March 4th, 2021
Via South China Morning Post, an article on a new China-Laos railway that some believe is an important piece in the greater prize of infrastructure access to Southeast Asia: In southwestern China’s Yunnan province, there is great fanfare around the construction of a mega-railway link to neighbouring Laos, Southeast Asia’s only landlocked country and one of its least developed. […]
Read more »Bangladesh Is Becoming South Asia’s Economic Bull Case
March 3rd, 2021
Via The Wall Street Journal, an article on Bangladesh: Bangladesh achieved an economic landmark last week, when the United Nations’ Committee for Development Policy recommended that the country graduate from the least-developed-country categorization that it has held for most of the 50 years since it became independent. Bangladesh is notable in South Asia for being […]
Read more »March 2nd, 2021
Via War On The Rocks, commentary on an asymmetric U.S. foreign assistance strategy that draws on its natural strengths: Beijing’s One Belt One Road project is an aggressive attempt to expand Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific. Indeed, Chinese President Xi Jinping calls it “a project of the century.” But for Washington to respond head-on, trying to match it […]
Read more »Chinese BRI Investment Isn’t All Bad—or Good
March 2nd, 2021
Courtesy of Foreign Policy, commentary on how – as Sri Lanka shows – when it comes to Chinese debt, small states have agency and great powers have responsibilities: In the last few years, the question of whether China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is predatory has been ripe for debate, with some arguing the loans Beijing […]
Read more »March 2nd, 2021
Via Silk Road Briefing, an OpEd on China’s Belt and Road Initiative: China’s moves into Africa are in fact a great case study into how the Belt & Road Initiative actually works. While most of the media commentary has been on the infrastructure, there is rather a lot more at play. In this article, I […]
Read more »Qataris Invited To Explore Investment Opportunities In Uzbekistan
March 1st, 2021
Via The Peninsula, an article on an invitation to Qatari businessmen to explore investment opportunities in Uzbekistan: Deputy Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan H E Furqat Sidikov has invited Qatari businessmen and investors to invest in his country which is replete with plenty of opportunities in several sectors such as energy, agriculture, tourism, and infrastructure. This […]
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