This article examines how the infrastructural benefits of the Belt &Road Initiative (BRI)are emanating from the world’s most populous country, and soon-to-be largest global economy,stretchingacross the vast geographies of the developing world.  We also look at how  the entire BRI programme is being purposely orchestrated by China’s government into inclusive forms of sustainable and equitable...Read More

The escalating USA trade war must be seen as part of a much wider US push-back against a rising China, and indeed much of the global system that is considered not to be acting in the American interest. For China, this raises concerns over the impact on its economy and highly integrated domestic and international...Read More

China has been ramping up its political and economic ties with Central and Eastern Europe “CEE” in recent years. But, beyond the growing skeptical media attention pointing to China’s ambitions in competing with the European Union “EU” and major western European states for influence in CEE, does Beijing actually have a long term game plan...Read More

It is becoming clear that China’s ambitious Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) linking Asia and Africa with Europe through a network of various transportation corridors could fundamentally reshape the geo-economics and geopolitics of the whole Eurasian region and beyond. As the initiative has huge implications for the EU and India; the paper has captured evolving...Read More

Dr Karine Lisbonne de Vergeron’s latest article ‘The New Silk Roads: European Perceptions and Perspectives’ was published in the December edition of the academic journal, International Studies. The focus of this article is on European perceptions and attitudes towards the New Silk Roads or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The New Silk Roads is neither...Read More

China’s massive, continent spanning OBOR project is attracting increasing support from Asian governments, including many that have long had poor relations with China.  This development has to be understood in terms of the regions’ enormous infrastructure deficit, the lack of alternative funding, and the changing reality of Asian geopolitics and economic relations.   China has become the principal...Read More

Thanks to its waning relationships in the West, Russia is developing ever closer ties with key Asian allies, most notably India. Russia wants friends but is prepared to be regarded as an enemy. The country’s sinister image was reinforced last year when its military undertook simulated attacks across northern Europe, prompting the head of the...Read More

About a generation ago, on November 8, 1989, the Berlin Wall collapsed. It was a momentous event in modern history that marked the rise of the United States as the sole global superpower, and shortly thereafter, the rise of the European Union (EU) as a supranational concept dominating national European government policymaking in a range...Read More

Bob Savic says China’s offer to mediate between Myanmar and Bangladesh – in order to solve the core issues of the Rohingya refugee crisis – is an extension of its diplomatic Belt and Road Initiative. When Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the “Belt and Road Initiative” in 2013, it seemed to be essentially an economic project, albeit one of...Read More