“Nationalism” is on the rise and it is bad news for the Silk Road.
I’m reminded of the risks by events in Syria. I recall Syrian friends praising China a few years ago―the arrival of “Made-in-China” goods to the streets of Damascus meant the middle-class could afford to buy the type of high-end consumer goods, such as digital cameras, which were once unaffordable.
But the tone has since changed. Mohammed Sharabti, the head of the Aleppo Chamber of Industry, alleged earlier this year that Chinese clothing imports have flooded the market. A number of textile manufacturers in Aleppo, the country’s second largest city, have closed. (You can’t afford to buy “Made-in-China goods if you don’t have a job). The Syrian government has responded by imposing tariffs on Chinese textile imports.
