Tag "Belt and Road Initiative"
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: How Delhi is losing the Indian-Chinese soft power game in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka has increasingly become a focus of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in the last decade. The Hambantota port development project is a notable example, an ambitious but costly endeavour by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, which was in the end handed over by the government to a Chinese enterprise on a 99-year lease in 2017 to reduce its spiralling debt burden.
Can the EU work with Biden in the Balkans?
The Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) signed in December provides access to the Chinese market for European investors while protecting China’s existing rights in EU trade. However, US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, voiced concern over the deal, stating Washington would welcome early consultations with Brussels when addressing Beijing’s economic relations. The lack of coordinated EU-US strategic thinking on China poses a risk to Euro-Atlantic integration in the Western Balkans.
China’s new Silk Road or debt-trap diplomacy?
Italy’s decision to join China’s new Silk Road project last month has heightened Western nations’ concerns over Chinese expansionism.
Italy Embraces Belt and Road Initiative
On March 23, Italy formally endorsed China’s landmark Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The new arrangement risks riling fellow EU members, the United States and the rest of the G7. It could also see a seismic shift in China’s Europe strategy. Xi Jinping’s increasingly ubiquitous reinvigoration of the Silk Road will result in further involvement in European politics, business and defence for years to come, with wide-ranging repercussions. Italy’s decision places itself in an invidious position and will meet disapproval from traditional allies.
Between a Bear and a Dragon: New challenges for Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan’s president Nursultan Nazarbayev is stepping down. This exposes the new leader to challenges of balancing Kazakh interests between China & Russia
Myanmar is set to embrace Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative
After years of interrupted progression with Chinese-backed projects the Myanmar government has agreed to speed up progress. This signals that relations between China and Myanmar are good and that Myanmar is seeking for the foreign investments it needs to improve its economy.
The dragon over Visegrad: China in central Europe
China’s modern successor to the Silk Road – the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – has received heavy criticism from the West as a tool that could be used to divide Europe through economic influence. Just how well-established is China’s influence in Central Europe – and does Chinese investment represent a threat?
Belt and Road Initiative increases sovereign debt risks in Tajikistan
The BRI aims at dismantling foreign investment barriers and improving international logistics has provided much-needed infrastructure support to its recipient countries. But BRI-related project loans may cause a problematic increase in sovereign debt in certain host countries.
India’s concerns over the strengthened China-Maldives relations
The Republic of Maldives is an important member of the SAARC and offers key strategic value to its allies, especially India. This article examines how a souring in relations between Malé and New Delhi, along with an unprecedented Chinese presence in the archipelago, raises geopolitical risks for India.
Chinese-Malaysian ties after the election
The new Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir, has indicated that he will reverse significant gains made by China under the outgoing Prime Minister, Najib Razak. In response, China has called
