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Belt and Road: The nations

Belt and Road: The nations
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
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, left, and China’s President Xi Jinping in front of the Great Hall of the People in Tiananmen Square, Beijing in May. Photo: Pool / AFP / Getty Images / TNS
Ukraine war

Russia’s overheated economy is squeezing one of its key China trading channels

Investment in Russia’s railways is to be slashed by nearly a third, complicating trade with China, state media reported.

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Belt and Road Initiative

Xi Jinping touts shared views with Brazil on Ukraine, other matters ahead of G20

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Belt and Road Initiative

Brazil backs away from joining China’s belt and road but keeps funding door ajar

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China-Africa relations

Chinese cement firms look to growing African markets to make up for woes at home

Major cement producers see higher prices – and profits – in countries such as DRC, Mozambique and Ethiopia amid China’s property crisis.

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In Ethiopia, the Addis Ababa urban renewal project highlights the need for cement in Africa, and opportunities for Chinese cement companies. Photo: AFP
China-Africa relations

Chinese firm says US$900,000 of gold stolen in armed attack on mine in Ghana

Workers including Chinese citizens were injured in the robbery in April and suspects have been detained, according to Beijing Xiaocheng.

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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US-China relations

Changes needed for US funding tool to compete with China’s belt and road: CEO

Head of US International Development Finance Corporation Scott Nathan calls on members of Congress to review the eligibility criteria for funding to help build partnerships, particularly in Latin America.

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Scott Nathan, CEO of the US International Development Finance Corporation, has addressed the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, acknowledging limits of the fund and calling for a review the eligibility criteria for funding. Photo: AP Photo
China-Africa relations

Why China’s foreign minister still starts the year with a trip to Africa

The timing of the trips has remained consistent but their purpose has shifted since Qian Qichen started the convention in 1991.

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China-Afghanistan relations

Why China is wary of opening up Afghanistan’s new road to Xinjiang

Observers said the Taliban’s hopes that the completed project will become a link to China’s vast network are unlikely to be shared by Beijing.

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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
Diplomacy

Vladimir Putin confirms he will meet Xi Jinping in Beijing next month

In St Petersburg, Russian president tells Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi he will attend Belt and Road Forum, saying the strategy ‘fully meets and coincides’ with Russia’s interests.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Heads of State Council via a video conference at the Kremlin in Moscow on July 4, 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE
Science

China-Italy nanotech helps repair Church of the Scalzi in Venice: paper

Research team studies nine different ways to consolidate marble stones with patented combination of methods used in church restoration project.

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China-Africa relations

China and Russia pursue Eritrea for its strategic location in Africa

Big powers consider Eritrea’s access to the Red Sea, Suez Canal and Persian Gulf waters and onwards to the Indian Ocean important.

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China-Africa relations

China vows to aid Ethiopian recovery and boost ties with Kenya, Nigeria

China’s top diplomat makes a surprise stop in Addis Ababa and says Beijing is ‘willing to play a positive role in easing Ethiopia’s debt pressure’.

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Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed meets senior Chinese diplomat Wang Yi for talks during a surprise stop in Addis Ababa.
China digital currency

China railway hub to use Belt and Road connectivity to promote digital yuan

Xuzhou will promote the use of the digital yuan in cross-border trade with Belt and Road countries using its connectivity via 18 regular cross-border railway lines to 21 countries in Europe and Asia.

A view of the XCMG Port Machinery factory in Xuzhou, a major city in eastern China's Jiangsu province. Photo: EPA-EFE
Cambodia

Asian Angle | Why Cambodia has mixed feelings about China-built Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville road

Two Chinese-backed projects in Cambodia show some can be far more effective than others and it’s not always easy to win people over.

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Indonesia

Indonesia’s China-built rail link chugs along despite overshooting budget

President Joko Widodo, who inspected a new railway station, said the project was 88.8 per cent complete and its commercial launch is expected in June 2023.

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China-Africa relations

Europe’s efforts to counter Russia and China in Africa falling flat

African leaders have expressed their disappointment at the lack of interest and apparent snubs from their European counterparts.

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Attendees pose for a group photograph at the Africa Adaptation Summit in Rotterdam, where African attendees complained about a lack of European interest. Photo: AFP
Belt and Road Initiative

China’s rivalry with US ‘greatly affecting capital flows’ into Latin America

Rivalry between China and the US in the region is ‘greatly affecting capital flows’, but demand for projects under the Belt and Road Initiative remains, analysts say.

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Xinjiang

Could Xinjiang-Central Asia railway tilt regional power in China’s favour?

The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway is likely to bring enormous economic benefits to Central Asia and western China, but it could also stoke geopolitical rivalry between Beijing, Moscow and Washington.

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Central Asia

Xi Jinping sends message of support to Kazakhstan president

Chinese leader says Beijing opposes any attempts by foreign forces to cause trouble and backs security crackdown.

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The unrest in Kazakhstan was triggered by protests over rising fuel prices. Photo: AP
China-Africa relations

How far will China go to protect Africa after Taliban took Afghanistan?

Groups such as Boko Haram in Nigeria and al-Shabab in Somalia may step up their insurgencies after the fall of the Afghan capital.

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Illustration: Perry Tse
Afghanistan

China starts anti-terror drill with Tajikistan amid Afghan spillover worries

The joint drills show mutual determination to combat terrorism and effectively respond to terrorist threats, China’s public security minister said

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Pakistan

Chinese firm halts work on dam, fires Pakistani workers after bus blast

The China Gezhouba Group Company suspended work on the Dasu hydro project in Kohistan.

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China-Africa relations

Multibillion-dollar China, Tanzania projects may be back on cards

Delayed schemes could be resurrected after Xi, Hassan chat.

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Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan speaks earlier this year before making history as the country’s first female president, following the death of her predecessor John Magufuli. Photo: AP
Belt and Road Initiative

Montenegro in ‘final phase’ of talks with Europe to refinance debt to China

Beijing has invested billions of dollars in the Western Balkans as part of its Belt and Road Initiative to expand Chinese influence in the region.

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Montenegro’s finance minister Milojko Spajic. Photo: Reuters
Belt and Road Initiative

Pakistan bombing spotlights security at China’s flagship belt and road project

Timing of attack – which killed five people at a Quetta hotel where the Chinese ambassador was staying – could rattle investor confidence, observers say.

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China-EU relations

EU says it won’t pay off Montenegro’s billion-dollar debts to China

The Balkan nation had begged Brussels to help cover the costs of the project, which has been described as one of the most expensive stretches of road in the world.

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