Some recent studies in Central Asia history write about the Chinese initiative to enlarge their markets and to build infrastructure in the past, such as the Silk Road. Apparently, these papers pretend to justify the ongoing initiative of President Xi - the Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 70 countries. In other words, they are pretending that Xi's 2013 project is nothing new, it is what the Chinese always have been doing, nothing to be concerned about.
As far as I know, the Chinese were at the end of the Silk Road, which was developed by Roman, Greek (Rhodan?), and Persian merchants, They reached China traversing the Gobi desert with large caravans. Others, like the Greek author of the Periplus went by sea. There are no records of Chinese caravans or flotillas reaching Europe. China is rewriting history.
The University Alliance of the Silk Road centered at Xi'an Jiaotong University aims to support the Belt and Road initiative with research and engineering, and to foster understanding and academic exchange. A French think tank, Foundation France Chine (France-China Foundation), focused on the study of the New Silk Roads, was launched in 2018. It is described as pro–Belt and Road Initiative and pro-China.
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