China's Communication of the Belt and Road Initiative: Silk Road and Infrastructure Narratives by Carolijn van Noort

Author:Carolijn van Noort [Noort, Carolijn van]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: International Relations, Political Science, World, Asian, General
ISBN: 9781000433289
Google: N002EAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 57411454
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2021-08-19T07:12:53+00:00

5.3.2 Media: Promotional video of the Alternative North-South Road

In 2019, the Chinese Xinhua News Agency (under the name of “New China” which is used by Xinhua for its global social media platforms) uploaded a video on its YouTube channel titled “Chinese company helps build Kyrgyzstan's biggest infrastructure project” (New China TV 2019). This is a promotional video of 3:12 minutes about the Alternative North-South Road, which is also disseminated on Twitter, and on the official Chinese government website (The State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China 2019; Xinhua 2019 b). The video reports about the development of the Alternative North-South Road project in Kyrgyzstan. Based on the soundtrack, the visuals, information chyrons, and sub-titles, the visual analysis reveals how China's infrastructure narrative for the Alternative North-South Road is expressed as an infrastructure intervention. There is no bespoke Silk Road narrative communicated in this video.

The video begins by introducing the builder of the road: China Road and Bridge Corporation (min. 0:11). The information chyron explains how “2000+ workers are involved in the construction” (min. 0:17). This instantly describes who is building the road, and the scale of infrastructure operations. The video ends with a bold prediction: “The road will benefit local economic and social development upon completion” (min. 3:02). Throughout the video, there remains an informational gap about the causal relationship between road development and local social and economic benefits. It also does not indicate how many local Kyrgyz people are employed. Instead of chronologically explaining how the road project evolved from vision to action plans, the video communicates about new technologies, connectivity plans, and anticipated social and economic benefits.

Spatial modalities of infrastructure are actively mobilized in this video. The new road infrastructure promises connectivity between two important regions in Kyrgyzstan. The video explains that: “The $850 mln project will link capital Bishkek in the North and Osh city in the South” (min. 0:50). This capital-intensive road project is important to Kyrgyzstan. The Deputy General Director of Kyrgyzstan's Transport and Roads Ministry, Livan Markozovich, explains in an interview that: “Today we continue to cooperate successfully, implementing the construction of the alternative road of Balykchy-Jalal-Abad, which is very important for our country, as it connects four oblasts in the north and three oblasts in the south of the country” (min. 0:55–1:43). The drone footage brings into view the long stretches of empty road (min. 1:15 and min. 2:36). In these visual and verbal statements, the new road is linked with national goals for infrastructure connectivity.

In addition to space, the video utilizes a technological modality to align infrastructure connectivity with regional integration. The Deputy General Director of Kyrgyzstan's Transport and Roads Ministry states that: “This road is a corridor which connects Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Russia” (min. 1:45–1:53). As such, the Alternative North-South Road is presented as an important infrastructure corridor. Images of beam bridge constructions support this corridor-making. This type of bridge is built to make the road more efficient and to cross great heights between mountains and across rivers.

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