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Belt and Road: Comment

Belt and Road: Comment
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.
World Bank president Ajay Banga and Japanese finance Minister Satsuki Katayama in Tokyo on June 1. Photo: Kyodo
Japan

Macroscope | The problem with Japan’s bid to strengthen energy security, supply chains

By competing rather than dovetailing with the Belt and Road Initiative, the joint project with the World Bank reflects increasing regional fragmentation.

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US, Israel war on Iran

Open Questions | Iran war’s impact on China limited, scholar Pan Guang says

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China economy

Opinion | How China is cementing its central role as the architect of green tech

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Open Questions series

Open Questions | Ex-PLA colonel on Taiwan, the Ukraine war, China-US ties

Zhou Bo ponders Japanese PM Takaichi’s recent remarks, lessons from the Ukraine conflict and why China won’t be world’s policeman.

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Illustration: Victor Sanjinez
Rohingya Muslims

Opinion | Why China should lead commission for a phased Rohingya repatriation

Given its Rakhine interests and diplomatic clout, Beijing could oversee a plan for return, ensuring security, rights and economic reintegration.

Belt and Road Initiative

Opinion | Israeli strikes one more challenge for new China-Iran rail corridor

Weeks before the air strikes, a new overland trade route was launched that could help Iran evade sanctions and advance its regional ambitions.

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US-China relations

My Take | China counts on 3 strategies to survive US tariff and tech war

Beijing has come up with a game plan to overcome its internal and external threats, and navigate beyond Trump’s presidency.

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Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent meet in Geneva, Switzerland, on May 10. Photo: Reuters
Hong Kong economy

Opinion | How Hong Kong can seize opportunities along Silk Road Economic Belt

By deepening cooperation, the city can leverage its unique brand and core advantages to help businesses uncover new areas for growth.

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Belt and Road Initiative

Opinion | China-Pakistan friendship will hold fast against all weather

Through fatal attacks on China interests in Pakistan and Islamabad’s debt crisis, both countries clung fast to their strategic partnership.

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Climate change

Opinion | Cop29 can work with the Belt and Road Initiative for a greener future

Aligning climate action with major economic initiatives is essential to cutting emissions while promoting sustainable development.

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Climate activists project a message onto Azerbaijan’s embassy in London on November 7. Photo: AP
Hong Kong economy

Opinion | To be a belt and road education hub, Hong Kong must teach in Mandarin

John Lee’s ‘Study in Hong Kong’ plan emphasises attracting students from belt and road countries. But it also implies controversial changes in universities.

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The main building at the University of Hong Kong in Pok Fu Lam. The city’s top university is ranked 35th by Times Higher Education. Photo: Dickson
Diplomacy

Opinion | China’s soft power is making its mark as US doubles down on military might

While the US seems focused on military alliances, Beijing is holding out a vision of economic collaboration and trust between civilisations.

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Belt and Road Initiative

China needs deterrent force to protect its expanding overseas interests: expert

Former PLA officer said worsening relations with the US and its allies have made the task more urgent.

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Belt and Road Initiative

Opinion | Amid great power rivalry, middle powers are carving out new trade routes

It’s not just China – from India to Russia and the Middle East, states are collaborating over trade corridors as an alternative to US power structures.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (second left) and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani (foreground, right) attend the ceremony to sign a four-way memorandum of understanding between Iraq, Turkey, Qatar and the UAE to cooperate in the Development Road project, in Baghdad, Iraq, on April 22. Photo: AP
Belt and Road Initiative

Opinion | How to stem terrorist attacks on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

China and Pakistan need better security and engagement with the Afghan Taliban to cut off terrorist attacks on the key Belt and Road Initiative project. China must also address local socioeconomic grievances.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Diplomacy

Opinion | Why are so many countries rethinking their relations with China?

With the pandemic waning and global conflicts reshaping geopolitics, some nations are reassessing their relationship with China. This rethink could threaten China’s global influence and further divide the world into opposing camps like in the Cold War.

