From Turkey to Pakistan and Sri Lanka,
a journey on Belt and Road

Editor’s note:

Wang Wei reports from Turkey, Pakistan and Sri Lanka during a week-long live coverage in September, discovering the changes and new opportunities there since Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) five years ago.

Please stay tuned for her live updates on this journey.

————————————————–
All time is local time.

[Sept. 26] Visiting Sky Media Network

► Niranga Hettiarachchi, chairman and managing director of Sky Media Network, said:

In spite of the booming China-assisted infrastructure construction in Sri Lanka, Chinese television programs are hardly visible in Sri Lanka, while Indian and American media output is everywhere.

► Hettiarachchi called for greater efforts to carry out further cooperation and introduce more Chinese movies and dramas to Sri Lanka.

► Hettiarachchi: CRI [China Radio International] is only present in Colombo, and there is much potential to go [outside], especially to the areas where the Chinese projects and Chinese people are located.

► Hettiarachchi: The media could help people of the two countries gain a broader understanding of each other’s culture.

► Hettiarachchi: The BRI proposed by China would bring a lot of opportunities for Sri Lanka and open more doors to its people; however, the media should play a role in telling the people “what it is, how it works and how it can benefit countries along the route.”

[Sept. 25] Interviewing Nalin Aponso, president of Sri Lanka-China Journalists’ Forum

► Aponso: Since the Western media is quite dominant in Sri Lanka, it is very important to ensure the voice of the Chinese media is being heard in the country.

The media has to be balanced and give a correct picture so that the people will not be misled.

  Chinese media urged to make voice heard in Sri Lanka

► Aponso emphasized that more and more cultural exchanges would be helpful for both sides, adding: “We need programs explaining how China is developing and in what areas.”

► Aponso praised China’s recent development in media technology.

China can help Sri Lanka with good technologies, provide training to Sri Lankan journalists, and explore the possibilities of having exchange programs between the Sri Lankan and Chinese media.

► Aponso: The time-tested friendship between the two countries would surely continue in a good way and be deepened further.

[Sept. 24] Visiting CRI Sri Lanka

► Ashoka Piyaratna, news manager at CRI Sri Lanka, said:

There is a very limited coverage of the Belt and Road in Sri Lanka. The media should provide knowledge about it, inspire and educate people, and not just aim to be eye-catching.

[Sept. 23-24] Visiting Section 3 of the Southern Expressway Extension Project in Sri Lanka

► The 96-km extension from Matara to Hambantota consists of four main sections, namely, Section 1 of 30 km from Matara to Belliatta; Section 2 of 26 km from Beliatta to Wetiya; Section 3 of 15 km from Wetiya to Andarawewa, and Section 4 of 25 km from Hambantota to Mattala via Andarawewa.

► All four sections are being built by Chinese companies, with China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), a global top 500 enterprise, responsible for Section 2 and 3.

► Section 3 is scheduled to be opened to the public this December, and Section 2 in October 2019.

  Building a road to prosperity in Sri Lanka

► Jia Ruihua, deputy general manager of the CSCEC Sri Lanka Branch, said:

This two-way, four-lane extension will link the western and southern regions of Sri Lanka, and its construction will play a major role in boosting economic and social development along the route and across the southern area. After its completion, it will take only two hours from Colombo, the capital, to Hambantota, compared to the present journey of four hours or more.

► Jia: It is the common pursuit of Chinese and Sri Lankan constructers here to build the expressway extension into a new benchmark of friendship between the two countries.

► CSCEC has set up a management team of 60 Chinese and 30 Sri Lankans, and has employed more than 1,100 Sri Lankan workers and 70 Chinese.

  Photos: A look into CSCEC construction camp in Sri Lanka

► It has provided a great many job opportunities for local villagers, hence directly increasing their income and effectively improving their living standards.

► In order to improve the skills of local employees, the company even established the first Safety & Vocational Skills Training Center in Sri Lanka and compiled training materials both in English and Sinhala.

► Covering an area of about 2,000 square meters, the training center comprises 12 safety experience areas and six vocational training and assessment areas.

► Zhang Ximin, assistant general manager of the CSCEC Sri Lanka Branch: Technical workers who pass the final exam will be issued with a certificate, ranked at different levels.

