China’s Strategic Option:Approach the Greater Middle East through the Eurasian Hinterland

To eliminate the long-term threat to the northern and northwestern territories imposed by Huns in 138 B.C.,Liu Che,the Emperor of the Han Dynasty,sent Zhang Qian to go to Xiyu(the wild-west region)and tried to ally with Great Yüeh-chin,Huns’sworn enemy,so as to attack Huns from both east and west sides.As long as 13 years of his reign,Zhang Qian was captured and detained by the Huns twice,but he escaped successfully each time.He reached the regions known today as Uzbekistan,Kazakhstan and north of Afghanistan and some other places with thousands of miles journey.In 126 B.C.,Zhang Qian came back to Chang-An,the capital of the Han Dynasty.Unfortunately,only one person Tang Yifu out of over 100 members in the diplomatic team survived and returned with him.Of course,the diplomatic mission of allying Great Yüeh-chin was not fulfilled.However,Zhang Qian’s expedition to the West Regions was still of great importance.It is based on his geographic,cultural and social knowledge about the West Region that the continuous military actions initiated by the Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty succeeded finally.What’s more,Zhang Qian’s Expedition to the West Regions accelerated the cultural and economic exchanges between the East and the West,which influenced the development process of world history of civilization directly and continually(Fan,1964:86-89).Today,there is no immediate military threat to China’s northwest and north,while it is convenient for China to connect quickly with other countries and regions by the development of transport and communication technologies.Particularly,the acceleration of the globalization and innovation of the internet technology has even linked the most remote areas of China with the world.However,the geo-political factors in the hinterlands of the Eurasian continent still significantly exert impact on China’s security and development.Therefore,it is very necessary for China to make another and even more significant and extensive“Expedition to the West Regions”-to strategically approach the Greater Middle East through the hinterland.

21世纪新亚欧大陆桥经济走廊LUCC机理的定量解析

Land cover change has presented clear spatial differences in the New Eurasian Continental Bridge Economic Corridor(NECBEC)region in the 21 st century.A spatiotemporal dynamic probability model and a driving force analysis model of land cover change were developed to analyze explicitly the dynamics and driving forces of land cover change in the NECBEC region.The results show that the areas of grassland,cropland and built-up land increased by 114.57 million ha,8.41 million ha and 3.96 million ha,and the areas of woodland,other land,and water bodies and wetlands decreased by 74.09 million ha,6.26 million ha,and 46.59 million ha in the NECBEC region between 2001 and 2017,respectively.Woodland and other land were mainly transformed to grassland,and grassland was mainly transformed to woodland and cropland.Built-up land had the largest annual rate of increase and 50%of this originated from cropland.Moreover,since the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI)commenced in 2013,there has been a greater change in the dynamics of land cover change,and the gaps in the socio-economic development level have gradually decreased.The index of socio-economic development was the highest in western Europe,and the lowest in northern Central Asia.The impacts of socio-economic development on cropland and built-up land were greater than those for other land cover types.In general,in the context of rapid socio-economic development,the rate of land cover change in the NECBEC has clearly shown an accelerating trend since 2001,especially after the launch of the BRI in 2013.