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Belt and Road: The nations

Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomes his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to Beijing in April last year. A reciprocal visit is planned for November. Photo: Reuters

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

Beijing had hoped to make the initiative’s expansion a centrepiece of Xi Jinping’s visit to the country next month.

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

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

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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Chinese troops stationed at China’s only overseas base in Djibouti take part in Ivory Coast’s 64th anniversary of independence celebrations. Photo: Facebook/Chinese Embassy, Ivory Coast

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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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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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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The exact location of Afghanistan’s Little Pamir Road has not been disclosed, but it is understood to reach the Chinese border via the narrow and barely accessible strip of land called the Wakhan Corridor. Photo: AFP

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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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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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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The Church of Santa Maria di Nazareth is the beneficiary of a method developed by Chinese and Italian researchers to treat marble stones damaged by time and the elements. Photo: Shutterstock

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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Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) holds a welcome ceremony for Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki in Beijing on May 15, 2023 before their talks. Photo: Xinhua

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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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.

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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The Phnom Penh-Sihanoukville road in Cambodia. The route, funded by China, has been giving a boost to the country’s economic growth and tourism development, opening in October for a one-month free trial. Photo: Xinhua

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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Workers stand beside a high-speed train in Bandung, Indonesia, on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

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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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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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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After years of wrangling, construction is set to start on the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, which Chinese authorities hope will bring big economic benefits. Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

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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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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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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Chinese and Tajik troops take part in an eight-day drill in Tajikistan’s high-altitude Pamirs region bordering China’s Xinjiang region and Afghanistan, in August 2019. Photo: Xinhua

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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Pakistani rescuers inspect the scene of a bus blast in Kohistan on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE/Handout

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

Delayed schemes could be resurrected after Xi, Hassan chat.

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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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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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Five people were killed in the attack in Quetta on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua

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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A van travels along the first stretch of the highway, which will eventually link the Adriatic with the Serbian border. Photo: AFP

Malaysia agrees to US$2 billion cost increase in China-backed rail project

The latest revision, agreed by Muhyiddin Yassin’s government, increases the cost to US$12.08 billion, and takes the length back up to 665km

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Chinese agriculture experts help boost crop yields in Africa

Hundreds of specialists are working in Zambia, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Mozambique and elsewhere.

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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
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