The principles, framework, cooperation priorities and mechanisms of the New Silk Road are to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future together
The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, commonly known as Xinjiang, is China’s largest province and is located in the northwest. With an area of 1.66 million square kilometers bordering eight countries — Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India — the province is indeed a bridgehead in Eurasia. With thousands of years of history and home to 55 ethnic compositions, comprising 61 percent of its total population of 22.64 million, Xinjiang is a melting pot of civilisations. It served as an important passage for the ancient Silk Road, which was a network of trade and commerce central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting the Occident to the Orient. Merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads and urban dwellers travelled along it to and from China and India to the Mediterranean Sea during various periods of time
