Jacob Mardell is editorial coordinator for a China-focused media project at German NGO n-ost. His research focus is China’s global economic engagement, and he has traveled extensively in Eurasia reporting on China’s Belt and Road Initiative. He also worked for several years as an analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin.
The third Belt and Road Forum concluded on Wednesday. During the two-day forum, Chinese President Xi Jinping sought to frame the Belt and Road Initiative as part of a greater struggle against colonialism and developmental injustice.
Beijing aspires to a leading position on the high seas. This has made multiple countries uncomfortable, for different reasons.
The “green silk road” is a sustainability-flavored subtheme to the Belt and Road Initiative, designed to burnish Beijing’s green credentials and advance its claims to global leadership on environmental topics. It is also contributing to a wealth of renewable energy projects in Central Asia.
China wants to "tell its story well," but is that possible in a region where Sinophobia runs deep?
The BRI is a complex, catchall brand that covers a diffuse array of strategic goals. But if we were forced to identify one, single driving force behind the Belt and Road Initiative, it would be Chinese state-owned enterprises and their pursuit of revenue.
The German government's recently released "Strategy on China" has struck a balance between the country's more pro-China business interests and the China-skeptic foreign policy establishment. While it is only a position paper, there is reason to believe that it marks an important milestone and irreversible shift in wider European relations with China.
Brazil is holding a historic presidential runoff on October 30. Here's what a win for either candidate will mean for the Brazil-China relationship.
Chinese vaccines against COVID-19 are providing low- and middle-income countries with solutions in a time of need. They have helped fill a void left by Europe and the U.S.