Chair of Standard Chartered: U.K. Must Join China’s ‘One Belt One Road’

The chairman of Standard Chartered Bank, Sir John Peace has an impassioned appeal for Britain to join China’s “One Belt One Road” policy in a commentary in the Daily Telegraph Oct. 25. Referring to the initiative comprising the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, the chairman of Britain and Europe’s most active bank in China wrote that “President Xi Jinping’s One Belt One Road initiative (OBOR), [was] referred to in a number of last week’s speeches and a driver of China’s foreign policy. It could be a game-changer for China, and it could open up new opportunities for British business. It aims to boost trade and investment growth, through better infrastructure connectivity.”

He goes on to describe OBOR as spanning 65 countries, with 4.4 billion people and 29% of the world economy, and the concentration on developing their infrastructure presents opportunities that Britain must take advantage of.  “At the U.K.-China Business Summit at Mansion House last week, one of the events in a busy week for the China delegation, I challenged the City of London to see this as an opportunity to help finance infrastructure in Asia and beyond, just as the City and British construction firms were involved in large-scale projects in Asia and Africa in the 19th century.”

Writing that his bank is already deeply involved in the “internationalization of China’s currency, renminbi,” he estimated that OBOR will need $1 trillion in investment in the next decade “and, as the preeminent financial center, London should be at the heart of that.” He added, “It is not only financial services, but a range of British business that should invest in OBOR, harnessing our expertise in PPP, engineering and supply chains.”

He also spoke of an “agreement signed by Standard Chartered and other banks with the London Metals Exchange last week as reflecting the increasing demand for commodities from OBOR projects.”

On Oct. 21, the London Metal Exchange issued a statement that, “The London Metal Exchange (LME) and LME Clear signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 21 October 2015 with a group of Chinese and U.K. financial institutions in support of China’s ‘The Belt and Road’ initiative.

“The other parties signing the MoU were Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd, China Construction Bank Corporation, Bank of China Ltd, Agricultural Bank of China Ltd, China Merchants Securities International Co Ltd, GF Financial Markets (UK) Ltd and Standard Chartered Bank. The China-Britain Business Council and China Chamber of Commerce in the U.K. also support the venture.”

A similar statement from Standard Chartered said, “Marking the State Visit to the U.K. of President Xi Jinping, Standard Chartered is delighted to have been involved in a range of events this week which underline the deeper collaboration between China and the U.K. across the financial services sector, and strengthen China-U.K. economic relations. … Standard Chartered was a signatory to the London Metals Exchange Memorandum of Understanding on the One Belt One Road initiative (OBOR), which aims to support funding for OBOR infrastructure projects as well as the internationalization of renminbi.”

The LME itself was acquired three years ago by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing.

After pointing out that the U.K. and China signed £40 billion in deals during President Xi Jinping’s visit in Britain, he concludes, “If you haven’t looked at the OBOR routes and identified some future business development opportunities, now is the time to take a look.”

All of the rah-rah aside, China has a long historical memory, and the British Opium Wars are never going to be forgotten.  Lyndon LaRouche and Helga Zepp-LaRouche have both recently observed that China’s President Xi Jinping came to London with eyes wide open, and he knows that the British Empire is bankrupt and facing a myriad of internal conflicts.  China is moving in at a moment of maximum weakness and desperation on the part of the Empire.