The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (Chinese: 21世纪海上丝绸之路), commonly just Maritime Silk Road (MSR), is the sea route part of the Belt and Road Initiative which is[1] a Chinese strategic initiative to increase investment and foster collaboration across the historic Silk Road.[2][3][4]
The maritime silk road essentially runs through the Indo-Pacific and then the Indo-Mediterranean from the Chinese coast to the south via Hai Phong to Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur through the Strait of Malacca then via Colombo in Sri Lanka towards the southern tip of India via Malé, to the East African Mombasa, from there to Djibouti, then through the Red Sea via the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, then via Haifa, Istanbul and Athens to the Upper Adriatic region to the northern Italian hub of Trieste with its international free port and its rail connections to Central Europe and the North Sea.
The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor is an extension of the proposed Silk Road. The Maritime Silk Road coincides with the theory of China's String of Pearls strategy.
- ^ Kuo, Lily; Kommenda, Niko. "What is China's Belt and Road Initiative?". the Guardian. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
- ^ "Sri Lanka Supports China's Initiative of a 21st Century Maritime Silk Route". 2015-05-11. Archived from the original on 2015-05-11. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
- ^ Tiezzi, Shannon. "China Pushes 'Maritime Silk Road' in South, Southeast Asia". The Diplomat. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
- ^ "Reflections on Maritime Partnership: Building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road_China Institute of International Studies". www.ciis.org.cn. Archived from the original on 2015-04-03. Retrieved 2019-04-02.