As someone fascinated by the Central Asian countries, I was delighted when the All Party Parliamentary Group for China (APPCG) organised a talk this week by Peter Frankopan, author of “The Silk Roads – A New History of the World”.

“The Silk Roads are rising again”, said Richard Graham MP, Chair of APPCG at the end of a fulsome introduction of the Oxford University historian.  Yet, there are not many other Parliamentarians, let alone the British public, who are in tune with the zeitgeist.

Frankopan was keen to put into historical context the dramatic changes that we are witnessing today with a shift in the world order. The declining influence of western colonial powers,  the UK’s vote for BREXIT and the election of Trump, were contrasted against a China growing in confidence and pursuing the “One Belt One Road” initiative, the lynchpin for Xi JinPing’s foreign and economic policies.  

But the revival by China of the old Silk Roads should come as no great surprise.  China once played a dominant role in world trade and Admiral Cheng He’s fleets had ruled the seas. The impetus for China’s expansion via the economic belt across Central Asia has much to do with her need to secure energy and mineral resources to sustain her growing population and programme of urbanisation.  There were also concerns regarding security issues especially as affecting her borders and semi-autonomous regions.

In his book, Frankopan traced and analysed how religion, trade, and even disease had been transmitted along the Silk Roads over the centuries.  It was not only his privilege but his responsibility as a historian to chart these events, not to predict the future, but to assist in our understanding of the rise and fall of empires, and to be prepared for any eventuality.

History relating to the Silk Roads has not generally been taught in our schools nor have the languages outside of the main European languages.  Nevertheless Frankopan believed that UK would be well placed to play the role of “narrator” and “interpreter” of the changing world.  In understanding the causes and stress points that the world system is now undergoing (whether terrorism in Europe or displacement of populations from climate change or war), we would be better equipped to find viable solutions.  The Department for International Development, he said, also has an important role to play.

Various governments of countries along the Silk Roads have invited him to speak, and Frankopan had recently returned from trips to Kazakhstan and Pakistan.   It was about time that his work becomes more widely publicised and known, not just by Parliamentarians, but anyone who is a China watcher or interested in international affairs.

* Merlene was co-founder of Chinese Liberal Democrats and on the executive of the LibDems Overseas. She co-edited “Rise of China – Fresh Insights and Observations” published by the Paddy Ashdown Forum (2021)