From Landlocked to Land-Linked: Kazakhstan as a Transport and Logistics Centre Within the Silk Road Economic Belt

Kazakhstan, being in the centre of the Eurasian continent, is a landlocked country that shares a border both with China and Russia. Since its independence in 1991, Kazakhstan has attempted to take advantage of its geographical location, by becoming a bridge between Europe and China. To achieve this goal, Kazakhstan has actively participated in the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) and joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as one of the founding countries. These activities have brought Kazakhstan not only the opportunity to become a transport and logistics hub but also to reduce its dependence on Russian infrastructure. In the light of the current war in Ukraine, the transportation of goods through the territory of Kazakhstan becomes more crucial to China as it can bypass Russia. Though the SREB has enabled Kazakhstan to export more resources and become more independent from Russian infrastructure, same time, China might become a threat to Kazakhstan's economic independence, as it will be more connected to the Chinese infrastructure. This chapter also shows that during the COVID-19 pandemic, China's economic policy in Kazakhstan is evolving. China now spends less on large infrastructure projects and focuses more on Kazakhstan's raw materials. This study aims to take a comprehensive look at Kazakhstan's relationship with China, as well as the implications of the SREB for Kazakhstan and its transport capacity. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Partnership in Social Work Education Along the New Silk Road: Towards a Transformative Cultural Inclusion Model

We live in a world of disruption aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In view of the highly divisive global discourse, we envision a different way of regional and international partnership in social work education and practice through our proactive partnership, to build hope and transformation. Social work educators from the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong SAR, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Israel, and Vietnam, who have developed partnerships with counterparts in the countries along the New Silk Road, have come together to reflect on their partnership experiences, having developed the "Transformative Cultural Inclusion Model” consisting of four essential pillars: (1) equal partnership, (2) cultural inclusion, (3) capacity-building, and (4) social solidarity. Social work is a catalyst for social change and development, and we hope that the model can provide insights and principles to guide future development of regional and international partnerships. This will, in turn, develop context-specific authentic social work theories and practice by partnering together, engaging in participatory practice research, and making positive changes through education, research, and action with regional, international, and local partners. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Latin American Segment of China's Belt and Road Initiative

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also known as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21(st) Century Maritime Silk Road, is a strategy of China's entry into international markets through the building of land and sea trade corridors with the necessary infrastructure. According to the Chinese government's statements, any State and any international organization can join the project that creates an inclusive cooperation platform. The aim of this article is to analyze the implementation of BRI in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), as well as to identify changes that occur in this process under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary sources are statistical data, government documents, papers of international organizations and forums, think tank reports, speeches by officials, media publications, etc. In the course of the study, the following results are obtained: recent scientific works on the topic are systematized, the issues considered in them are highlighted;the main documents related to the BRI and China-L.. cooperation are listed and briefly characterized;the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the implementation of BRI in the region is identified. The author comes to the conclusion that, on the one hand, the BRI is a kind of rebranding of China's policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean. On the other hand, this initiative strengthens China's presence in the region. It has become especially noticeable in the COVID-19 pandemic context. In addition, there is a strategic expansion of the project itself and its goals, which may lead to a significant increase in tension between China and the USA.

The covid-19 crisis in the disruption of the international order:The Pandemic as hegemonic shock in the dispute between United States and China

