Kings of the East

China's Xinjiang seals Pakistan ties with $2 billion in deals | Reuters
Reuters reports: "Companies from China's violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang signed deals worth about $2 billion with Pakistan this week during a visit to Pakistan by Xinjiang's top official, who sought to cement ties with an important security partner. Pakistan last year agreed energy and infrastructure projects worth $46 billion with China to set up a so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, in a boost to Pakistan's crumbling infrastructure and energy sector. In return, China will get a free trade zone in Pakistan's Gwadar port and access to the Arabian Sea. New Pakistani roads will open up routes for Chinese goods into Europe and the Middle East from landlocked Xinjiang, which borders Pakistan."

Comment: This is important as China is more inaccessible than the open country one would imagine from merely looking at a map. Movement west of goods, people, and if necessary, troops, is largely restricted by mountains and deals like this are helping to overcome than natural barrier to trade and transport.