Courtesy of Nikkei Asia, a report on China BRI, and whether the Pakistan, Sri Lanka debt crises threaten Beijing’s regional influence: The drive to Pakistan’s port of Gwadar takes seven and a half hours from Karachi via the Makran coastal highway. Much of the 600-km route is deserted, with no restaurants, restrooms or even fuel stations. […]
Read more »Via the Carnegie Endowment, commentary that Bangladesh and Nepal are not destined to repeat Sri Lanka’s mistakes due to their vastly different approaches to debt and China: South Asia is in trouble. The economic crisis in Sri Lanka has led to an uprising ousting the government, with crowds taking over the president’s office and residence. The country has defaulted on […]
Read more »Via the Geopolitical Monitor, an article on India’a challenge to China’s BRI in Asia: Over the past few years, and most notably during recent border clashes in Ladakh’s Galwan valley, China-India relations have been visibly more acrimonious, confusing, and inimical in diplomatic and military domains, despite their huge mutual business interests. In 2021, trade between the […]
Read more »Courtesy of the Wall Street Journal, a look at Somaliland’s commitment to Taiwan: Shortly after a fire destroyed the biggest market in this independence-minded region of Somalia, a senior Chinese diplomat asked permission to visit to pay his respects. Fei Shengchao, Beijing’s ambassador to Somalia, told Somaliland authorities he wanted to discuss how China could […]
Read more »Via The Diplomat, a report on the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor ‘Plus’ Initiative: Just over a month after China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Myanmar and announced that a China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) Plus initiative would be explored at a proper time, there have unsurprisingly been no further details released by Chinese officials or Myanmar’s military-led State Administration Council (SAC) […]
Read more »Via The National Interest, commentary on how the United States is willingly missing a window of opportunity to engage with Africa economically, socially, and politically—and when this window closes, it will not reopen easily: The United States has a limited window of opportunity to engage with African countries economically, politically, and socially before the entire continent […]
Read more »