EXTENDED The competition between powers to consolidate a hegemonic position on the international scene has been a recurrent object of study in International Relations, giving rise to numerous analyses of the evolution of the phenomenon of global hegemony. The global Covid-19 crisis has introduced a new element into the analysis of relations between states, as it has revealed the asymmetries that exist not only in managing the pandemic, but also in acquiring and/or maintaining a dominant position on the current geopolitical chessboard. This disruptive event has affected the competitive relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China, players who were engaged in a strategic competition for global hegemony.With this starting point, the direction of our research hypothesizes that the pandemic has been a determining element in the evolution and intensification of the competition for hegemony between the United States and the People's Republic of China. If up to now hegemonic disputes have been resolved through conflicts between contenders or in the context of war, in our opinion the pandemic could be a disruptive element that determines the evolution of the US-China competition and conditions which actor will be hegemonic and which model of hegemony will be implemented in the long term. With this starting point, we will elaborate a theoretical framework to understand the phenomena of the rise and fall of hegemonic powers. Starting from a theoretical approach to hegemony, we will include elements of analysis that will allow a deeper understanding of how disputes in the field of hegemony take place at present. In line with this objective, the key elements we will use will be: the theory of complex interdependence developed by Joseph Nye and Robert Keohane, the importance of the post-war international system, Seva Gunitsky's conceptualization of hegemonic shocks, and the influence that the nuclear variable has on the current geopolitical chessboard.Going deeper into the theoretical realm, authors such as Wallerstein or Agnew contribute to establishing the basis for understanding hegemony at a conceptual level. However, hegemony does not take a simple definition as it is part of an adaptive process. Due to this adaptability, authors such as Kindleberger or Gilpin offer us a starting point to understand how hegemonic transitions take place and provide us with tools to understand these processes. Although the authors of reference in the field of international politics offer us a solid basis for understanding the processes of hegemony, it is necessary to bring to the discussion the current debates on this object of study. Therefore, these analyses will be complemented by current authors, where we highlight mainly two: Graham Allison and Seva Gunitsky. With regard to Allison's contribution, we will briefly analyze his theorization of the Thucydides Trap and consider whether a conventional war between powers aspiring to conquer hegemony is still inevitable today. In the case of Gunitsky, we will focus on his conceptualization of hegemonic shocks, arguing from a scientific point of view that disputes between great powers do not necessarily end in a conventional war, but these shocks are the elements that end up facilitating hegemonic transitions. Subsequently, we will analyze the influence of three elements that in our opinion are conditioning processes of hegemony and conditioning hegemonic transitions at the present time. These three elements are: the post-war international system, complex interdependence and the nuclear capability of states. These three elements limit the ability of the great powers to initiate a conventional war between the hegemon and the contenders. The international system establishes a unity of action between the United States and Europe that different countries respect or fear to challenge, while economic, political and social dependencies result in reciprocal effects in case of conventional war and the nuclear variable discourages war between nuclear powers due to Mutually Assured Destruction. These elements condition the current disputes between the United States and China, forcing both contenders to seek new strategies to advance in the consolidation of a dominant position. In addition, these limitations mean that the hegemonic shocks theorized by Gunitsky become a key element in understanding how hegemonic disputes are currently settled. After providing sufficient theoretical elements to understand the current global situation, we will move on to the empirical part by analyzing three areas in order to conclude whether the pandemic has been a determining factor between the two actors. Understanding the complexity of operationalizing concepts such as hegemony and hegemonic disputes, it is essential to provide our research with empirical elements. Therefore, the theoretical analysis will be complemented with the analysis of quantitative and qualitative variables to confirm or refute our hypothesis. To do so, we will start with a comparative analysis between the United States and China in the economic sphere to determine to what extent the pandemic has affected competition between both actors and we will analyze the evolution of the pandemic data in both countries. We will analyze various economic aspects because an intensification of economic disputes is a symptom of the hegemon's loss of power, and we will be able to observe whether its economic supremacy is threatened by China. After focusing on economic variables, it is essential to analyze the infections and deaths caused by Covid-19. This is due to the fact that the internal management of the pandemic is an element of great importance since, in addition to measuring the capacities of the health systems, it contributes to offer an image of leadership and a reference to the rest of the actors. Finally, after addressing the empirical data, we will analyze the diplomatic strategies that both actors have used in dealing with the global crisis. While measurable data may reflect certain objectifiable trends regarding the impact of Covid-19 on the U.S.-China dispute, analysis of the diplomatic strategies developed by both actors is also important. At this point, we will analyze those carried out by the United States and China, focusing mainly on Beijing's strategy because it has proved to be a more complex. For this purpose, we will analyze the coronavirus diplomacy developed by Beijing, establishing itself as a major supplier of medical supplies globally and the enhancement of its soft power following its response to the coronavirus crisis. In the case of the United States, we will focus more briefly on the communicative strategy followed by the Trump administration after the outbreak of the crisis.