That not only brings a salary increase, but improves their skills and competitiveness, and most importantly, helps cultivate professionals for future use in Sri Lanka.

► Nalin Manawadu has worked here as a project coordinator for more than two years, largely responsible for communication and coordination among local government departments, villagers and the company.

► During an interview in Hambantota, Manawadu expressed his gratitude for the Chinese government and praised his Chinese colleagues for listening to the opinions of local villagers and sharing their knowledge and technology.

► Manawadu said:

At the beginning, I had to explain to the people the Belt and Road Initiative. Later, they realized the ongoing project here brought job opportunities and they would enjoy more convenient transportation in the future. Now they are very happy.

► Manawadu was quite proud of attending a training session organized by the China Academy for International Business Officials in 2017, saying the rapid development of China left a deep impression on his mind.

A project in harmony with the environment

► For the past two and a half years, CSCEC has smoothly carried out the project while putting environmental protection and harmonious development first.

► Li Peng, project manager for Section 3: The company has collaborated with the Sri Lankan National Building Research Organization and Geological Survey and Mines Bureau to monitor the air, water, noise, vibration and other environmental factors along the route and conduct surveys for possible cracks in houses located within 75 meters from the construction work.

► In order to reduce dust during the work, the company allocated two sprinklers for each kilometer along the project and set up 150 dust barriers for local residents.

► Li added:

Hambantota has a dry climate with little rainfall. In order to solve the problem of farmland irrigation, we have dug more than 90 deep wells for villagers.

► All these activities have been highly appraised by local authorities and organizations. Kandambi, project director of the Road Development Authority of Sri Lanka, spoke highly of the company’s performance in safety, environment and quality terms, saying it shows a good image of Chinese enterprises at abroad.

  Photos: Builders celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival in Sri Lanka

[Sept. 21] Visiting China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak)

► Zong is a brand operating under CMPak, a 100-percent owned subsidiary of the world’s largest telecom company China Mobile Communications Corporation.

► CMPak — formerly Paktel, a wireless carrier in Pakistan — was founded in 2007 as China Mobile’s first venture outside China, and has seen exponential growth in the past 11 years, according to Wang Hua, the fifth chief executive officer of CMPak.

  A Chinese telecom company’s struggle and triumph in Pakistan

► Wang Hua, the fifth chief executive officer of CMPak, said:

We actually have suffered great difficulties since the acquisition of Paktel in 2007. Faced with a fully competitive and open market in Pakistan, we cannot enjoy any special policy or treatment. Hence, the operating costs here are quite far beyond those at home. CMPak didn’t make any profit until 2016, and continued in 2017.

► Wang: Currently, CMPak has more than 31 million customers in Pakistan, accounting for about 21 percent of the market. The number of its 4G subscribers has reached 8 million, ranking first in the industry. It is estimated that the company’s revenue will increase by more than 20 percent this year.

Strictly speaking, CMPak is not a Belt and Road project; however, one of our important missions is to provide support for such projects and serve interested Chinese enterprises and their employees.

► So far, CMPak has been providing information technology solutions for 194 Chinese firms in Pakistan, including 160,000 individual clients.

► Wang once visited the Gwadar Port in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan — a key part of the Belt and Road Initiative — which offers the shortest and most convenient trade route to Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

► Learning that Chinese workers were experiencing difficulty in keeping in touch with their families back in China, CMPak set up five basic stations and succeeded in solving the problem through satellite communications in the first half of this year.

Now they can use our 4G signals to call home every day. Most of the workers have little kids at home; a call will give them great support and comfort.

► Wang: 10 more basic stations will be built in the following years.

► CMPak also carried out cooperation with China Three Gorges Corporation, China Huaneng Group, China State Construction Engineering Corporation and other Chinese enterprises to provide high-speed Wi-Fi internet services for their bases and projects in Pakistan.

► Wang said:

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor aims to facilitate connectivity through infrastructure construction. What we are doing is to build a China-Pakistan information highway to bring more economic cooperation between the two countries.

► In recent years, while driving Pakistan’s economic development, CMPak has always been committed to improving local people’s lives with its advanced 4G technology.

► In November 2016, the company cooperated with Pakistan’s northernmost province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) on its “Medicare Card” program, covering 56 percent of its population. A total of 1.8 million families there received a Zong SIM for free and enjoyed the mobile cash transfer services.

