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Writing A 21st Century “Chingbirok”? What Should be Included in a “Book of Correction” To Ensure Sustainable High-Speed Freight Transportation between Asia and Europe?


David A. Jones
Abstract

Freight transportation between Asia and Europe is becoming functionally monopolised by China, evident from the phrase ―One Belt, One Road‖ Initiative. It is the word ―One‖ that is the problem1. Multiple highways and railways are required to maintain an increase competition in Eurasian trade patterns. Asia requires business management in areas that interface, ranging from manufacturing and assembly of goods, to providing services, intellectual property protection, supply chain management of raw materials from Africa and Europe, delivery of finished products to markets abroad. Some management has to be domestic, naturally, subject to different traditions and values within each country. Chinese, even pan-Asian management by itself is tottering, so a ―Chingbirok‖ or ―Book of Corrections‖ seems required. This should be witnessed as an invitation for foreign partners to join into this conversation, because the economies of all concerned in Asia, Eurasia, Eastern, Central, and Western Europe plus the Western Hemisphere depend upon effective and efficient management of Asia, especially the economies of the Asian countries. Freedom of maritime navigation must be maintained through deterrence strategies by securing an unimpeded maritime corridor from Japan through the Suez Canal that has proven problematical. Consequently, the European Community, United Kingdom (post-Brexit) and the United States must assume a proactive role to provide Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and oversight across Eurasia to ensure harmony and deter the outbreak of hostilities within Asia. Exerting muscular intervention in cooperation with the West‘s Asian Alliesplus the Russian Federation is required. Concrete objectives should be to maintain unfettered South China Sea navigation, preserve Western technology from theft or coerced acquisition, improve an opportunity for a rising Asian middle class to purchase Western goods without restriction, each a component of President Donald J. Trump‘s Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) Strategy. This article will focus on ―International Separation of Powers‖, meaning checks and balances among Eurasian trading partners and transportation systems. Specifically, the author proposes expansion of two separate freight cargo transportation systems overland from Asia to Europe: (1) an express traffic route across Russian Siberia from Vladivostok to Moscow then on to Łódź, Poland or Budapest, Hungary to transport goods directly to Europe from East Asia including Japan, Republic of Korea, Taiwan, ASEAN countries destined for Eastern, Central, and Western Europe without stopping in Eurasia; and (2) separately the existing Chinese ―Belt and Road Initiative‖ (BRI), limited to local traffic of shipments from or to Eurasian states only, with express and local routes each separately and independently providing return traffic in reverse direction from Europe to Asia, Chinese BRI across Eurasia, express across Russia. They will be competitors.

Volume 11 | 11-Special Issue

Pages: 1172-1183

DOI: 10.5373/JARDCS/V11SP11/20193149