What is TPP?

TPP stands for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. It is an upcoming deal, many months in the making, that is designed to significantly expand America’s trade status in the world. TPP stands for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. By creating the agreement, the United States hopes to increase exports of American goods. TPP is a free trade agreement between the United States and 11 other countries, designed to boost American imports into new markets.

Who is involved in TPP?

Though negotiations are still on-going, the participants of the deal have already been determined. The 11 countries span Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, and they include Chile, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

Why should China be worried?

By launching the TPP, the United States in unashamedly raising its economic fists to China. The Pacific is on Asia’s eastern fringe, and may be considered China’s economic zone of control. This may not last long. The United States has declared, clearly and strongly, its intention to poach China’s trading partners, by ‘setting up shop’ in what is essentially their economic backyard. The significance of this can not be overstated. These countries account for a staggering 40% of the entire global economy. If the US successfully pushes this through, the consequences could be vast. It is too early to see if TPP could pose a significant risk to Chinese trade in this region. But as the finalisation of the deal draws ever closer, China’s established dominance may be soon called into question.

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The New Silk Road

Turkey’s transition towards the East is driven by economics, military needs, and changes in global dynamics. Due to difficulties with the stalled EU membership talks and new international trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which gives South East Asian nations such as Malaysia and Vietnam an edge in global trade, Turkey is looking for any means to establish stronger ties with any nation that can provide it opportunities for economic growth. The Belt and Road Initiative is what Turkey has been seeking.

Turkey has set its sights on wanting to become a weapons exporting nation mainly with a focus on missiles. It has also grown weary of relying on NATO’s occasional deployment of the Patriot missile defense system. Turkey’s military has stated that the 570 miles southern border cannot be protected solely by Patriot missiles. Turkey’s deputy defense secretary recently stated that Turkey cannot rely on the air force to patrol the country’s long borders either. With the situation further deteriorating in Syria and Iraq, the potential for a spillover into Turkey becomes more realistic with each passing day. The current supply of NATO’s Patriot missile system can only protect three Turkish cities and even that is uncertain as NATO has begun to withdraw some of the missiles after the Russian jet incident. Turkey has complained about the fickleness of NATO’s missile defense deployment. As a result, the Turks have begun to look to the Chinese for help.

Concerns

Turkey signed a large contract, worth almost 3.5 billion USD, to help develop its missile defense industry. The deal would have increased Turkey’s firepower capacity as well give it the coveted missile exporting capability it has been seeking. But the deal was scrapped after red flags were raised by other NATO members. NATO was fearful that their military secrets could be divulged to a state-backed Chinese company. Turkey has been placating China ever since due to the wound created by the reneging of the missile deal. Despite this setback, Turkey has been working on other military deals with China to help reduce its reliance on NATO.

Turkey has long styled itself the leader and champion of Turkic people around the world. Past relations with China have been marred by Turkey’s vehement defense and condemnation of China’s policy towards the Uighurs, a Turkic people, in Xinjiang province. Despite the initial harsh rhetoric, Turkey has been mollifying its stance towards Chinese actions against the Uighurs as it begins to mend and build its relationship with Beijing.

The recent downing of a Russian jet has created a sore spot for Turkey and China. China and Russia have increased economic and military ties in the recent decade as a way to balance Western military expansion. As Chinese and Russian cooperation continue to grow, the blossoming Sino-Turkish alliance can hurt the strong ties between China and Russia. As a result, the recent Turkish attack on Russia has made China more reticent on military cooperation with Turkey.

A new partnership?

As China continues to revive the ancient Silk Road, Turkey will be a key partner to ensure the project is a success. With increasing tensions in Europe and the Middle East, Turkey has to tiptoe around volatile regions that circumscribe it in order to secure its future prosperity. The emergence of stronger bilateral ties between China and Turkey only seem natural. As China’s economy weakens and the country scouts new markets for its companies, Turkey appears to be the perfect outlet. Yet recent events such as the Turkish downing of a Russian jet as well as the reneging of Turkish participation in a missile deal, has made China wary of Turkey as a viable trading partner. Time will tell if the relationship between the two nations moves to the next step or if it remains stagnant and cools down.

Montoya believes the design of paper money carries more beauty and tells us more about ourselves than most citizens realise when casually handling their ‘wad of cash’ every day.

Standing a few metres away from five large and colourful mosaics, one sees each of them showing the shape of a different currency – the Dollar, Euro, Yuan, Pound and Rupee. They are somehow intimidating pictures.

The Money Talks collection is at the Halcyon Gallery, in London’s chic and moneyed New Bond Street. It transmits the omniscient but cold nature of money. And the knock-on effect comes when one gets closer and discovers the images are made up of endless rows of banknote cuttings that form collages.

The symbols on the notes – patriotic heroes on horseback, religious temples, farmers, spinners, industrial ports, mythological animals – are as varied as the countries which issued them. Banknotes from different times and places turn out to be a unique reflection of values, ideologies and principles. Santiago Montoya’s work gives us the opportunity to stare at these little pieces of art and history with new eyes. He re-interprets paper currency as both a canvas as well as a raw material.

