"A BAND, A ROUTE"

Portuguese-speaking countries are well-positioned to share the economic benefits associated with the "One Track, One Route" initiative announced by China, Clbrief is a private information service specialized in the Portuguese-speaking world and in China. states that the Chinese authorities have made it clear that the inclusion of the Portuguese-speaking countries in this initiative is possible and adds that these countries have much to gain from China's expansion of the original geographical scope of the initiatives of the New Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road The interest in this initiative has been notable both in Cape Verde and in Portugal, countries that are closer to the original route in terms of geography and that have important strategic links with China.

"In fact, Portuguese-speaking countries share a number of characteristics that make them particularly well placed to benefit from the initiative, such as having international airports and direct access to the sea, whether they already have or should have ports of deep water. "

In São Tomé and Príncipe, for example, the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CBRC) is to build a deepwater port, which the local government intends to transform into a regional navigation center and Guinea-Bissau, another Portuguese-speaking country, China Machinery Engineering Corporation signed in 2016 an agreement with the government to begin construction of a similar infrastructure in Buba, south of the capital Bissau.

Trade between China and the eight Portuguese-speaking countries has grown very rapidly in the past decade and a half, rising from $ 11 billion in 2003, the year of the Macau Forum, to $ 117 billion in 2017, in addition to about 400 Chinese companies applied in those countries capital that exceeded 6,000 million dollars. The published text points out that all Portuguese-speaking countries have strategic value, with Brazil being South America's largest economy and China's main trading partner, Timor-Leste, a candidate for ASEAN, Angola, an African country Which is one of the main oil suppliers to China and is a member of the Southern African Development Community, Mozambique, an East African country that will eventually be one of the largest suppliers of natural gas.