The Implications of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor for Pakistan-European Union Relations

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) holds the potential to transform Pakistan along with its turbulent regional environment. In the short run, the multiple networks of infrastructure that the project provides will eventually improve Pakistan-European Union (EU) trade. Moreover, while the CPEC is unlikely to bring an immediate strategic shift in the bilateral dialogue, which is particularly lacking in political dynamics, its long-run promises can help to foster such dynamics. The project, if successful, can help Pakistan to establish a peaceful domestic environment and subsequently promote the country’s fresh image to reverse its softpower losses in Europe and beyond. This paper investigates contemporary Pakistan-EU relations, which have so far attracted little attention from international relations scholars. It presents the bilateral dynamics in the context of the CPEC, which is an unprecedented investment by China in Pakistan. The paper concludes by shedding light on the differences between China’s and the EU’s strategies vis-à-vis Pakistan. Despite the fact that the study focuses on one particular South Asian state, it can serve as a case study for the comparative analysis of China’s and the EU’s presence in third countries, especially those that, like Pakistan, have joined the Belt and Road Initiative.

The Great Missing One. India and the Belt and Road Initiative

The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), popularly known as the New Silk Road, from the moment of initiation, arouses interest of researchers and policy makers. Due to its scale and multidimensionality, this initiative potentially may help to reconstruct or at least deeply change the world order. The bold ambitions of China create not only impresses but also concerns many countries, including the equally ambitious emerging superpower - India. The aim of the article is to analyze India’s reactions to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative.

Impact of the “Belt and Road” Initiative on the Natural Environment

The article aims (1) to describe the ambiguities around the definition of BRI; (2) propose a simplified and generalised typology of RDI infrastructure; (3) analyse Chinese documents on “greening” projects under the “Belt and Road” Initiative; (4) describe the initiative’s impact on the environment; (5) describe the role of social and economic factors influencing the environment of RDI and sustainable development policy. The article contributes to the discussion on the environmental impact of the Belt and Road Initiative and further interdisciplinary research – considering the multifaceted nature of this cross-border initiative. It is crucial as the impact of BRI is likely to be felt for generations after it is completed worldwide. The article uses the following research methods: the method of institutional and legal analysis (to present the institutional and legal foundations of the Green Silk Road); the method of collecting and observing facts, as well as the method of synthesis and analysis.

The aim of the article is (1) to describe the evaluation during the RDI initiative; (2) analysis of Chinese documents on “greening” projects under the Belt and Road initiative; (3) describe the impact of the initiative on the environment; (4) describing the role of socio-economic factors influencing the environment of RDI and sustainable development policy; (5) issuing recommendations and recommendations for the PRC. The article may contribute to intensifying the discussion on the environmental impact of the Belt and Road Initiative and to carrying out further interdisciplinary research – taking into account the multifaceted nature of this cross-border initiative. This is crucial as the impact of BRI is likely to be felt for generations after it is completed worldwide.

The study deals with China’s trade and Economic cooperation in the Horn of Africa. This research aims to focus on infrastructural development in the region under China’s Belt and Road Initiative framework. Further, the central purpose of this research is to discuss Chinese investment in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia. The research uses a qualitative analysis approach to discuss the research problems and tries to find out core findings. The following question deals with this study, how does China expand its trade and investment in the Horn of Africa? To what extent has China developed ties with the Horn of African countries in the context of BRI projects? As a result, China has developed a strong stance in the Horn of Africa in the context of trade and investment. This study concludes that China has enormous challenges within these countries to manage interstate issues for security purposes that are necessary for the success of infrastructure development and other BRI-related projects.

The aim of this research is to describe China’s Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) in the context of broader economic cooperation among the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC). This research investigates the infrastructural development in the CEE countries under the 17+1 initiative in the entire region. Further, this study explores different approaches of economic cooperation between CEEC and China and points out the Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) in individual CEE-17 countries. What kind of cooperation and mutual interrelation does China’s economic cooperation develop with the member states of the 17+1 initiative? To what extent do the CEE countries transform their economy in the framework of the 17+1 project? It is very clear that China needs to develop more effective mechanisms for wider cooperation in CEE countries to achieve the goal of the BRI initiative. This research mainly produces empirical studies to investigate the objectives and hypotheses. As of now, the result of the BRI initiative and 17+1 framework projects impacted limited economic transition in the CEE countries. The article concludes that there is a need to accelerate different BRI projects proportionally in the CEE countries. Moreover, this study shows that there is a trade deficit between the CEE countries and China. This article indicates that as a recommendation for bilateral cooperation between CEE countries and China, there is a need for large levels of cooperation at the regional level.

This article examines Chinese-Philippine cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This is an intriguing issue because, in 2016, many people predicted that China would exclude the Philippines from the BRI framework due to their dispute over the Scarborough Shoal. Former Philippine President Benigno Aquino III had criticized China’s South China Sea maritime expansion, but Duterte changed the country’s foreign policy in 2016. He followed China’s advice and moved forward, resolving differences between the two countries and developing a healthy bilateral relationship. This article found that the BRI framework is critical in this shift in diplomatic relations. China and the Philippines’ interdependence, as well as the shift in identity from an enemy to a partner, have both contributed to the improvement of China-Philippines relations.

Belt and Road Initiative in a View of the Polish Press

This study analysed how the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is presented in the Polish press through language use in media discourse based on Jef Verschueren’s Language Adaptation Theory and corpus analysis. Antconc software has been used to distinguish the frequency of lexemes and expressions. The complexity of the Polish language and contexts require manual verification of the results. The number of writings about Belt and Road projects is fairly small. The sample consists of 103 articles categorised into four groups: general press, political press, education institution press, and business press. Articles refer to the period of 2015–2019, as the recent three years of the COVID-19 and war in Ukraine took the press’ focus away from the BRI. Corpus analysis shows a positive approach to the Best and Road Initiative dominates all press groups. Most lexemes are equally dispersed among all press categories with a slight predominance of caution suggested by authors in education institution press. The hypothesis was further confirmed in the light of Verschueren’s Theory, where the study presents examples of press language as a dynamic process of mutual adaptation between linguistic structure and context, at different levels of salience.

Global competition and the fate of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the world

China’s contemporary Belt and Road Initiative (the “New Silk Road”) as the leading idea of China’s foreign policy in the President’s Xi Jinping era is an attempt to continue the unique tradition of the historical Silk Road. However, in the conditions of the present day, the great ideas of the Silk Road have to face in reality the challenges of the modern global world. The author shows the contemporary challenges (internal and external) facing international projects of the Belt and Road Initiative, and becoming their typical problems. The article could be used to formulate many multi-threaded conclusions, but in the end, the hope preveils that if the ideas of the Belt and Road were liberated from the context of global political competition, humanity would gain enormously. The conditions for accelerated economic growth would be created, promoting the idea of expansion based on peaceful cooperation, which – in the current era of tensions, unrest and a number of war outbreaks in the world – is particularly needed.