View of a section of the 1300 km long Karakoram highway, jointly built by China and Pakistan
Media
Indonesia begins to embrace China’s yuan as trade and belt and road projects fuel uptake
An estimated US$2.7 billion’s worth of the country’s international trade was paid for using China’s currency in the first six months of this year China has emerged as Indonesia’s largest trading partner over the past decade and is its second-biggest source of foreign direct investment
China working with Azerbaijan on belt and road transport route even as Baku restricts investment
China has used Azerbaijan’s ongoing bilateral negotiations on its World Trade Organisation (WTO) membership to open up access for belt and road projects The main project involving Azerbaijan is the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, a land transport network stretching from China and Southeast Asia to Europe
China’s Opportunities and Risks in Africa’s Giant Iron Ore Field
Simandou, a 110-kilometer range of hills deep in the hinterland of Guinea in Western Africa, boasts the world’s largest untapped iron ore reserves. They could reshape the global supply chain of the critical ingredient of steel, the world’s second-most traded commodity behind crude oil.
China’s Strategic Port Project Moves Step Closer to Reality as Myanmar OKs Joint Venture
The Myanmar government’s investment agency last week approved the registration of a joint venture between a Chinese company and a government-backed committee to develop China’s strategic deep-sea port project in western Rakhine State. The approval moves the long-delayed backbone project of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) one step closer to actually getting off the ground. The CMEC forms part of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Coronavirus reshapes Belt and Road in Latin America
The disruptions of the coronavirus pandemic have taken a toll on China’s flagship foreign infrastructure and investment programme, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Its nature, pace and scope are all likely subject to change in Latin America in the near and long-term.
CHINA IN LATIN AMERICA: PARTNER OR PREDATOR?
Whether they're new colonisers or a vital source of cash and technology, the jury is out on Beijing's investment in the region – but one thing is certain, the US will not relinquish its control without a fight
‘State Companies Advance and Private Firms Retreat’ in China’s Bid to Resuscitate the Economy
After the bombshell announcement that the Chinese economy contracted by an unprecedented 6.8 percent in the first quarter of this year, the Xi Jinping administration has vowed to do whatever it takes to resuscitate growth and to stabilize employment. “We must adroitly and accurately materialize all measures to fight the epidemic and to resuscitate industry and production so that the targets and goals of this year’s economic and social development will be realized,” said Xi during an early April trip to Zhejiang (People’s Daily, April 1).
265 Civil Society Groups Call on Chinese Authorities to Ensure that Covid-19 Financial Relief Does Not Bail Out Harmful Projects
On April 29, 2020, over 260 civil society groups across the world called on the Chinese government to ensure that COVID-19 related financial relief for struggling Belt and Road projects flows only to high quality overseas investments satisfying specific stringent criteria, and avoid bailing out projects already mired in environmental, social, biodiversity, climate, or financial risks prior to the onset of COVID-19.
China’s Belt and Road: Progress on ‘Open, green and clean?’
As Beijing struggles to recalibrate its signature initiative, COVID-19 creates new risks and potential opportunities. A year ago, Chinese leaders committed themselves to cleaning up their act in pursuit of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—Beijing’s plan to connect China to the world largely through infrastructure projects.
From Race to Debt to COVID-19: A Conversation with Ambassador Kuang Weilin on Current Issues in China-Africa Relations
A rare interview with China’s former ambassador to Sierra Leone and the African Union, Kuang Weilin. For much of the past two decades, China’s engagement in Africa has been steady, rather predictable and largely uneventful. That is, until this year.