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Belt and Road Initiative

Opinion | How the US can counter China’s belt and road forays in the Indo-Pacific

US officials must assess the impact of projects such as the Jakarta-Bandung railway, especially environmentally and socially, to be able to offer convincing alternatives.

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Belt and Road Initiative

Opinion | China’s Belt and Road Initiative rightly offers charity-free development

Free of the ‘white man’s burden’ to provide charity to poor countries, China’s infrastructure-focused model treats poor countries and their people as customers and business partners – a more respectful way of dealing with them.

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Passengers get off a train from Mombasa at the Nairobi Terminus of the China-built Mombasa-Nairobi standard gauge railway in Kenya on September 20. Photo: Xinhua
US-China relations

Opinion | US should join China in building a better Global South, not hinder it

Through the Belt and Road Initiative and trade, China is contributing to the development of the Global South. US efforts to counter China’s influence, on the other hand, are anachronistic and misguided.

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Belt and Road Initiative

Opinion | Belt and road’s focus on hard infrastructure to stay, whatever Beijing says

A professed shift in focus from hard infrastructure to ‘institutional connectivity’ is laudable but unlikely. The open nature of the belt and road deters efforts to shape it into a more binding platform, and Chinese companies are likely to cement their foothold in the industry by building more, not less.

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Belt and Road Initiative

Macroscope | The West should work with China to build infrastructure – not against it

As the West starts to find its feet with financing for its infrastructure, it would be a pity if the largesse was used to compete with China, when the global scale of the challenge calls for cooperation.

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The city of Almaty, in Kazakhstan, from where the China-Kazakhstan (Lianyungang) logistics cooperation base was launched in 2014 as the first belt and road project. It has since become an important platform for products from Central Asian countries to reach seaports. Photo: Xinhua
Belt and Road Initiative

Opinion | Abundant belt and road opportunities await Hong Kong, but is it ready?

Hong Kong can contribute substantially to the growing success of the Belt and Road Initiative and boost the city’s recovering economy – but first, it needs a concrete plan of action.

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Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee speaks at the Belt and Road CEO conference in Beijing on October 17. President Xi Jinping has called it the “project of the century”. Photo: Bloomberg
Belt and Road Initiative

Opinion | China steps up climate fight with belt and road green finance partnership

This new partnership can match the fresh capital China is injecting into the Belt and Road Initiative with blended financing to identify and develop green projects in developing countries.

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Belt and Road Initiative

Outside In | Tale of two railways: Indonesia’s high-speed Whoosh vs UK’s HS2 shambles

The failures of Britain’s HS2 stand in stark contrast to the successful launch of Indonesia’s belt and road railway. The West has much to learn from China in building future-critical infrastructure.

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Belt and Road Initiative

Opinion | China’s belt and road success — Western narratives don’t do it justice

While a fuller assessment of this ambitious initiative will only be possible with time, its benefits so far cannot be denied. More importantly, the belt and road shows the rise of China has brought not colonial conquests or wars, but trade, tourism, infrastructure and economic growth.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Belt and Road Initiative

Opinion | Western bias against China’s belt and road is hobbling climate action

As a green tech powerhouse, China can accelerate the Global South’s digital transition and foster a more sustainable model of economic growth. But the West remains obsessed with China’s perceived threat.

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Vehicles transporting Chinese components to Kazakhstan for a 50MW wind power project are seen on the Guozigou Bridge in Huocheng County, in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, on April 24, 2020. Kazakhstan is a key part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Photo: Xinhua
Belt and Road Initiative

Opinion | West’s attacks on China’s belt and road are futile

China’s infrastructure initiative has attracted criticism and inspired a cacophony of competing plans, including the G20’s economic corridor but fundamental needs are getting lost in the rush to conjure up new visions.

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Belt and Road Initiative

Opinion | Sustainability drive will colour the belt and road green in next decade

From banning overseas coal projects and issuing green investment guidelines to reviving the ‘health silk road’, China is reorienting its ambitious infrastructure plan in a greener, more sustainable direction.

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