https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/rss/526114/feed Your essential resource for insight into China's Belt and Road Initiative, providing expert coverage on relevant topics such as infrastructure development, cross-border investment, trade networks, and Hong Kong’s strategic role as a superconnector linking global markets. en https://assets-v2.i-scmp.com/production/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg Letters Letters Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words. Last month, Hong Kong had been promoting its role as a financing and professional services hub for Belt and Road Initiative expansion. Tanzania offers a useful reminder that signing deals is only the beginning. More than 6,000 participants attended Hong Kong’s Belt and Road... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/letters/article/3369527/tanzania-could-offer-test-hong-kongs-belt-and-road-ambitions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/letters/article/3369527/tanzania-could-offer-test-hong-kongs-belt-and-road-ambitions?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Oct 2026 03:30:09 +0000 Rick Boost Rick Boost The start and end points of the Silk Road at its historical peak are crucial to its significance. Land routes wound for thousands of miles from China over mountains and deserts, concluding in the Middle East, connecting the age’s two world leaders in scientific and economic power: the Tang dynasty and the Abbasid Caliphate. While systems of trade have radically changed in the centuries since, the modern iteration of this link, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has firmly established a new... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/special-reports/article/3367524/digital-silk-road-hong-kong-acts-financial-bridge-between-china-and-mena?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/special-reports/article/3367524/digital-silk-road-hong-kong-acts-financial-bridge-between-china-and-mena?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Sep 2026 00:00:09 +0000 SCMP Editorial SCMP Editorial The Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong last week is tangible proof that 13 years after the initiative’s launch, the city has become central to its evolution from infrastructure projects to comprehensive connectivity and hi-tech platforms. More than 6,000 participants from over 70 countries attended, signing upwards of 60 commercial agreements and memorandums of understanding exceeding US$3 billion. These are evidence of sustained confidence in Hong Kong’s unique capacity to bridge mainland... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/comment/article/3367309/hong-kong-cements-superconnector-role-wave-belt-and-road-deals?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/opinion/comment/article/3367309/hong-kong-cements-superconnector-role-wave-belt-and-road-deals?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Sep 2026 23:15:11 +0000 Simpson Cheung Simpson Cheung Hong Kong can become an educational hub for artificial intelligence literacy and help build trustworthy AI by leveraging the city’s strength in professional services, industry leaders have said. Speaking at the Belt and Road Summit on Thursday, Ellen Lau Sin-tung, executive director of technology training company Preface AI, highlighted a significant gap between corporate leadership and frontline staff during digital transformation efforts. She noted that corporate leaders often expressed... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3367084/hong-kong-can-become-ai-literacy-hub-industry-leaders-say?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3367084/hong-kong-can-become-ai-literacy-hub-industry-leaders-say?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Sep 2026 12:14:03 +0000 Lam Ka-sing Lam Ka-sing Kazakhstan has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hong Kong’s transport authorities to establish a laboratory and discussed low-altitude economy initiatives to help manage traffic jams. Bakhtiyar Mukhametkaliyev, Kazakhstan’s vice-minister of artificial intelligence and digital development, told the South China Morning Post on Wednesday about discussions with the team of Hong Kong’s Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan on the sidelines of the Belt and Road Summit in the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3366910/hong-kong-kazakhstan-sign-mou-transport-lab-discuss-low-altitude-economy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3366910/hong-kong-kazakhstan-sign-mou-transport-lab-discuss-low-altitude-economy?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:04:47 +0000 Matthew Cheng Matthew Cheng Hong Kong will continue to serve as a gateway linking belt and road economies with mainland China and global markets, the chief executive has said, underscoring the city’s role in bringing together capital, talent and businesses to advance the national initiative. Speaking at the opening of the annual Belt and Road Summit on Wednesday, John Lee Ka-chiu said more than 60 government and business agreements and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) would be signed during the event, with the total... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3366864/hong-kong-2-way-springboard-between-mainland-china-and-world-john-lee?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3366864/hong-kong-2-way-springboard-between-mainland-china-and-world-john-lee?