The 41-year-old artist from Bogotá, Colombia, had previously used the aesthetics of materials to introduce meaning in his works. The results are collections where appearance and concept bear equal weight – with varied international influencers such as Tom Friedman and Andy Warhol. His obsession with money and capitalist desire is also present in most of his recent work.

“Money is the meeting point of all humans on this planet. For good or bad, we are inter-related to one another through it. And it gives us pleasure as much as it makes us miserable,” explains Montoya.

A recurring image in the pictures of this collection is the United Kingdom’s reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, often depicted with elegant irony as one of the many faces of money. One of the most amusing pieces shows a £50 British note with Her Majesty’s face surrounded by Vietnamese notes with snarling tigers and playfully entitled ‘Hello Kitty’. Another eloquent name is ‘Elephant and Castle’,  where Her Majesty’s face comes after Burmese banknotes with green elephants, and is a wordplay on the south London district of Elephant and Castle where Charlie Chaplin was born.

Santiago Montoya, who graduated in Fine Arts in Bogotá, has exhibited his work internationally, with special affection for London as a centre of arts, where he had his first solo exhibition in 2012, The Great Swindle, later followed by The Horizon Series and The New Dollar Sign. Money Talks can be caught at the Halcyon Gallery until 13 March and the Museum of the Americas in Washington D.C will be hosting a major solo show of Montoya’s The Great Swindle from October.

Funnily enough, the man who cuts, stretches and pastes paper money to make us see its weak nature – counterpoint to its global power – is the same whose works have gone for £125,000. Maybe this is the irony of the irony. Maybe it is the cleverest way of playing the game by knowing its rules. This is an artist who critiques money and by so doing, ends up making it for himself.

What is it?

The South China Sea is adjacent to the Pacific Ocean and encompasses an area of 1.4 million square miles (3.5 million square kilometers). The sea is a semi-closed area and extends from the Singapore Strait to the Taiwan Strait. China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Taiwan encircle the sea. This large swathe of sea is considered to be a great economic source of wealth (Fishery stocks and potential hydrocarbon reserves beneath the seabed) as well as vital to geopolitical strategy.

Why is it important?

With eight nations disputing about and vying for control of the maritime features and ultimately the entire sea, tensions are starting to spill over into potential conflict. The significance of the South China Sea is its potential for wealth as well as the strategic advantage it will bequest upon whomever controls it. Unlike other seas, the South China Sea has three factors that make it one of the most important, if not the most, sea to watch and guaranteeing a major conflict to ensue in the next few decades.

The South China Sea has a wealth of resources from “fishery stocks that comprise the livelihood and diet of so many in the region.” It is believed to be “one of the most lucrative fishing areas in the world”. Whoever establishes sovereignty over the sea will control one of the largest fishery stocks in the world. The vitality of such a source is important based on the staple diet of the region. With burgeoning populations in many of these nations, ensuring a constant food source is vital to stability and longevity for the countries of the region.

The discovery of large sources of oil and gas reserves under the seabed has only further enticed the surrounding littoral nations to intensify their claims for control of the sea. Chinese officials have estimated the oil reserves at one trillion US dollars. The Chinese Department of Geology claims that the amount of reserves in and around the island will exceed those of the OPEC nations such as Kuwait or even Iraq. The potential for gas is even larger. If any nations manages to wrest control of the zone, energy independence as well as large revenue stream is guaranteed, which is a national security imperative for many nations in the area including China.

The control of the South China Sea is vital in projecting power to the Eurasian rimlands and eventually to the vast interiors. The sea also serves as a natural link/interface between the Indian and Pacific Oceans only furthering its appeal. This natural passageway between the two oceans creates what is known as “Malacca Dilemma”. The Malacca Dilemma refers to the dependence of China and the other nations in the region on the Strait of Malacca both economically and geopolitically. The Strait of Malacca is analogous in importance to the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. One-third of all global trade transits through the strait as well as more than overwhelming majority of raw materials and energy needs for the economies of China and the region. Due to the increased traffic over the years it has become a critical chokepoint. The inability of these nations to exert its influence on the waterway gives its military planners the ultimate apprehension.

Even though ISIS and the Middle East continue to be important, the world should start paying more attention and getting familiar with the South China Sea before the tensions and skirmishes turn into an all-out regional war.

Although the Silk Road may evoke many romantic images of camel carriages slung with goods and merchants leading the charge through Central Asia, six-hundred years after the Silk Road’s prosperous past, Xi introduced proposed re-establishment to five specific goals.

These are: strengthening economic collaboration, improving road connectivity, promoting trade and investment, facilitating currency conversion, and bolstering people-to-people exchanges.

So what does this re-establishment of Silk Road mean for the 21st Century?

Historically, the Silk Road was an ancient network of routes and a remarkable commerce passage throughout regions of China connecting the West and East, China, Russia, Central Asia, West Asia and Europe and trekked by a multitude of groups including merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads, and urban dwellers.