From the Great Power Competition to Great Power Cooperation: Strategic Lessons from a Pandemic

A swiftly changing geopolitical and geoeconomic landscape in Central Asia-Southeast Asia (CASA) resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic coupled with the modern Great Power Competition (GPC)-calls for a timely shift in U.S. foreign diplomacy to "soft power” facilitation and cooperation in this fragile region. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that isolationism and/or the over-reliance on militaristic might are ineffective strategies for maintaining long-term U.S. national interests. As China rapidly expands its "soft power” influence in the Central Region through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the U.S. must enact similar strategic undertakings to remain competitive. To that end, the New Silk Road Initiative (NSRI) is the United States' best option to compete and/or cooperate with China's BRI. Strategic implementation of the NSRI is critical, not only for gaining traction in the modern GPC, but ultimately for expediting a successful recovery from the pandemic, through increased regional trade and economic development. The NSRI can facilitate the commercialization of Afghanistan's vast wealth of natural resources, especially its rare earth and critical minerals, ensuring continued U.S. strategic influence in the CASA region. The NSRI can also be instrumental in affording new opportunities for interstate cooperation within the scientific and technological communities during this crucial time of global recovery. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted not only our global interconnectedness and interdependence, but also the prospect of great power cooperation in the service of global healing. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

China's health silk road construction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

China has been contributing to new approaches to global governance. The Health Silk Road (HSR), a significant component of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), was proposed by China in 2016. This paper claims that HSR is a new institution introduced alongside the existing WHO-led multilateral health system, and its relationship with the existing system can be described as layering. Having explored the new development of HSR during COVID-19, this paper further argues that while HSR has its unique strength in making contributions to global health governance and economic recovery, it faces a prominent issue of securitisation in the context of China-U.S. strategic competition, suspicion of the quality of medical products and sectoral fragmentation.

Latin American Segment of China's Belt and Road Initiative

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also known as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21(st) Century Maritime Silk Road, is a strategy of China's entry into international markets through the building of land and sea trade corridors with the necessary infrastructure. According to the Chinese government's statements, any State and any international organization can join the project that creates an inclusive cooperation platform. The aim of this article is to analyze the implementation of BRI in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), as well as to identify changes that occur in this process under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary sources are statistical data, government documents, papers of international organizations and forums, think tank reports, speeches by officials, media publications, etc. In the course of the study, the following results are obtained: recent scientific works on the topic are systematized, the issues considered in them are highlighted;the main documents related to the BRI and China-L.. cooperation are listed and briefly characterized;the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the implementation of BRI in the region is identified. The author comes to the conclusion that, on the one hand, the BRI is a kind of rebranding of China's policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean. On the other hand, this initiative strengthens China's presence in the region. It has become especially noticeable in the COVID-19 pandemic context. In addition, there is a strategic expansion of the project itself and its goals, which may lead to a significant increase in tension between China and the USA.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Belt and Road Initiative During COVID-19

The fatal COVID-19 pandemic generated panic across the world and disturbed global economic and social structures. It had a severe psychological effect on most of the world's population. It also affected the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship project of China's Belt and Road Initiative. This article analyzes the importance of the corridor for China and Pakistan and how it has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The article also aims to assess the preparation of China and Pakistan for similar threats in the future. China and Pakistan's steadfast friendship has grown even more vital during the global battle against the coronavirus. The Chinese government immediately provided masks, protective equipment, and ventilators to Pakistan, and continued work on joint projects after the outbreak of COVID-19.

