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Belt and Road: 2019 Forum

Belt and Road: 2019 Forum
The initiative spearheaded by the Chinese government and endorsed by President Xi Jinping in late 2013 aims to improve trade and economic integration across Asia, Europe, and Africa.
last updated:
9 September, 2024
Huawei is working on dozens of projects across Africa. Photo: Bloomberg
China-Africa relations

Huawei continues to play leading role in Africa

The company, which has been blacklisted by the US and other Western nations, is currently working on 25 projects across the continent.

Belt and Road Initiative

China firms building coal plants in Asia despite Beijing ‘green’ pledge

Hong Kong protests

Protests won’t affect Hong Kong’s key role in belt and road, say business leaders

Belt and Road Initiative

Trade war, financing transparency to boost belt and road projects

China’s commitment to adopt key elements of financial practices used by World Bank and IMF to ensure projects’ debt sustainability will lead to more lending opportunities in countries covered by belt and road, says banker.

Standard Chartered’s revenue sourced from Chinese clients’ projects in belt and road markets grew 16 per cent year on year to US$680 million in 2018. Photo: Reuters
Belt and Road Initiative

Exclusive | Can China really take the high road with its big infrastructure plan?

Amid growing criticism of his belt and road plan, Chinese president says he wants it to be ‘anchored by international standards and norms’, but Beijing’s big promises are nothing new, analysts say.

Rodrigo Duterte

How Duterte’s pivot to China could hurt him politically at home

Richard Heydarian writes that Filipinos are asking: Is China a ‘friend’ of the Philippines or only Duterte?

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US-China trade war

‘Hong Kong not out of woods yet,’ despite signs of trade war deal

Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau says there is little confidence things can return to how they were, ‘as if nothing had happened’.

Nearly half of Chinese goods shipped via Hong Kong to the US last year were estimated to be affected by trade war tariffs. Photo: Martin Chan
Belt and Road Initiative

US says it offers fairer deals than China’s belt and road ‘debt trap’

Video on US State Department website tells countries to ‘be wary’ of risks from Beijing’s infrastructure drive.

POLITICO

Opinion | ‘Huge strategic mistake’ for US to dismiss China’s belt and road plan

The project presents a unique opportunity for the US to ensure Eurasia stays multipolar.

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Cambodia

Chinese investment in Cambodia is bringing Phnom Penh closer to Beijing – and further from the EU

The Southeast Asian nation signed at least nine deals with China last week on the sidelines of the second Belt and Road Forum, but some analysts say it is likely political obedience to China will include military access.

Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing last month. Photo: AP
Energy

Russia’s plans for Arctic gas may sate China’s appetite for US projects

Russia’s agreement with Chinese state-owned oil companies to develop natural gas in the Arctic Circle could provide an alternative source for China’s energy needs

Workers of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) at a construction site for laying natural gas pipelines connecting China and Russia, in Heihe prefecture of Heilongjiang province on China’s border with Russia on January 25, 2018. Photo: China Daily via REUTERS
Belt and Road Initiative

Why China’s belt and road loans may not be the feared debt trap

Study by US-based Rhodium Group finds only one confirmed case of asset seizure and says Beijing is more likely to renegotiate burdensome debts.

China seeks to prove critics wrong with star belt and road projects

Report highlights ports and railways that Beijing hopes will yield fast, positive results for local communities and investors.

Belt and Road Initiative

Exclusive | Indonesia forecasts billion-dollar belt and road investments

Speaking on the sidelines of last week’s forum, the country’s investment minister says he finds Beijing’s openness to feedback ‘highly encouraging’.

China’s only belt and road project in Indonesia currently is a US$6 ­billion high-speed rail connecting the capital Jakarta to the city of Bandung. Photo: AP
Belt and Road Initiative

How tiny Djibouti became the linchpin in China’s belt and road plan

Ideally situated with good harbours, this remote country is helping China protect its growing interests as the vast infrastructure strategy takes hold.

Djibouti helps China juggle commercial and military objectives along the belt and road. Photo: Reuters
Malaysia

Malaysia gears up for durian duel with Thailand as Chinese demand spikes

On the sidelines of the Belt and Road Forum, Malaysian companies promoted home-grown durian chocolates, mooncakes and more ahead of expected new rules allowing them to sell whole, frozen durians to China.

Belt and Road: Comment

Macroscope | While the spotlight focuses on belt and road forum, the subplot evolves offstage

Just as all roads led to Rome at the time of the Roman Empire, so all roads (and sea lanes) could one day lead to Beijing under the Belt and Road Initiative.

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Xi Jinping

Xi makes plenty of promises on belt and road plan, but can China deliver?

Chinese president vows to stick to international rules and standards, as joint statement emphasises financial sustainability, pollution control and anti-corruption efforts.

Xi Jinping waves as he leaves after a press conference at the closing of the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Saturday. Photo: AP
Belt and Road: The nations

Job done? Beijing forum closes with 37 names, US$64 billion in new deals

Xi Jinping wraps up three-day event with signing of shared promise to make global trade and infrastructure plan more diversified, financially responsible.

Malaysia

Exclusive | Malaysia’s revived deals with China ‘proves its support for belt and road’

The RM21.5 billion haircut on the original East Coast Rail Link deal demonstrates that clear parameters are possible for BRI projects from the start.

Belt and Road Initiative

Poorly organised yet tightly controlled forum raises soft power questions

Belt and Road Forum lacked a clear schedule and sufficient content, some attendees complain, while tight media control made it difficult for China to project openness – a theme at the event.

Attendees pick up copies of a book on President Xi Jinping’s governance at the forum’s media centre in Beijing on Friday. Photo: AP
Belt and Road: The nations

Malaysian minister says China, US have ‘global responsibility’ on trade

Darell Leiking says uncertainty created by conflict has caused shift in region’s supply chain that ‘has already impacted the world for five to 10 years’.

Malaysian trade minister Darell Leiking said China and the US, “whether they like it or not, will impact everyone in the global value chain and supply chain”. Photo: AFP
Belt and Road Initiative

China gears up for a flower show with a difference

The Chinese authorities hope that the Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition will not only draw millions of visitors but also help its diplomatic efforts.

Belt and Road: The nations

EU’s connectivity plan ‘more sustainable’ than Beijing’s belt and road

Brussels’ strategy focuses on ‘sustainable financing, avoiding debt traps, environmental impact’, European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic says.

US-China relations

Xi sends message to US and West that ‘China is committed to opening up’

While he did not mention the US or trade war, president puts emphasis on key issues that have been raised by Washington during speech to world leaders.

President Xi Jinping addresses world leaders at the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Friday. Photo: Kyodo
Belt and Road: The nations

China and Russia to forge stronger Eurasian economic ties

Vladimir Putin gets behind Beijing’s massive infrastructure initiative as rivalries grow with the United States.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have pledged to further improve bilateral ties. Photo: Reuters
US-China relations

Xi tries to stem rising doubts over Belt and Road Initiative

Speech to Belt and Road Forum strikes more measured tone compared with two years previously and seeks to address range of criticisms over project.

Xi sets tone for Belt and Road amid debt worries

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