper was enjoyed by all. Delores smiled when he realized
how hungry his visitors were, and he was pleased to see them
satisfy the cravings of their appetites.
Merry sought to satisfy Delores that he was no impostor; but the man
was on his guard, and it was not easy to tell what thoughts were
passing through his mind. Then Frank told of the adventures at the
entrance to the valley, relating how the old Indian had tried to
frighten them from entering, and had declared that Juan Delores
lived far away to the north.
“He faithful old fellow!” exclaimed Delores. “Once, long time ago, he
come here very sick—just able to crawl to door. My wife, she take
him in an’ doctor him; she get him well, though he have da fever. He
never forget. He do anyt’ing for us.”
“Even to commit murder,” said Hodge. “He would have shot one or
both of us if the boy had not hurled a rock and struck the barrel of his
rifle.”
Felicia clapped her hands.
“Dick can throw a rock just as straight!” she exclaimed. “Oh, he can
do lots of things, and Old Joe has promised to teach him all the
things he knows about the mountains, the prairies, and the woods.”
“His education is well begun,” said Frank, “but it is the finishing off
that will count.”
“Oh, he can read and write and all dat!” quickly exclaimed Juan. “My
wife, she be educated American, and she teach Dick and Felicia.”
The laughter passed swiftly from the face of the girl, and she sadly
said:
“Yes, mama used to teach us every day, but Dick was so hard to
teach—he was so wild. Now mama is gone, and I have tried to teach
myself; but Dick will not study at all.”
Frank felt like asking Delores some questions about the mysterious
boy with the old Indian, but, feeling that he had no right to do so, he
refrained. It seemed that Delores felt like explaining a part of the
mystery, which led him to volunteer:
“Anton Mescal, he come after Dick. Dat why I let Old Joe take da
boy. Old Joe protec’ him.”
“Then it is Dick, not Felicia, that Mescal wants?”
Delores nodded.
“If you have da word, you would know dat,” he declared.
And then it was that Merriwell began to feel that there was some
strange, invisible link that connected himself with this wild boy of the
mountains.
Delores had talked far more than usual with him, and he suddenly
showed a disposition to close up like a clam. Merry fancied it must
be because he thought the conversation was getting on dangerous
ground, and this caused Frank to lead it in another direction.
“How did you happen to settle here in this out-of-the-way place, Mr.
Delores?” he asked. “Why did you build your home here in this thick
piece of woods?”
“Hard to see it here,” was the answer.
“Then you did not wish it seen?”
“No.”
“And that was why you selected this valley, which might be passed
and repassed without finding a good way of descending into it?”
Delores nodded.
“It is a good place for a man who chooses the life of a hermit,” said
Bart, “but one is out of the world here.”
“Dat not true,” said Juan. “Dis is God’s world here! Da mountain, da
blue sky, da wild flower, da sweet air, da birds—it is God’s world.”
“It is beautiful!” murmured Felicia.
“But monotonous!” muttered Bart.
“Some men cannot choose,” said Juan. “I was one of dat kind. I have
to make my home where I can be safe.”
“That’s different,” said Frank.
Somehow, Delores seemed to fancy that both visitors looked on him
with suspicion after that speech, and he hastened to add:
“I do no crime—no. I do not’ing in this country to make me hide-a.”
They looked at him in silence. Somehow, that seemed to sting him
deeply, for he suddenly burst forth:
“If you knew! I have kep’ da secret long—I have kep’ da silence. Now
Mescal, he know all ’bout it. How he find it out I do not know; but he
will tell it everywhere. Da secret will be no longer one. Soon I shall
have to go ’way from dis valley. I have t’ought dat some time.”
“Oh, papa—oh, no, no, no!” cried Felicia, springing from her place
and running round to him. “Go away from here? Leave my dear
mama out there all alone? Oh, no, no, no!”
Her distress was great, and the tears appeared in her deep, dark
eyes. He caught her up and kissed her hair, holding her close to him.