► CMPak also made an agreement with DoctHERs to become the official connectivity partners of its telemedicine centers. DoctHERs is a novel, digital healthcare platform that connects female doctors to patients in real-time while leveraging leading-edge technology. It now has nine telemedicine clinics across Pakistan, equipped with Zong’s fastest 4G Mobile Broadband devices. In 2017, over 6,000 patients were treated at these facilities.

► CMPak has launched its volunteer program “A New Hope” among its employees since 2016, aiming to clock at least 2,000 hours of volunteer work annually in areas of environmental protection, education and disaster relief. The program has benefitted almost 10,000 people across 10 cities in the country.

► Wang: In spite of great challenges and difficulties during operation, the company never neglects its social responsibility while actively integrating itself into Pakistani society.

Based on the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, we expect to help Pakistan embark on a path of progress and prosperity.

► CMPak now has 3,277 employees, among whom 24 are Chinese, accounting for 0.7 percent of the total. While the major duties of the Chinese employees are to build bridges for better communication between CMPak and China Mobile and bring the company’s good experience and solutions to Pakistan, Wang emphasized that its local operation largely depends on Pakistani employees.

CMPak attaches great importance to cross-cultural training. The Chinese employees have to learn local religions and customs, while their Pakistani counterparts are also invited to attend training programs at China Mobile based in Beijing.

► Wang: Most of the employees have been working here for more than 10 years, and the cross-cultural communication among them is also great support for the Belt and Road.

[Sept. 20] Visiting the Daily Mail of Pakistan

► Makhdoom Babar, president and editor-in-chief of the Daily Mail of Pakistan, said:

Time-tested Sino-Pakistani relations are far more than the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and no one can destroy the CPEC or the wider ties between the two countries.

  Media urged to bring people closer together under BRI

► Babar is also the chairman of Pak-China Media Friendship Association, a joint media platform of Pakistani and Chinese journalists founded in 2005 to promote bilateral ties through joint media endeavors.

► Babar: The media should tell the people more about what benefits the BRI has brought for individuals, and not just for governments.

► Babar spoke highly of the changes brought by the BRI and described it as a “game changer” for his country.

► Holding up a newspaper, Babar explained:

Before, we bought the newsprint from Sweden; now, we can get it from China at a lower cost. Furthermore, in this room, you can see all the lights are from China and they are cutting my electricity bill. Before CPEC, we used to have very low-quality lights from small Chinese firms; now, big companies are bringing us these things.

► Babar: As more and more Chinese people visit the countries along the Belt and Road, and do jobs and start businesses there, it is in urgent need for these people to know each other and to learn the cultural values of other countries.

Movies and dramas should also be utilized to bring people closer to each other under the BRI.

► Babar has an idea of starting a BRI television network covering all BRI countries, with Chinese movies and dramas shown in the languages of these countries.

► Babar: More people-to-people contacts could be promoted by a high-profile art show, thus increasing relations at the grassroots level.

► Babar called on like-minded media from the countries along the Belt and Road to develop a syndicate to share and publish or broadcast “team stories.”

► In a bid to promote cultural exchanges between China and Pakistan, Babar said the media should “spread stories of those Chinese who have learned the Pakistani language, and those Pakistanis who are in China learning Chinese and are keen to learn more about China.”

My passion for China originates from the built-in love for China. Now, young Pakistanis desire to go to China for further education, because parents like me think that their children would be safe in China.

► Babar looks forward to more cooperation with Chinese media organizations in the future, bringing the all-weather friendship between the two countries to a new height.

[Sept. 19] Visiting ZTE Istanbul Telecommunication

  Chinese firms aim for shared benefits in Turkey

► Jiang Xiangyang, vice president of MKT & Solution Dept. V at ZTE Corporation, said:

Among the 2,200 employees in ZTE Istanbul Telecommunication, 30 are Chinese and the remaining 2,170 are Turkish. In spite of some cultural shock, they tend to seek common ground while reserving differences, and show respect and understanding for each other.

► Jiang: Cultural and heart-to-heart communication will make more sense than businesses and benefits.

► Jiang: Countries along the Belt and Road should enjoy shared benefits not only from infrastructure construction, but from overall research achievements.