LATIN AMERICAN SEGMENT OF CHINА'S BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also known as the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, is a strategy of China's entry into international markets through the building of land and sea trade corridors with the necessary infrastructure. According to the Chinese government's statements, any State and any international organization can join the project that creates an inclusive cooperation platform. The aim of this article is to analyze the implementation of BRI in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), as well as to identify changes that occur in this process under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary sources are statistical data, government documents, papers of international organizations and forums, think tank reports, speeches by officials, media publications, etc. In the course of the study, the following results are obtained: recent scientific works on the topic are systematized, the issues considered in them are highlighted;the main documents related to the BRI and China-LАС cooperation are listed and briefly characterized;the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the implementation of BRI in the region is identified. The author comes to the conclusion that, on the one hand, the BRI is a kind of rebranding of China's policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean. On the other hand, this initiative strengthens China's presence in the region. It has become especially noticeable in the COVID-19 pandemic context. In addition, there is a strategic expansion of the project itself and its goals, which may lead to a significant increase in tension between China and the USA. © 2022, Russian Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Vulnerability change of container shipping network on Maritime Silk Road under simulation disruption

Under the global background of the New Coronavirus , the container transportation market at home and abroad has been affected to a certain extent, and there have been large fluctuations. The transportation of ocean containers is extremely vulnerable to external influences.If the port nodes cannot function effectively, it will affect the connectivity and efficiency of the shipping network and hinder the trade between countries. Therefore, it is necessary and urgent to assess the vulnerability of the ocean container transportation network.In view of this, in order to explore the impact and changes of container ports along the Maritime Silk Road in recent years. In this paper , the Maritime Silk Road shipping network is constructed based on route data. On the basis of disruption simulation, the vulnerability factors affecting the Maritime Silk Road are explored from the aspects of network and node transmissibility and diversity by using complex network characteristic indicators.The results show that the overall scale of ports and routes in the Maritime Silk Road network shows an obvious expansion trend, with a significant increase. Further research shows that the shipping network structure of the Maritime Silk Road is fragile, and port failure has different effects on network transmissibility and diversity. The dominant port and the vulnerable port have different influencing mechanisms. The research results reveal the vulnerability change mechanism and main influencing factors of the Maritime Silk Road in recent years, which is of great significance for ensuring the connectivity of maritime Silk Road ports and improving the security of maritime transport network. © 2022 IEEE.

Regulatory and Planning Arrangements in Chinese traffic to Western European ports

The article is devoted to the assessment of the consequences of a strong increase in prices for sea freight from China since the covid events around the world. Global inflation is cited as the main long-term cause of growth. Among the temporary local factors, covid restrictions and an insufficient number of vessels are noted due to low freight prices in previous years. The relatively stable market situation until 2020 is analyzed. It was characterized by the share of sea transportation on the China-Western Europe route over 90%, and two to three times more expensive rail tariffs. Over the past couple of years, as a result of the outstripping growth of freight, the cost of shipping by sea and by overland has become comparable. This created the prerequisites for a significant redistribution of the market in favor of the railway. A forecast of an evolutionary scenario is made, suggesting a return of the situation in the China-Western Europe direction to pre covid proportions in the coming years. The option of launching a transit railway corridor is also being considered. In this case, the decrease in the flow of Chinese cargo to the ports of Western Europe can reach up to 7 million TEU per year.

Health Silk Road: A Chinese Tool towards Global Governance?

Inserted in its strategy of Belt and Road Initiative, People's Republic of China (PRC) has been implementing some actions and programmes in health sector, leading to what is known as the Health Silk Road. Starting from internal healthcare reforms in the last three decades - aiming to achieve universal health coverage and a good network of primary care services - PRC is defining its strategy in order to be a relevant player in global health governance. Methodologically based on a literature review and a content analysis, this paper intends to shed light on several topics, such as: (i) the purposes of Health Silk Road - is it a way of reinforcing Chinese position in global order through health governance? (ii) PRC's management of the crisis caused by pandemic due to SARS-CoV-2 - can the Chinese approach to fight the virus be applied as a role model worldwide? These parameters will be framed in the context of geopolitics, soft power and global governance looking at provisional trends for medium-term future.

