China's Belt and Road Initiative in Central Asia and the Middle East

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anchi Hoh
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 035-047
Author(s):  
Marat Shaikhutdinov

The Republic of Turkey has entered what may be the most complicated period in its modern history; its ambitions are on the rise; its final aim to become one of the pillars of the world order is a challenging one. The paper analyzes the present and future of Turkish policy towards the Russian Federation, Central Asia and the People’s Republic of China. Turkey’s relations with Russia can be described as mutually beneficial cooperation in many spheres. The sides demonstrate their skills when compromises are required in complex situations or even conflicts. They are invariably found despite the sides’ diverging interests in the Middle East, the Southern Caucasus and Central Asia. Special attention is heeded to the mid-term prospects of cooperation between Turkey and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) up to Turkey’s possible membership. In Central Asia, Turkey’s strategy relies on essential mechanisms of Turkic integration realized by many means, including the Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States (the Turkic Council), and on the specifics of Turkey’s relationships with each of the five Central Asian states. It seems that trade, economic and investment cooperation between Turkey and the Central Asian states are treated as priorities along with the expected emergence of the Turkic World in the mid-term. In this context, convergence of interests of the Turkic and Eurasian integration is especially important. As could be expected, the paper pays a lot of attention to the Chinese policy towards Turkey and connectivity between the Turkish Middle Corridor and the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. While the contradictions between Turkey and its Western neighbors are growing increasingly vehement, Ankara and Beijing are consolidating their economic, energy, transport and logistic cooperation. At the same time, we should bear in mind that the so-called Uyghur issue is in the way of the otherwise smooth process of rapprochement. Keywords: Republic of Turkey, Russian Federation, EAEU, China, Belt and Road Initiative, Kazakhstan, Middle East, Cooperation Council of Turkic-Speaking States.


Author(s):  
Linda Yueh

China’s emergence as the world’s second-largest economy has transformed the world economy by creating a source of consumers as well as a place for production. As is consistent with becoming a major economy, China has become a net capital exporter, investing more abroad than it receives in inward foreign direct investment. The clearest manifestation of this outward investment is seen in the ‘Going Global’ policy for Chinese firms launched in the early 2000s and in the Belt and Road Initiative that began to invest in infrastructure overseas in 2013. The latter has significant implications for Africa as well as the Middle East, eastern parts of Europe, and South-east and Central Asia. This chapter explores the drivers of China’s emergence as an economic superpower and analyzes its wider potential impact, including on sub-Saharan Africa’s economic development, notably in respect of Chinese infrastructure investment in Kenya.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-57
Author(s):  
Gaziza Shakhanova ◽  
Jeremy Garlick

The Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is a key partner in China’s Belt, and Road Initiative (BRI), since it comprises the majority of territories which the BRI’s overland route, the Silk Road Economic Belt, needs to traverse as it crosses Central Asia on the way to Europe. The goal of this article is to explore the BRI in the context of BRI–EAEU coordination. The first part of the analysis focusses on the ways the Eurasian Economic Commission delineates the “Greater Eurasian Partnership” and counterposes it against China and the BRI. Then, the article compares two sets of interpretations of the BRI and “Greater Eurasian Partnership” obtained from interviews with elites in Kazakhstan and Russia. The interviews indicate that the BRI has had a much more forceful impact on local elites than Russia’s idea of “Greater Eurasian Partnership.”


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-214
Author(s):  
Yoram Evron

In recent years, the ties between Asian powers and Middle Eastern countries have grown significantly, and the consequence of this development is a gradual spin-off of intra-Asian political process to the Middle East. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) provides an intriguing illustration of such a possible spin-off. Japan’s response to BRI is mostly negative but less clear is the possible implications of the China–Japan confrontation over BRI for their interaction with the Middle East. Japan’s responses to the BRI and China’s perceptions thereof can expand the set of factors that shape the two Asian powers’ involvement in that region.


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