“My little Felicia!” he said huskily. “I ’fraid da time come when we
must go; but, some time, mebbe, we come back to put da sweet
flower on mama’s grave.”
“Oh, why should we go, papa?”
“Papa have great many enemy. Now da bad man know him here da
enemy may find out soon. Papa go ’way, so him not be hurt.”
“Your cattle—what will you do with them?” asked Frank. “I suppose
those are your cattle in the valley?”
“Yes, dem mine. I know way to drive dem out. I sell dem.”
But still little Felicia was greatly distressed over the thought of going
away and leaving her home. She knew no other home, and that one
was very dear to her.
“Must we go, papa?” she sobbed. “Must we go?”
“I am ’fraid of dat,” he nodded. “We find some place else to live.”
Again he saw the visitors looking at him curiously.
“You t’ink I do somet’ing wrong?” he cried. “I do not’ing but fight for
liberty. I make enemies dat swear to kill me if da follow me to da hot
place. At first I feel no fear of dem. Den da gov’ment pronounce me
outlaw—put da price on me! I have to fly from my country. My enemy
follow. I have to fight for my life. I kill one, two, t’ree. Dat make dem
worse. All da relation swear to find me an’ take my head to da
gov’ment. I find myself hunted man night an’ day. Den, at last, when I
marry beautiful American wife, for her sake I have to find place
where we can live quiet. Den I come here, and we live here happy
together.”
It was an interesting and tragic story, and Merry did not doubt its
truth. So this man, Juan Delores as he called himself, had been
married to an American woman, who was the mother of Felicia.
Delores looked from one to the other of his visitors.
“You believe me?” he asked.
“Yes,” said Frank, while Bart bowed.
“I tell you who I am,” said the man. “Perhap’ you have heard ’bout
me.”
He rose to his feet and stood there before them, looking proudly at
them. There was in his pose now the manner of the born aristocrat.
He smiled a little.
“Gentlemen,” he said, “I am da Don Jose Maria Queypo de Llano
Ruiz y de Saravia, of Spain!”
 CHAPTER XIII.
THE MESSAGE RECOVERED.

Frank had heard of him, a Spanish refugee and outcast, a man of

noble family, who had sacrificed himself and his fortune for what he
firmly believed was right and justice.
“Count De Saravia!” exclaimed Frank.
“Yes,” said the man.
Then he told them much of his story, and Felicia, who had known
nothing of it herself, sat and listened in wondering silence. But what
the count told did not clear up the mystery that puzzled Frank.
After the supper was over, they returned to the living-room, where
Merry opened the piano and played. Little Felicia sang for them, and
finally she crept into her father’s arms and fell asleep. He carried her
off to bed, and Merry and Bart turned and faced each other.
“Well?” said Hodge.
“Strange,” said Merry. “But the haze remains as deep as ever.”
“Deeper, if anything.”
“I feel like getting some air,” said Frank.
Hodge would have accompanied him when he rose to go out, but
instinct told Bart that Merry chose to be alone.
Frank passed along the deep wood path till he came to the open.
The moon had risen in the east, and was shedding its silver radiance
into Pleasant Valley. The little lake lay with a shimmering path of
silver moonshine across it.
The scene was calm and peaceful enough. Frank stood on the edge
of the shadowy woods and gazed upon the quiet valley. From far, far
away came the cry of some prowling wild beast, but that was the
only sound to break the calm of the peaceful night.
“She said the graves were up this way,” Frank murmured. “I will see
if I can find them.”
After a time he came upon them. They were not far apart, with a
great tree rising near at hand. One had a granite stone at its head,
and on the stone had been crudely chiseled the name “Lucy.”
Frank knew that was the grave of Felicia’s mother. The other grave
had been lately made, and no stone rose above it.
“My father rests here!” murmured Frank, as he knelt beside that
mound.