A (Long) Tale of Two Leaders: Charting the Spatial and Sectoral Roles of the West and China in Shaping Past, Present and Future Economic Globalization(s)

Globalization has run into two intersected momentous shifts over the past decade. One is an accelerating retreat in the Western-led economic globalization. The other is the continued surge of China as a leader of alternative economic globalization, via the Belt and Road Initiative. These two powerful trends are complicated by COVID-19 and the Ukraine war with their disruptions of global geopolitics, plus a potential technological decoupling between China and the United States as great-power rivals. This unprecedented combination of challenges and crises occasions a fresh analysis of the roles of the West versus China in shaping economic globalization past and present. Against the state-centric approach to globalization, I develop a historically-informed framework to couple spatial and sectoral analyses of the trajectories of economic globalization shaped by the West and China. I first examine the cross-regional dimensions of economic globalization across Eurasia featuring China's primary role in driving the China-Europe Freight Train. I then explore China's exceptional strength in delivering overseas infrastructure projects, as embodied by the China-Laos Railway, relative to the West's sectoral advantages bearing on economic globalization. Lastly, I summarily discuss the past and present roles of the West versus China in producing new divergence in future economic globalization.

CHINA-LATIN AMERICA RELATIONS: COVID-19, GLOBAL HEALTH AND THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE

Geographically, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) emerged in 2013 with the purpose to connect East Asia and Europe through Central Asia. Beyond its geographical interpretation, the concept proved to be more flexible, allowing the expansion to several regions of the globe, such as Latin America (LA), regions to be addressed on this work. BRI is currently framed as a necessary component of post-pandemic economic recovery for all the actors and sectors it encompasses. In health, specifically, it comes within the scope of what the project defines as Health Silk Road (HSR), a term incorporated into BRI in 2017, with the potential to offer opportunities for a positive global role for the PRC in health during the pandemic crisis. As well as BRI, HSR is strongly rooted in LA through health cooperation and corroborates to the evolution of the Chinese soft-power in the region, serving as a bridge for Chinese economic penetration and influence, considering the current context where the United States (US) lacks a strategy to the region. © 2021, Centro Universitario Curitiba - UNICURITIBA. All rights reserved.

China-centric Economic Order in Asia: Growing Chinese Presence in the Middle East

This study examines the Middle Eastern aspects of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the increasing cooperation between certain Arab countries and China. In recent years, it has become apparent that in the midst of changing regional dynamism in the Middle East, China has become a key player in the region, not to mention that the Chinese presence can make significantly contribute to the recovery of Middle Eastern countries from the recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. China has increased its presence in the Middle East region over the past few years, and pays special attention to the countries of the Arabian Gulf;in addition, this region accounts for a non-negligible share of Chinese oil imports and is the main supplier of LNG. Because of all these, China established close ties with various Arab states, which are of enormous importance to China in meeting its growing energy needs. In the view of this article, the increase in Chinese influence could lead to significant economic growth in the Middle East, while also reducing the former dominance of the US in the region. This study presents the increasingly intensive trade and economic cooperation between China and certain countries in the Middle East through concrete examples. © 2021 Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies - National Sun Yat-sen University. All rights reserved.

China-United States competition in Latin America: evolution, perspectives, and implications in the COVID-19 context

In the last decade, China has established itself as a key player in the international system and its influence irradiates to all corners of the world. Latin America is no exception to this phenomenon. Chinese economic involvement in the region had political impacts that have led to inevitable competition with the United States. It is in this context of competition that the COVID-19 pandemic emerges bringing profound consequences for Latin American countries. The aim of this article is to analyze the relations between Latin America and China in the context of competition with the United States and the COVID-19 pandemic. The article addresses how competition has evolved, particularly in the health area after the COVID-19 outbreak. To this end, the main actions of China in the region are discussed from a theoretical perspective of political economy and drawing on concepts as mask diplomacy and wolf warrior's diplomacy. © 2021 Editora PUC-Minas. All rights reserved.

China's pursuit of international status through negotiated deference: an empirical analysis of Italy's parliamentary attitude

Italy's controversial decision to sign a Memorandum of Understanding for collaboration on the Belt and Road Initiative with China in 2019 has been widely debated. This article seeks to break new ground by offering a theory-informed contribution investigating the rationale behind Beijing's own commitment in the negotiations leading to the signing of the BRI MoU. It argues that the Chinese government accepted the risks involved in the process for the sake of promoting an accelerated advancement in China's positioning in the international status hierarchy through negotiation of deference against agency with Italy. The article empirically probes the extent to which such a strategy of status enhancement on China's part is sustainable over time. Based on a content analysis of all China-related political stances expressed in ordinary non-legislative policy-setting acts tabled in both Houses of the 18th Italian Parliament, from March 2018 through to August 2021, the article suggests that China's strategy is hardly sustainable. In fact, the steady deterioration of China-related sentiment among Italian Members of Parliament as a consequence of Beijing's policies towards Hong Kong, the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak, and Xinjiang matches the expectations of previous scholarship on international status as it confirms that social closure mechanisms discussed in the literature prevail over foreign policy consistency when the status-seeking actor is perceived as crossing critical normative thresholds.