The Silk Road is to be resurrected as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road, giving China and its other relevant partner countries the huge potential for economic, cultural and social gains.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China issued a statement earlier this year outlining the visions and actions on jointly building both the Silk Road Economic Belt and Maritime Silk Road.

“The Belt and Road Initiative is a way for win-win cooperation that promotes common development and prosperity and a road towards peace and friendship by enhancing mutual understanding and trust, and strengthening all-round exchanges,” the document outlines.

“The 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road is designed to go from China’s coast to Europe through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean in one route, and from China’s coast through the South China Sea to the South Pacific in the other.

“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 advantage 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 efficient transport routes connecting major sea ports along the Belt and Road.”The Silk Road is to be resurrected as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road, giving China and its other relevant partner countries the huge potential for economic, cultural and social gains.

With many talks and discussions, visions, principles and developments to be settled, who is to gain?

The Silk Road will represent the biggest market in the world with unparalleled potential, and with an inhabitation of close to three billion people, almost half of the worlds population will gain.

And not necessarily just economically.

President Xi maintains the goals of the Silk Road economic initiative is to revive ancient ties of friendship in the contemporary globalised world.

To ensure long-term stability of all partners involved, China has adopted an approach of investing in the relationship of the belt. Their essence of a good neighbourhood policy is to achieve beneficial relationships and widen common ground.

“We should strengthen bilateral cooperation, and promote comprehensive development of bilateral relations through multi-level and multi-channel communication and consultation,” says the NDRC.

“The Belt and Road cooperation features mutual respect and trust, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, and mutual learning between civilizations.”

China seeks to develop its relations with these Central Asian countries beyond the high profile and headline grabbing energy transactions and attract other countries to make joint efforts in building the Silk Road initiatives.

What’s next?

Since 2013 the Chinese government has been actively promoting and encouraging the development of the Belt and Road through communication, consultation and practical cooperation, even introducing an early series of policies and measures.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have visited over 20 countries and met with leaders of countries. Discussing bilateral relations and development issues has brought together a broad consensus regarding both the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road initiatives.

And later this month the, “Silk Road Economic Belt Cities Cooperation and Development Forum,” will be held in China’s Ximjiang province. Xinjiang capital of Urumqi will host fifty-five cities from 17 countries, including Britain, Germany, Russia and France, where global delegates will exchange development experience, discuss cooperation and further talk the initiatives.

This will be the third time that Urumqi has hosted the forum. The first and second were held in November 2013 and September 2014, where only approximately 20 countries were in attendance.

In the meantime, the Silk Road is regularly discussed during Chinese interactions with Europe and from what we can tell EU governments are continuously keen to forge relationships with China as an effort to get European companies trading with fast-growing emerging markets.

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We should all cast our eyes to Kazakhstan. In 2002, it became the first former Soviet republic to be designated investment grade. We can see why. Kazakhstan’s economy grew by 4.6% in 2014. The country has a well-educated workforce, with 99.8% literacy among the population. Unemployment remains relatively low at 3.9%. With a GDP of over $200bn, Kazakhstan is the most economically successful of the Central Asian countries.

This is no coincidence. The country has strong and long-standing economic ties with some of the world’s most extensive and dynamic economies. China alone accounts for 22.7% of Kazakhstan’s exports, while Russia and Germany account for 8% each. The openness of Kazakhstan’s economy is the reason for this. The country boasts many free trade agreements, including with the United States and Russia. The agreement with the European Union has seen 40% of Kazakhstan’s exports head to these countries.

The United Kingdom has long been a strong economic partner for the country. Since 1991, the UK has invested more than $15bn in Kazakhstan. In 2012, exports from the UK to Kazakhstan were worth over half a billion dollars. This relationship continued in 2013, with the visit of Prime Minister David Cameron. He was accompanied by a delegation of thirty British businesses, determined to benefit from Kazakhstan’s growing economy. These companies brokered deals worth over $1bn with various Kazakh companies and government authorities.

Kazakhstan’s national currency ‘the Tenge’

In Kazakhstan the oil industry is the main driver of the economy, and it has already seen substantial foreign investment. BG Group and Shell have long operated in the country, and in 2013, British drilling company Dando Drilling International entered into a joint venture with the Kazakhstan government. Oil may be the strongest sector, but the government have been expanding the economy’s horizons. A targeted diversification drive has seen investment in areas as wide as transport, telecommunications, minerals, and pharmaceuticals. These emerging sectors are already enticing foreign investors. SUN Gold Ltd increased its investment stake in a gold mine to $400m. Surrey Satellite Technology signed a deal to further develop Kazakhstan’s satellite programme.

Kazakhstan’s economic outlook and international economic engagement is strong. Its rapidly growing economy will ensure that it will see increasing levels of investment over the next few years. When the annual International Exposition, Expo 2017, arrives in the capital Astana, the eyes of the world will be on Kazakhstan, and with good reason. With Kazakhstan poised to become a high-income economy before the end of the decade, it surely is one to watch.

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