Via The Economist, a report on China’s efforts to build a “digital Silk Road: CHINA’S vague but much-vaunted Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been providing buzzword fodder for government leaders and official sloganeers since 2013, when the country launched the scheme to extend its political and economic influence abroad by investing in infrastructure and other […]
Read more »Via Bloomberg, an article looking at how Dandong’s new-home sales are surging amid Kim’s surprise peace embrace: A North Korea border town has suddenly become China’s new hot property market, as Kim Jong Un’s embrace of peace sparks a buying frenzy. New home sales in Dandong, which sits across the Yalu River from North Korea and […]
Read more »Via The New York Times, commentary on China’s BRI and new Silk Road: In a lesser-known novel, “Claudius Bombarnac,” Jules Verne describes the adventures of the titular foreign correspondent as he rides the “Grand Transasiatic Railway” from the “European frontier” to “the capital of the Celestial Empire.” A cast of international characters, by turns comical, […]
Read more »Via the Belt and Road blog, commentary on the high-tech and IT projects launched by China to implement what has been called the Digital Silk Road: Discussions around the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) tend to focus on its tangible aspects; primarily related to physical infrastructure including roads, rail and power plants. However, in addition […]
Read more »Via The Asia Times, a report on what some have referred to as ’Pipelineistan’, but with its Belt and Road Initiative, China is set to be the top game-changer: Azerbaijan held a presidential election this month. Predictably, incumbent leader Ilham Aliyev won his fourth consecutive term with a Kim dynasty-esque 86% of the votes. International monitors […]
Read more »Courtesy of STRATFOR (subscription required), a look at how Central Asia has restructured its economic links over the past decade, as China has outpaced Russia in the region on trade, investment and infrastructure development: Central Asia has undergone a significant economic transformation in recent years as trade and investment in the region have shifted away from […]
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