For some minutes he remained there, tears starting from his eyes
and trickling slowly down his cheeks.
“Poor father!” came softly from his lips. “You never knew what real
peace and happiness meant. Yours was a wild, strange life, and it
seems fitting that you should die as you did. But, oh, what would I
not have given to have been at your side! Perhaps I could have
comforted you. To-morrow I will bring flowers and place upon this
mound. A stone shall be erected, and here, dear father, you will
sleep your long, last sleep. At last you have found the peace and
rest that was denied you in life. God knows what is best, and He
doeth all things well.”
When he turned away he felt in no mood to return to the cabin at
once, so he wandered down toward the shimmering lake, which
seemed calling to him in the soft whispers of passing breezes. As he
approached the lake, he passed beneath some wide-spreading
trees, which gave a deep shadow.
Suddenly his attention was attracted by a moving object on the
bosom of the lake. He paused and gazed, and the moonlight showed
to him a canoe that seemed to be occupied by two persons. It was
approaching the side of the lake on which Merry stood, and he could
see the dripping paddle flash and shine in the moonlight.
Not a sound came from the canoe. There was no movement of either
figure, save the swinging arms of the one in the stern, who plied the
paddle.
Merriwell drew a little nearer to the shore, shielding himself carefully
and waiting. When the canoe was close in, he decided that it must
contain the old Indian, Joe Crowfoot, and the strange boy.
Barely had the craft touched the shore when out from places of
concealment leaped two men and flung themselves on the Indian
and the boy. One of the men clutched the boy, who fought like a
tiger-cat.
The other ruffian gave his attention to the old Indian, who whipped
out a knife and met his attack. The man fired a shot, but the Indian
closed in swiftly, as if not touched, and this forced the assailant to
drop his revolver and bring forth a knife.
Then a deadly and terrible battle took place there on the shore of
Lake Sunshine. The knives were heard to strike and grate together
as the foes met, hand to hand and face to face.
It fascinated Merriwell, and, for the instant, he paused to stare at the
spectacle. He saw the Indian’s assailant was almost a giant, and a
startling thought flashed through his mind:
“It’s Gunnison Bill! I did not kill him, after all!”
“Now, redskin, I’m goin’ ter carve yer up! I’ll just rip yer inter ribbons
in a minute!”
The voice was that of the big ruffian, and then Merry knew beyond a
doubt that the man was Gunnison Bill.
A cry came from the lips of the boy, arousing Frank from the strange
lethargy that seemed to have seized him. Without a sound, the
young athlete leaped toward the spot where the boy was doing his
best in the struggle with the man who had clutched him.
“I think I’ll take a hand here!” exclaimed Merry, as he sprang upon
the man.
It was the companion of Gunnison Bill, who had escaped on Frank’s
mustang.
Startled by Merry’s sudden appearance, the fellow whirled about,
trying to fling the boy aside. The moonlight fell full on his face.
“Anton Mescal!” cried Merriwell exultantly. “At last I have found you!”
“Frank Merriwell!” gasped Mescal, for it was the scoundrel who had
snatched the message from Merry in the New York hotel.
“Yes!” shouted Merry, as he fastened his hands upon the fellow. “I
believed fate would bring us together here! Now I shall recover the
message you stole from me!”
“Never! You’ll have to kill me first!”
“Then I shall kill you!” came the cold, hard words from Frank’s lips.
“Bill! Bill!” cried Mescal. “Help, Bill!”
“Bill is having his hands full,” said Merry. “Old Joe Crowfoot is
attending to him.”
“He can kill that old dog in a minute!”
“Perhaps, but Old Joe may get in a few licks while he is doing it.”
A fierce struggle between Frank and Mescal ensued. Mescal was no
match for the young athlete, but he felt that he was fighting for all
that he desired and held dear, so he put up a stiff struggle for a
while. At last Merry forced the fellow to his knees, fastening a clutch
on his throat.
“Give up?”
