News
As local residents question Belt and Road impacts, China and Myanmar remain silent
Chinese investment in projects for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is changing the homes, economies, and environments of people across Myanmar, often in conflict zones. In some cases, those affected by the projects are calling for the government to stop or alter Chinese-backed projects ...
Skylar Lindsay
China winning new Cold War on the Mekong
When the state tabloid China Daily ran a paid advertisement in the New York Times extolling the virtues of Beijing’s proliferating dams in Laos, the piece sparked a new cold war controversy. Entitled “Employment on hydroelectric project in Laos delivers better lives”, the piece stated that ...
China’s Belt and Road Initiative criticised for poor standards and ‘wasteful’ spending
China’s massive infrastructure spending in Southeast Asian nations under the Belt and Road Initiative has run into a series of problems including substandard work and money wasted on unprofitable projects, a new report has warned. The Belt and Road Initiative, launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping ...
Teddy Ng
Survey: Less coal, more solar, say citizens of Belt & Road countries
Citizens of countries participating in China’s Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, strongly prefer clean energy over the coal projects that have become Beijing’s calling card, a new survey shows. The findings, from a multi-country survey, commissioned by environmental group E3G, were published ahead of an international forum hosted in ...
Hans Nicholas Jong
Opposition to Myitsone Dam Will Be Outgoing Chinese Ambassador’s Chief Legacy
It has been a busy week for the Chinese ambassador to Myanmar. Just a week after Beijing hosted the 2nd Belt and Road (BRI) forum, Hong Liang has been bustling around the government offices in Naypyitaw attending a series of meetings since Monday. So far, he ...
Nan Lwin
Lao newspaper says BRI strengthens Laos-China ties
The friendship between Laos and China has reached new heights with the two neighboring nations’ commitment to a shared future, and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is strengthening Laos-China relations, local daily Vientiane Times’ editorial desk commented in an opinion article on Monday. Since the ...
Where the Silk Roads meet the mighty Mekong
Welcome to the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor, one of the key planks of the New Silk Roads, or Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The apparition on the Mekong is an under-construction bridge, part of the 420 km-long, US$6 billion worth high-speed railway connecting Kunming, in Yunnan ...
Pepe Escobar
Is China meeting its international environmental and human rights obligations on BRI?
On Thursday, April 25, 2019, Chinese President Xi Jinping will deliver the keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Second Belt and Road Forum (BRF) for International Cooperation in Beijing. Heads of state and other senior government officials from 37 governments will attend, including representatives from ...
Oliver Ward
Will China Undermine Its Own Influence in Southeast Asia Through the Belt and Road?
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is China’s grand plan to revive ancient trading routes over both land and sea. Since its inception in late 2013, how China has influenced Southeast Asia through the BRI has become central to the debate on China’s keynote global outreach ...
Xue Gong
China’s Six Belt and Road Projects in Myanmar to Watch in 2019
The Myanmar government recently agreed to begin work on key projects under the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) agreement which is part of Chinese’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative. Experts, including voices from the World Bank, have pointed out that Myanmar’s growth will largely depend on ...
