May 31, 2023: Taiwan: One finger at the button will be German ++++ UN-Menschenrechtsrat fordert Beendigung einseitig verhängter Sanktionen +++ ‚Lula’ da Silva in Beijing +++ ‚Entthronung’ des US-Dollar? +++ Geopolitischer Hotpot im Südchinesischen Meer +++ Civil Society Dialogue in the Context of the Belt and Road Initiative +++ Frisches Geld für Erdölpipeline in Ostafrika +++ Guinea: Joint venture for the world’s largest iron ore mine +++ Wie Beijing die Schuldenkrise managen will +++ China’s Overseas Investment in the Belt and Road Era +++ Quote: China-USA: Hand outstretched or PR?
Tag Archives: Debt
Newsletter 3/2023
March 31, 2023: AUKUS: Rabiater Aufrüstungsschub im Pazifik +++ NATO’s Geostrategic Interests Towards China +++ Competing Peacemakers in Ethiopia +++ Grassroots mobilisation: Piraeus versus COSCO +++ Pakistan: Blame game around Chinese mine +++ Indonesien: Kosten des ‚Grünen Kapitalismus’ +++ Schuldenkrise: Welcome to the Club, Beijing! +++ Lesehinweise: „The Chinese ‚Debt-Trap’ is a Myth“+++ China in Africa: The Alternative
Upgrade for Belt&Road to BRI 3.0?
In the report of General Secretary Xi Jinping for the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Belt&Road was only mentioned in passing. Even in the speeches of other top politicians, the former flagship project, with which the government in Beijing has stirred up the global development discourse since 2013, hardly figures anymore. Some observers therefore already want to declare BRI dead.
Newsletter July/August 2022
Contents: Blog Posts: Taiwan – Der Druck im Kessel steigt // News: Is Beijing betting on the wrong horse in Myanmar? / Due to the debt crisis Beijing is becoming a multilateralist / Weitere Rückenstärkung für Taipeh durch USA und Europa / Beijing verliert in Osteuropa an Boden // Reviews: Western ‘Othering’ of China / Global Views on China and US-China relations
Newsletter April 2022
CONTENT: Blog posts: Ukraine-Russia: Those who are not with us … // News: Greenwashing the Junta in Myanmar / Go Game in the Pacific / China Pakistan Economic Corridor again top priority // Countermovements: Myanmar: Mining / Greece: Piräus / Pakistan: coal power plant // Readings: The complex relationship between China and India in light of Russia’s war in Ukraine / The Specter of Global China revisited.
Merry-go-round in South Asia
In the last week of March, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi was on a whirlwind tour in South Asia, where the relations of several countries with Beijing, and thus the geopolitical constellations, seem to be shifting. After talks in Pakistan, where a serious political crisis is darkening the future of a Belt & Road flagship, the China Pakistan Economic Corridor CPEC, and a fly-by in Kabul, which has already been interpreted as a first step towards recognising the Taliban government, he made a visit to Nepal after a sensational detour into India.
Newsletter January 2022
CONTENT: Posts: Power struggles in Kazakhstan: Putting out the fuse / Military coup in Myanmar 1: Triple Catch-22 for Beijing / The „Digital Silk Road“ in Central Asia (Guest post) // News: China’s Foreign Minister as a fire fighter / Military coup in Myanmar 2: Foreign investments // Reviews: ‚Less brown’: Two reports on Green BRI Investment.
Newsletter December 2021
CONTENTS: Posts: ‘Dual Circulation Strategy’: China’s „new development model“ / Numbers mystique at ChinAfrica Forum // News: Europe’ response to Belt&Road: ‘Global Gateway’ / 20th Anniversary of China’s accession to the World Trade Organisation / Debt debate: Highway to Disinformation? / Frigate ‚Bayern’ demonstrates to Beijing where the hammer is hanging // Readings: Changes in Beijing’s economic involvement: Adaptation and Agency.
Newsletter June 2021
CONTENTS: Blog post: ‘Build Back Better World’, the US-copy of BRI / News: European bailout for Montenegro / Call for boycott of Myanmar’s jade industry // Readings: Chinese Foreign Direct Investment in Europe in 2020 / Chinas technological influence in Southeast Asia through the Digital Silk Road / Environmental Authoritarianism: Review of ‘China goes green’ by Yifei Li and Judith Shapiro.
My borrowers, your borrowers
The narrative of Chinese “debt diplomacy” is rather simplistic: Lending by state-owned banks is not transparent, encourages corruption, and serves primarily Chinese corporations, it goes. This would lead inevitably into a debt trap. It appears as if Beijing’s policy is fundamentally different from the practices of international financial institutions, governments of Western industrialized countries or large commercial banks.