#China skyscraper bridges how to#

China’s crude oil imports from the Middle East and Africa – which as of last year accounted for 62% of its total imports – also travel along these routes. But it spreads over a swathe of strategically important waters and shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean.īy some estimates, half of India’s external trade and 80% of its energy imports transit the sea lanes near the Maldives. “There’s nothing India can do in the Maldives to affect Chinese security, but there’s a lot the Chinese can do in the Maldives to affect Indian security.”Īn archipelago of nearly 1,200 low-lying coral islands and fewer than half a million people, the Maldives is the smallest Asian country by both land size and population.

“The Maldives is just too important for us,” he added, citing its proximity to India’s western coast. “For India, there are a lot of worries in regard to China,” said Manoj Joshi, a distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank.

But Yameen’s surprise election defeat in late 2018 gave India an opportunity to mend relations with its traditional ally, which owes China between $1.5 billion and $3 billion. Under its former strongman president, Abdulla Yameen, who took power in 2013, the Maldives turned away from New Delhi and grew closer to Beijing, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars of Chinese funds to develop its coral islands. Tension has also been building in the Indian Ocean, with New Delhi wary of Beijing’s inroads into its backyard. In recent months, conflicts have flared along their disputed borders high in the Himalayas. The infrastructure race is another measure of the escalating geopolitical rivalry between India and China. “We will continue with our efforts to bring hope to our young people whose lives have been interrupted,” he said.Ĭhow said efforts toward reconciliation are also high on his list of priorities, saying he prays “that more hope will be nurtured for the young to create a better future with them.Completed in 2018, the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge is the flagship project of China's infrastructure boom in the Maldives. When it comes to his own pastoral priorities, Chow said his main desire is to promote “the pastoral work of the local church, especially the formation for clergy, laity, and young people in particular, for a synodal and inclusive Church.” The same dynamics should apply to the church in Hong Kong,” he said. “In this way, we continue to fulfill our mission to evangelize in the world. Rather, he said, the aim is to “pray, listen, dialogue, discern and offer advice on making pastoral decisions in the long-term, which correspond as closely as possible to God’s will.” When it comes to the application of the synod process in Hong Kong, Chow said the aim of the synod “is not to provide a temporary or one-time experience of synodality.”

#China skyscraper bridges how to#

However, he reiterated his belief that his role as cardinal could also help strengthen Hong Kong’s role “as a bridging Church” in this sense, and that it could “promote exchanges and interactions between mainland China and the universal Church.”Ĭhow is a pontifical delegate to Pope Francis’s upcoming Synod of Bishops in October, which holds the theme, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission,” and is focused on how to transform Church life and structures to make it a more welcoming place for all of its members. At the same time, I regard the appointment as a new mission from the pope, though I shall continue with my current mission as the bishop of Hong Kong,” he said.Īsked about Parolin’s proposal for a liaison office in Beijing and how he as a cardinal might support such an initiative, Chow said the office is “between the two governments,” and is thus not a pastoral concern for the Diocese of Hong Kong. “I was in disbelief at that moment and thought the message was missent. “Our diocese will remain committed to our different pastoral works, and continue our local mission in education and social services to the different sectors of our social community,” he said.Ĭhow said he heard about his appointment on July 9 from a friend in Rome, after the pope had announced the consistory and his new cardinal-appointees. RELATED: Hong Kong prelate says Vatican-China deal ‘not dead’ despite disputes over bishopsĬhow told Crux that he sees his appointment as a cardinal as “a positive sign that the Holy Father and the Holy See are close to the diocese and people of Hong Kong.” In an interview with La Civilta Cattolica after his visit, Chow said he believed his visit to Beijing helped solidify relations between the Vatican and mainland China on a pastoral level, and he described his vision for the Church in Hong Kong’s role as a “bridge church,” aiding in dialogue between east and west.