“Curse you—no!” hoarsely breathed Mescal.
Merry’s fingers shut off the man’s wind, and it seemed that the bones
cracked beneath that pressure. Still the desperado fought to the last,
though he gradually grew weaker and weaker.
Merry choked the man into insensibility. Having done this, he began
to search his clothes for the message. In course of time he found it,
within an inner pocket. Frank opened it and looked at it by the aid of
the moonlight.
“Thank Heaven!” he said. “I have it again! This is the message my
father wrote and sent to me.”
He had been so absorbed that he was quite unaware of anything
else that was taking place. Now, having thrust the message into his
pocket, he rose and looked around.
To his amazement, the canoe, containing the old Indian and the boy,
was gliding swiftly away over the lake, while on the shore lay the
bleeding body of Gunnison Bill. In the knife duel the ruffian had met
more than his match in Old Joe, who had ended the career of the
desperado. Gunnison Bill’s life of evil-doing was over.
Frank called to the Indian and the boy, urging them to return, saying
he was a friend; but they paid not the least heed, and the canoe kept
on till it melted into the shadow along a distant shore.
Anton Mescal lay quite still on the shore, and Frank feared he had
killed the fellow. On kneeling by the side of the scoundrel and feeling
for his heart-beats, Merry found that life remained in Mescal’s body.
“He’ll recover,” Merry decided. “I think I’ll truss him up.”
So he lifted Mescal and carried him up the bank to a large tree. The
unconscious villain was placed in a sitting position on the ground,
with his back against the tree, after which Merry stripped up the
man’s coat and bound him in that position.
Having disposed of Mescal thus, Frank hastened back toward the
cabin home of Delores. On the way he met Hodge.
“I thought I heard a shot,” said Bart. “Didn’t know but you were in
trouble, and that brought me out hot-foot.”
Hodge was ready for anything.
“You did hear a shot,” said Frank. “It was fired by Gunnison Bill.”
“Gunnison Bill? Why, he’s dead!”
“You are right; he is dead now; but we did not leave him dead in the
timber over yonder, as we fancied.”
“Didn’t? What has happened, Merry? Tell me as quick as you can.”
But Bart could scarcely believe the story Frank had to tell.
“You met Mescal there?” he exclaimed joyously; “and you have the
message?”
“Safe in my pocket,” said Frank. “I shall read it to-night.”
“I told Delores I would go out and see what the shot meant. He
remained to guard Felicia. Let’s return and let him know there is no
danger.”
So they went to the cabin, where they found Delores waiting, rifle in
hand, for anything that might occur. When he heard Merry’s story he
was even more excited than Bart.
“Mescal out there?” he panted. “Dat man must not git away! Take me
to dat man! He know my secret, an’ he be my enemy!”
It was not without serious misgivings that Merry led the way to the
spot where the struggle had taken place on the shore of the lake. He
found an opportunity to whisper to Bart:
“Watch him! We can’t stand by and see him murder Mescal, no
matter what Mescal may have done.”
But when they came to the tree where Frank had bound Mescal,
they found the man had recovered, broken his bonds, and escaped.
Delores was like a hound on the scent, and he followed the trail till it
ran into a piece of timber, where it was lost for the time.
“But I’ll take it up in da morning!” declared the refugee. “He must
make da fast track if he get away.”
The body of Gunnison Bill they buried that night not far from where
he fell.
And then, with Bart in the room where they were to sleep, Frank
Merriwell brought forth and read the strange and startling message
sent him by his dying father.
 CHAPTER XIV.
WHAT THE MESSAGE CONTAINED.

That message gave Merriwell the greatest surprise of his life, for it
told how Charles Conrad Merriwell, Frank’s father, after his first
wife’s death, had married another woman, whom he met in the West.