ZTE puts 10 percent of its annual revenue into research and development, and the proportion even reached 12 percent last year. Besides, China has a complete industrial chain, making possible the wide application of those research results. Such experience is worthy of being shared across the globe, and the countries along the Belt and Road in particular.

► Alper Taner, consultant to CEO of ZTE Istanbul Telecommunication, said:

I hold great respect for the idea of seeking shared benefits proposed in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

► Taner: The initiative will make great contribution to world development, and this fact will be widely recognized by all in the coming years.

► Taner has been working in ZTE Istanbul Telecommunication since 2017, when ZTE, the largest-listed Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer, completed its acquisition of a 48.04 percent shareholding in Turkish systems integration provider Netas Telekomunikasyon A.S.

► As a witness and participant in the process, Taner said ZTE has never displayed a high profile, but aimed for win-win cooperation based on equality and respect.

For business people, trust and security are quite important. The Turkish people always consider the Chinese to be brothers and sisters, and now our countries are strategic partners in the worldwide competition. So, more and more Turkish people believe that Chinese enterprises are trustworthy, and ZTE is just one of them.

► Taner: ZTE will get big returns through its investment and cooperation in Turkey, while its locally-based businesses will provide more service support for the country and promote research and development in its telecommunications sector.

[Sept. 18] Visiting ICBC Turkey — the first Chinese financial institution to operate in the country

  ICBC Turkey to step up support for Belt and Road projects

► Licensed for commercial banking, investment banking and asset management, ICBC Turkey is now the largest Chinese bank based in Turkey.

Since acquiring a majority share in Tekstilbank in May 2015, ICBC has formed a network of 44 branches and 20 units for securities businesses, spreading over 18 cities including Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.

► ICBC Turkey is now taking every opportunity to further promote Sino-Turkish economic and trade cooperation with a view to becoming the leading bank supporting Belt and Road projects.

► Li Jinhong, deputy general manager of ICBC Turkey, said:

While Turkey is a geographical bridge between Europe and Asia, ICBC Turkey aims to act as a bridge linking Chinese enterprises with the country’s own market and provide more convenient and all-round financial services to jointly build the Belt and Road.

► Li: For the past three years, ICBC Turkey has taken measures to promote Sino-Turkish cooperation in infrastructure and production capacity, aiming to align the Belt and Road Initiative with the Turkish Middle Corridor Initiative.

[Sept. 18] Discovering Chinese elements in Istanbul, Turkey

[Sept. 17] Visiting Gbtimes Turkey — the first Turkish media broadcasting Chinese music

  Belt and Road Initiative increasingly popular in Turkey

► A cup of Turkish coffee at Gbtimes Turkey is far more than a good impression on the Sino-Turkish friendship.

► Kamil Erdogdu, chief editor of Gbtimes Turke, said:

Against the backdrop of increasing tensions between Turkey and western countries in recent years, China’s Belt and Road Initiative has become increasingly popular in Turkey and the Turkish people believe that the initiative will provide mutual benefits.

► Michael Kuyucu, group CEO of Gbtimes Turkey, further explained:

Especially in the last two or maybe three years, Turkey has started talking much more than before about China, about Chinese culture and of course the Chinese economy, because of the Belt and Road Initiative.

► Kuyucu:  The initiative may even change the balance of the world. For more than 100 years, the center of the world has been the West; however, the East will be more important, more popular and more dominant in the world due to the BRI.

► Kuyucu:  This is not just a basic transportation project. It is transportation of science, culture, language, economy, and everything.

[Sept. 17] Visiting Yon Radio, a top 10 ranked station among 850 Turkish radio stations and also the best-known Turkish radio station in China.

► Yuksel Mansur Kilinc, a deputy of Istanbul at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and the founder of Yon Radio, said:

Chinese history has much in common with Turkey’s, and both countries suffered a lot in the past; however, the exchanges between Turkey and eastern countries are not as much as we expect. China and Turkey should promote their relationship to a higher level.

► Early in 2011, Yon Radio and China Radio International proposed building a new digital silk road between the easternmost and westernmost parts of Asia, that is, China and Turkey. 

► Kilinc: Such efforts, especially the BRI, will be beneficial to all human beings and drive the development of surrounding areas.

► Halil Ibrahim Torer, an engineer at Yon Radio:  The BRI is a way that is ready to bring the two peoples closer together, not just in terms of economic and cultural improvement between the two countries.