igotthisguitar
Joined: 08 Apr 2003
Location: South Korea (Permanent Vacation)
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 Posted: Sat Dec 15, 2007 9:11 pm Post subject: Harnessing Central Asia's Riches |
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New 'Great Game' For Central Asian Riches
By DOUGLAS BIRCH and MANSUR MIROVALEV, Associated Press Writers
Sat Dec 15, 2:28 PM ET
KHORGOS, Kazakhstan - The driver of the 18-wheel tractor-trailer from China idling at the Kazakhstan-China border said apples were the cargo he brought to Almaty, Kazakhstan's booming commercial center.
For Kazakhs, there's a tart irony in the shipment.
Almaty's region is where the first apple trees were found and the first apple orchards planted. The city was a center of the Soviet Union's s fruit industry. Its very name means "Father of Apples."
In the past few years, Chinese fruit, vegetables, TV sets, T-shirts and tires have flooded markets along the old Silk Road in former Soviet Central Asia. Each day, all along the Chinese border, hundreds of tractor-trailers rattle west.
These goods are the most visible sign of Beijing's growing power here as China, Russia, the United States and others compete for financial and strategic advantage on the borders of some of the world's most turbulent countries � Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It's a struggle in which China seems to be gaining the upper hand.
cont'd ...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/china_s_great_game;_ylt=AtWEA0Jr4vCve7292lsgkucDW7oF |
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