The new Silk Road

See: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-04/15/content_12330303.htm Ju Chengzhi, director of the international affairs department at the Ministry of Transport, told China Daily the soon-to-be-built Kashgar-Erkeshtam expressway is a section of the proposed new link between Asia and Europe. He said the route within China will start in Lianyungang, in East China's Jiangsu province, and travel through Xi'an, in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, before reaching the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. The proposed route will continue through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey, before heading into Europe, he added. "The route will link China with major countries in Central Asia, Western Asia and Europe. It will pass these countries' administrative centers, major cities and resource-producing areas," he said. According to Ju, China has also proposed two other road connections between China and Europe -- one going via Kazakhstan and Russia and the other going through Kazakhstan and via the Caspian Sea. Experts said barriers -- including technical ones and issues connected to taxation and customs -- are the reason why almost all of China's exported goods to Europe are transported by sea. Even goods from Xinjiang, Gansu and Inner Mongolia are currently sent east by rail to China's ports before they are shipped to Europe.