The New Silk Road: Current Financial Trends and Vulnerabilities in the Transport Sector

Studies of the main elements of the development of the New Silk Road project continue. The current situation in the financial management strategy, including its transport component, is considered. A model of international logistics system development in a graph model (cognitive map) is proposed. Based on the scenario analysis methods of complex systems, a number of scenarios are considered, and the most vulnerable components of the system are identified. The current state of transport integration and financial aspects of the development of the New Silk Road in terms of the global logistics system is considered. A comparative analysis of financing processes is carried out, taking into account the countries’ national interests participating in the New Silk Road. The prospects for strengthening economic and transport ties between China and the countries of the New Silk Road in the development of transport infrastructure, taking into account the specific model of rail transport, the development of national consumption markets, and the political influence of the subsequent inflow of foreign investment. This paper also assesses the financial and economic risks of China’s partnership system initiative. The tasks of China and the participating countries in the light of the many problems and the security of attracting foreign investment in the construction of numerous infrastructures in the event of a failure to return the foreign investment. The impact of COVID restrictions on rail transit along the New Silk Road route, along with increased security threats, is assessed. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Strategic locations for logistics distribution centers along the Belt and Road: Explorative analysis and research agenda

Since the inception of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, the associated infrastructure and transport and economic corridor developments have been widely addressed in the research field of transportation, logistics and supply chain management. Such developments open windows of opportunity for accommodating trade flows in new or upgraded intermediate hub nodes and gateway locations along the BRI corridors. This paper aims to propose strategic locations for global logistics distribution centers (LDCs) along the Belt and Road from the viewpoint of China, considering regional economic and trade blocks, maritime transport routes, China's overseas port developments, China Railway Express services, trade conflicts between China and US, and deteriorated mobility of resources and human power caused by COVID-19. We present a set of strategic locations for establishing LDCs by analyzing qualitative and quantitative facility location factors supported by the findings in existing literature. Eight locations for global LDCs are identified in the Sub-Saharan region, Sri Lanka, the Middle East, Northern Oceania, Southern Europe, Northern Europe, and key dry hub port locations in Minsk, Belarus and Northeast Asia along the Silk Road Economic Belt. Furthermore, we present a research agenda with applicable methods. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd

How Children Are Protected From COVID-19? A Historical, Clinical, and Pathophysiological Approach to Address COVID-19 Susceptibility.

The origin and the global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in early 2020 was accompanied by high rates of mortality in regions belonging to the ancient silk road, such as the south of China, Iran, Turkey and the northern parts of Italy. However, children seem to be spared in the epidemic as very small percentage worldwide being ill. The protection of children and neonates suggests the involvement of a specific component of adaptive immunity present at early development. Native immunoglobulin belonging to the class of IgM is abundantly present in neonates and children and is known for its recognition of self- and altered self-antigens. Native IgM may be able to neutralize virus by the recognition of endogenous "danger signal" encoded in the viral envelope and originally imprinted in the membranes of infected and stressed cells. Noteworthy, thrombosis and vasculitis, two symptoms in severely affected adult and pediatric patients are shared between COVID-19 and patients with Behcet's disease, an autoimmune disorder exhibiting a region-specific prevalence in countries of the former silk road. Molecular mechanisms and clinical indicators suggest reactive oxygen species as trigger factor for severe progression of COVID-19 and establish a link to the innate immune defense against bacteria. The selective pressure exerted by bacterial pathogens may have shaped the genetics of inhabitants at this ancient trade route in favor of bacterial defense, to the detriment of severe COVID-19 progression in the 21th century.