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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.
last updated:
9 September, 2024
Chinese Premier Li Qiang with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the Prime Minister’s Office in Islamabad, Pakistan, on October 14. Photo: Xinhua
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

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Hong Kong economy

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

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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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Chinese President Xi Jinping (centre) and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (second left) attend the China-Africa Leaders’ Roundtable Dialogue on the last day of the Brics Summit, in Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 24, 2023. Photo: AP
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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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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Illustration: Craig Stephens
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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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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Chinese President Xi Jinping, with Indonesian President Joko Widodo and other leaders attending the Belt and Road Forum, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, on October 18. Photo: Xinhua
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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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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US-China relations

Macroscope | China is pushing for a better, more representative multilateralism

Reform of global economic governance has been slow amid US hegemony and industrial subsidies. China is now forging a better path with new banks and initiatives that secure the voices of the majority.

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China’s top diplomat Wang Yi speaks during a Security Council meeting last September 22 at the UN headquarters. At the latest meeting earlier this month, Wang called for developing countries to be given a greater say in the council. Photo: AP
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB)

Macroscope | As financial crises spread, China must shore up its belt and road plan

As the West heads for a period of financial fragility, China needs a stable Ukraine to bring its grand infrastructure project back to life – and change the balance of economic power.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin head for talks in the Kremlin, Moscow, on June 5, 2019. Xi is reportedly preparing for a summit with Putin in Russia to push for Ukraine peace talks. Photo: AP
Diplomacy

Opinion | China is sharing its vision of peace with the world

Xi’s recent whirlwind of talks with world leaders points to a new phase of Chinese diplomacy championing cooperation and development. After reiterating China’s vision for a ‘shared community’ at the 20th party congress, Xi is putting the wheels in motion to realise that vision.

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Diplomacy

Opinion | How China can reset ‘peripheral diplomacy’ to win over Southeast Asia

After years of tense relations with key Southeast Asian states such as Vietnam and the Philippines, China’s ‘peripheral diplomacy’ could do with a reset. Xi Jinping’s consolidated political power, a better approach to South China Sea disputes and improved Chinese projects abroad will help improve relations.

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US-China relations

Opinion | China wants its moment on the world stage. Can it convince the US to share?

China’s determination to share the success of its socio-economic model with the world has made it a threat in the eyes of the US Yet with rivalry sliding towards conflict, China must not lose sight of its peaceful aims.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Belt and Road Initiative

Opinion | How China is climate-proofing the belt and road, starting with Pakistan

In the wake of devastating floods, Pakistan has, with Chinese help, set up a hi-tech meteorological observation station to predict weather and study climate change – part of an ambitious plan to improve climate resilience.

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Women carry belongings salvaged from their flooded home following monsoon rains in the Qambar Shahdadkot district of Sindh province, in Pakistan, on September 6. Photo: AP
Climate change

Opinion | One year on, is China turning its ‘no coal’ promise into a green reality?

China can build on its ambitious green vision for the belt and road by offering technical guidance on renewable energy, more financial resources and international cooperation – a role unfortunately mired in geopolitics.

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Belt and Road Initiative

Editorial | Tibet to Nepal rail line a daunting challenge for China

Proposed link faces geological, geopolitical and technical problems, and would join a long list of China’s engineering marvels if completed.

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