And it told how, by his second wife, Mr. Merriwell had had one son,
Richard, who was thus a half-brother to Frank. But Mr. Merriwell had
been hunted by his bitter enemy, Dion Santenel, and never had his
life been anything but one of trouble and fear. It was not such a life
as would make a wife happy and contented. Fearing Santenel might
find his wife and strike him, through her, Mr. Merriwell had hidden her
away in a safe retreat. But she was frail and delicate, and she had
not survived.
The second Mrs. Merriwell was a sister to the wife of the man known
as Juan Delores, and so to Juan Charles Merriwell took the
motherless boy, Richard. Juan had raised Richard there in that
hidden valley as if the boy were his own son, and there he had been
happy and contented, with Felicia, his cousin, for his only playmate.
When fate had brought Charles Merriwell and his first son together
once more, the lips of the man remained sealed concerning a portion
of his life. Thus it happened that Frank Merriwell had never
suspected the existence of a half-brother.
But, when the end came, Charles Merriwell summoned strength to
write a full confession. As he wrote it, he knew he had been followed
about by men who sought to wrest from him in some manner his
great fortune, or a portion of it, and it was his fear that they might
succeed after he was dead.
He sent Delores to Denver for a reliable messenger to take the
precious document to Frank. The messenger employed was a
detective belonging to an agency in the city, and he executed his
trust faithfully, for all that Anton Mescal, aware of his purpose,
followed him all the way to the Atlantic coast, seeking to get
possession of the precious document in the oilskin envelope.
In the confession Charles Merriwell charged his son Frank to take
care of Richard, bring him up properly, be both brother and father to
him.
“He is a frail lad in some ways,” wrote the dying man, “and he should
be trained and built up until he possesses a marvelous physique, like
your own, Frank. I give him into your hands for this task. He is your
brother, and I charge you to make a man of him—such a man as you
yourself have become. I am proud of you, Frank, for you are a son to
make any father proud. Dick is like you in some ways, but he is
unlike you in many. He is wild, impulsive, passionate, and hard to
govern; but I believe you can mold him into a splendid man.
“You know I am rich, and I leave all my wealth to be divided between
you and Richard, in case you carry out my instructions faithfully. The
will, which Juan Delores will give to you when you come to him with
the word, will make everything clear. He will also turn over into your
care your brother, Richard. I think there is no danger but you will be
faithful to this duty I have left you, but, should you fail to take charge
of Richard and care for him, you will see by the will that you are cut
off from ever receiving a dollar of my wealth.”
Frank felt a twinge of pain as he read this.
“Why did he have to write that?” he thought regretfully. “Ah! he did
not know me well, or he would have been certain I would do
everything in my power to carry out his instructions.”
Later on in the message was given “the word” which Frank was to
speak to Delores.
Hodge had seen enough to know how deeply Frank was touched,
and he retired as quietly as possible, leaving Merry sitting there
reading that astonishing revelation over and over again.
The night was far spent before Frank lay down to sleep. His slumber
was filled with dreams, and more than once he murmured:
“Richard—Richard, my brother!”

In the morning Frank spoke “the word” to Juan Delores, saying:

“I have recovered the message that was stolen from me by Anton
Mescal, and I have read it over and over. I wish to see my brother.”
Delores bowed.
“You shall see him soon,” he promised.
Then he went away somewhere, and, after a time, returned with the
last will and testament of Charles Conrad Merriwell, which he placed
in the hands of Frank.
“I was convinced last night,” he said, “dat it b’long to you; but I had to
swear to your father dat I never give it to any one who fail to bring da
word. What could I do? I did not know. I t’ink I find some way to let
you know da word after you give me all da proof dat you be Frank
Merriwell.”
“You have been faithful and true, Mr. Delores,” said Merry, with a
hand on the shoulder of the man. “I shall not forget. A Merriwell
never forgets.”
“Dat all right,” asserted Juan, flushing. “But had we foun’ Mescal last
night, I t’ink I would feel better now.”
