I attended the 2015 China Xinjiang Development Forum held on August 18-19. Before arrival, I looked out the airplane window above Xinjiang's sky, and it was so full of lights that it almost looked like a row of caravans on the ancient Silk Road. A long time ago, Zhang Qian, a diplomat in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD220), traveled as a special envoy on what would become the trade route, then traversed by caravans and camels. Now, they have been replaced by roads and railways. And today, after all these 2,000 years, Xinjiang is set to come to forefront of modern China's Silk Road project, which forms a part of the "One Belt, One Road" initiative first presented by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013.

The Silk Road region only accounts for 10 percent of all commercial traffic between China and European nations due to problems such as insufficient logistics infrastructure and an underdeveloped distribution system.

Yet funds will start to flow into infrastructure for building or improving roads and rail tracks once the investment actually begins. Central and western China will get an economic boost, benefiting from short- to medium-run investment in the Silk Road.

Xinjiang would enjoy a particularly considerable benefit from the initiative. Urumqi is the transport hub of the region, and will become the center of international exchanges through the initiative.

The scheme will present Xinjiang with a golden opportunity. The name "Xinjiang," literally "the new frontier," will symbolize "the new opportunity" or "the new economic territory."

What particularly interests the South Korean government is the synergy effect from linking its Eurasia Initiative with the Belt, Road project.

In October 2013, South Korean President Park Geun-hye proposed the "Eurasia Initiative" aimed at peace and co-prosperity in Eurasia. It envisions a unified, creative, and peaceful Eurasian continent by establishing a logistics and energy network, expanding cultural and human resources exchanges, and promoting peace in the region thereby. A significant part of Park's initiative emphasizes cooperation with Central Asian nations and so overlaps with the Chinese initiative. This means Seoul and Beijing share the same interest.

The Eurasia Initiative involves the construction of a Silk Road express route that connects South Korea with North Korea, Russia, China, Central Asia and Europe, thereby establishing an energy network by integrating Eurasia's electricity grids and building oil and gas pipes.

This presents Seoul with new trade channels. South Korea is one of the world's largest trading nations, but the division of the two Koreas has blocked land routes for the South. It is thus totally reliant on air and seaborne routes for distributing its goods. The opening of a land route through the Silk Road initiative would therefore greatly boost the South Korean economy.

South Korea's Eurasia Initiative, along with the Belt, Road project, has Central Asia as its regional backdrop. Korean companies should therefore consider ways to invest in, and advance into the region through China's Silk Road network. Future plans for building rail infrastructure in South Korea must take into account connectivity with the Trans-China Railway (TCR).

Maritime transport from Korea to Europe takes approximately 50 days, and the quickest network between these two regions is the TCR. Also, South Korean goods, medical service, and the "Korean wave" of pop culture are very popular in Central Asia. In this sense, Xinjiang can be an outpost for South Korea's foray into Central Asia.

China can have a very important impact on inter-Korean relations, and therefore, Sino-South Korean cooperation in the Silk Road initiative may help to alleviate confrontation between the two Koreas and to improve China's relations with both Koreas.

Its success may have great significance in preparing for reunification of the Korean Peninsula. It can also lead to a breakthrough in inter-Korean relations and trigger a process of reunification, and contribute to realizing the Chinese dream and the dreams of South Korea, the Eurasian continent, and the entire world.

The author is a professor at the Division of International Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, South Korea. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn