Editor’s note: WND’s multi-lingual reporter Toby Westerman
specializes in monitoring global shortwave broadcasts and reading
foreign-language news journals for information not readily available
from the domestic press. Each month, Westerman presents a special
in-depth report in WorldNetDaily’s monthly magazine, WorldNet. Readers
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By I.J. Toby Westerman
© 2000, WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
With the enthusiastic support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia, India and Iran have undertaken the construction of an “international transit corridor” linking East Asia with Europe.
Other participants, including the largest of the states of Central Asia, Kazakhstan, may soon join the three original signatories, according to official Russian sources.
The construction of the “international transit corridor” is intended to eventually link the farthest reaches of Asia with the heart of Europe. The Russian government considers the project “strategically important,” and regards it as one of Russia’s “top priorities.”
Moscow hopes to use the project to substantially increase its share of the transportation revenues involved in the estimated $250 billion worth of trade between Asia and Europe.
The report on the transportation project was carried by the Voice of Russia World Service, the Russian government’s broadcasting service.
Earlier this year, Moscow advocated the establishment of a “single transit network” linking Asia and Europe, as well as a railway from the Chinese coast to Germany. At the time, Moscow estimated that goods traveling over the suggested land route would arrive at their destinations twice as fast as cargo using sea-lanes.
Russian experts believe that it is not possible to substantially increase the efficiency of ocean shipping. According to Moscow, the possibilities of ocean shipping between Asia and Europe “have actually been exhausted.”
East Asia stands as a priority for Moscow. Putin, prior to his July summit with Chinese leaders in Beijing, stated that Russia “assigns a priority to its relationship with Asia” and that Russia
“would look
East and West” regarding its foreign policy.
Moscow’s interests in Asia, however, extend beyond commercial matters to military concerns.
At the beginning of this year, Russia’s National Commission on Defense Technology approved a plan “which puts India and China in the center of Russian defense cooperation plans.”
Though the two Asian giants — China and India — have a long history of receiving military hardware from Russia, the scale of military assistance, particularly to China, has increased dramatically since the mid-1990s.
In December 1995, China became Russia’s “major partner in the fields of military and technical cooperation.” In April 1997, Russia and China signed an accord declaring the two nations’ intent to establish a “New World Order,” and a “multi-polar world.” Since that time, Moscow has transferred both technical information and highly sophisticated weaponry to mainland Beijing.
India also remains an important partner for Moscow. In March 1999, Russia and India signed a $10-billion military and technical aid agreement extending to the year 2010.
Moscow is also firm in its support of Iran. Russia has sought to frustrate U.S. efforts to isolate Iran and has assisted that nation’s nuclear power industry.
Earlier this month, the Stalinist nation of Belarus, Russia’s partner in the newly established Union State of Russia and Belarus, issued an official statement declaring that Iran was a “major and reliable partner.”
Moscow, which sits astride a potentially highly lucrative transportation link between Europe and Asia, is also in the process of expanding its sales of natural gas and electricity to Europe, as well as developing similar capabilities to deliver energy supplies to both China and Japan.
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WND Staff