“I do not believe Mescal will trouble any of us again,” said Frank. “It
was his object to keep me from finding out what I was to do, so that I
would not comply with the terms of the will. If I failed to take care of
my brother, I was to have no part in the property left by my father. A
false Richard might have been substituted, and there are a dozen
schemes whereby Mescal could have profited had he succeeded,
but he failed utterly, and now he will have to look out for himself.”
At this moment Felicia, laughing gaily, appeared at the open door of
the cabin, calling:
“Oh, Frank, come out!”
Merry had told her on the previous evening that she was to call him
Frank.
“What do you want?” smiled Merriwell.
“Come and see,” she urged. “I have a surprise for you. Oh, come
quick!”
Laughing, he complied. She grasped him by the hand and led him
round the cabin.
There, standing where the morning sunshine fell through an opening
in the Black Woods, were two persons, an old and wrinkled Indian
and a bright-faced, dark-eyed boy.
Frank was face to face with his brother.
 CHAPTER XV.
A REBELLIOUS SPIRIT.

“Hee-haw! hee-haw! hee-haw!”

Rattle-ty-smash! rattle-ty-thump! thump! smash! thud!
“Hee-haw! hee-haw! hee-haw!”
“Oh, ha! ha! ha! ha! Ha! ha! ha!”
Pandemonium seemed to have suddenly broken loose just outside
the window at which Frank was writing.
The braying hee-haw was followed by such a smashing, and
crashing, and banging that it brought Merry to his feet immediately.
Then came a burst of wild, elfish boy laughter.
“What the dickens is he up to now?” exclaimed Frank, as he sprang
to the window and looked out.
The sight that met his eyes was both amusing and surprising. To the
tail of a small, long-eared burro, attached by means of a cord, hung
an old tin can. And the burro was hee-hawing and kicking furiously in
a mad endeavor to free himself from the thing which clattered and
thumped about his heels.
On the ground, in a perfect paroxysm of delight, rolled Dick, from
whose lips came the shrieks of elfish laughter. It was two days since
Frank had first met this, until then, unknown half-brother.
Wrapped in a dirty red blanket, sitting with his back against the wall
of the cabin, was Old Joe Crowfoot, who calmly smoked his long-
stemmed pipe, and regarded the youngster and the burro with the
gravity of a stone image.
“Oh, dear! oh, dear!” shouted the boy. “Look at Billy! Kick it again,
Billy! Oh, ha! ha! ha! Oh, ha! ha! ha!”
Billy kicked and rolled his eyes round at the persistent thing that
came banging back against his heels. There was a comical look of
mingled terror and anger in the eyes of the little burro. He plunged
and leaped about in various attempts to get away from the rattling
pail, which his heels had battered out of all semblance to its original
shape.
“Ugh!” grunted the old Indian, and he gravely continued smoking,
without moving hand or foot.
Then came a sudden, childish cry of distress, and round the cabin
Felicia came running. She rushed straight toward the little burro.
“Oh, Billy! Billy!” she cried. “Who hurt my Billy? Stop, Billy! I’ll take it
off!”
Heedless of danger, fearless of the flying hoofs and plunging beast,
she ran right up to the burro. A moment later she was knocked flat
as the little animal lunged round in its mad struggles to get away
from the banging pail.
A leap carried Frank Merriwell out through the open window, and it
seemed that another spring took him to the side of the child, which
he caught up in his arms.
At the same moment the string broke and the burro sent the old can
whizzing into the branches of a tree near at hand. Twice after this the
heels of the excited little beast twinkled in the air, and then, seeming
to realize that he had conquered at last, he let forth a triumphant
bray.
The boy sprang up and stood quite still, all the laughter gone from
his face.
“Are you hurt, Felicia?” asked Merry, as he held the girl in his strong
arms.
“Oh, no, no!” she sobbed. “But my Billy is hurt! Put me down—please
put me down!”
Frank did so, and she ran to the burro, clasping it round the neck
and sobbing as she showered the now quiet little creature with
caresses.