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Sep 2026 04:01:48 +0000 Nigel Li Nigel Li When President Xi Jinping announced the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013, the sprawling network of new railways and highways branching out from China across Eurasia was just imaginary lines on a map. This year, the total volume of China’s BRI investments reached US$1.3 trillion, with a 257 per cent spike in Central Asia compared to last year, and many of those lines are no longer imaginary. The five Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/special-reports/article/3366783/how-chinese-investment-driving-central-asias-green-energy-boom?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/special-reports/article/3366783/how-chinese-investment-driving-central-asias-green-energy-boom?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Sep 2026 23:15:12 +0000 John Cremer John Cremer Hong Kong has been actively advancing links with Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries in trade, finance and professional services. Similarly, the city’s local universities have been developing innovative programmes and exchanges to strengthen ties, share knowledge and promote long-term cross-border collaboration between academia and industry. A prime example is the Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s (PolyU) Belt and Road Advanced Programme in Power and Energy. This year’s cohort of 45... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/special-reports/article/3366782/hong-kong-universities-power-belt-and-road-initiative-through-strategic-ties?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/special-reports/article/3366782/hong-kong-universities-power-belt-and-road-initiative-through-strategic-ties?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Sep 2026 23:00:13 +0000 Richard Lord Richard Lord In the almost 35 years since leaving the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan has been gradually privatising its numerous state-owned assets. The pace of change has been uneven, but the political will seems to be there – and this desire to attract foreign capital could provide Hong Kong with a huge opportunity. The economies of Kazakhstan and China have long been intertwined. The sprawling Central Asian nation to China’s northwest was once a vital node on the ancient Silk Road, and today it plays an equally... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/special-reports/article/3366774/kazakhstans-privatisation-push-offers-new-ipo-opportunities-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/special-reports/article/3366774/kazakhstans-privatisation-push-offers-new-ipo-opportunities-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Sep 2026 22:45:07 +0000 Aidyn Fitzpatrick Aidyn Fitzpatrick When the Belt and Road Initiative is discussed, the imagery is often concrete: ports, railways, motorways and transmission lines. But across Hong Kong, a parallel form of connectivity is playing out in galleries, concert halls, classrooms and studios. At the Hong Kong Palace Museum, visitors have been encountering thousands of years of Chinese art and history alongside “Ancient Egypt Unveiled: Treasures from Egyptian Museums”, which brought 250 objects from Africa to West Kowloon. In September,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/special-reports/article/3366771/hong-kongs-belt-and-road-cultural-exchange-builds-ties-beyond-railways-and-ports?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/special-reports/article/3366771/hong-kongs-belt-and-road-cultural-exchange-builds-ties-beyond-railways-and-ports?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Sep 2026 22:30:09 +0000 Joanne Mari Madrid Joanne Mari Madrid Five years after President Xi Jinping urged planners to prioritise “small and beautiful” projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, the value of the average Chinese overseas deal is the highest on record. Chinese investment across 150 Belt and Road countries reached US$49.8 billion in the first half of 2026, alongside US$76.5 billion in construction contracts – marking the strongest first half since the Initiative’s 2013 launch, according to research led by Christoph Nedopil, founding director... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/special-reports/article/3366769/how-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-shifting-green-energy-and-private-investment?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/special-reports/article/3366769/how-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-shifting-green-energy-and-private-investment?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Sep 2026 22:15:06 +0000 Andrew Gundal Andrew Gundal When the groundbreaking ceremony for the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan (CKU) railway took place in December 2024, it marked the end of a nearly 30-year-long diplomatic journey. First discussed in Paris in 1997, the project had languished for decades, a symbol of unrealised potential in a disconnected, landlocked region. Now finally under construction, it is one of the most audacious projects in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The CKU promises economic transformation in an underdeveloped... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/special-reports/article/3366768/how-china-kyrgyzstan-uzbekistan-railway-reshaping-eurasian-trade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/special-reports/article/3366768/how-china-kyrgyzstan-uzbekistan-railway-reshaping-eurasian-trade?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Sep 2026 22:00:11 +0000