Via Asia Times, a look at Beijing’s hope to connect a Taliban-led Afghanistan with neighboring Pakistan overlooks rising and lethal resistance to the scheme: When suspected militants killed nine Chinese nationals in a blast that sent a bus plunging into a high mountain ravine in northern Pakistan, it marked the latest in a rising string of […]
Read more »Via Silk Road Briefing, a report on Pakistan’s ambition of significant increases in Central Asian trade: Pakistan is looking to increase trade with neighboring Afghanistan and other countries in Central Asia, as it looks to diversify commerce beyond the top global players, the nation’s trade adviser has stated. Abdul Razak Dawood, the commerce adviser to Prime Minister […]
Read more »Via Eurasianet, a report on Central Asia’s efforts to find access to a warm-water port: A top trade priority for Central Asian leaders is access to a warm-water port. Whether they succeed any time soon appears to depend heavily on China. Policy changes and new infrastructure are already easing Central Asia’s comparative isolation from world markets. […]
Read more »Via Upstream Online, a report on Turkmenistan’s recent agreements with Afghanistan to avoid potential attacks on pipeline builders after holding previous meeting with Taliban: Authorities in Turkmenistan are breathing new life into a gas export pipeline project that went cold last year as countries in the region battled the coronavirus pandemic. The TAPI project aims to […]
Read more »Via The Asia Times, a report on how Islamabad’s rhetorical shift to all things ‘geo-economic’ has been influenced by China’s $400 billion plan for neighbouring Iran: When China and Iran recently announced their landmark 25-year economic and security agreement, Pakistan’s military leadership was coincidently touting its new “geo-economic vision” for more infrastructure development and integration in […]
Read more »Via Nikkei Asia, a report on Pakistan’s increasingly desperate measures to revive the Belt and Road’s Gwadar port: Pakistan’s federal and regional governments are taking a series of actions, including giving the status of regional subcapital and promoting tourism, to revive the struggling town of Gwadar, whose port — built and operated by the Chinese — […]
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