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Standing at a key juncture in a historical rise, China needs to show the appeal of its ideas and establish deep mutual understanding with the world.

Of the 20 agreements signed between Nepal and China, four of the agreements have strong security components that aim at developing greater engagements

Nepal and India must work towards reducing their differences. Otherwise, the growing distance could prove counterproductive to the interests of both t

China’s military modernisation has been striking both for its pace and ambition.

How President Tokayev walks the tightrope in the coming months will determine the fate of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, to which, Cent

The Belt and Road Initiative and the “free and open” Indo-Pacific are competing initiatives. However, the real choice will be made by developing s

S. Jaishankar's visit to Bhutan is timely and hopes to check China’s growing influence in the region.

We should not play down the geopolitical consequences of the Chinese-led globalization that BRI v.2.0 represents.

The BRI is fast evolving from a patchwork of infrastructure investments to an alternative model for the international system centered around Beijing.

The role of the ‘small’ actors as leaders has been critical in lowering confrontations between the great powers in the Arctic. This has allowed th

Policy influencers and diplomats will have to find a way to market private investments in an appealing manner for all stakeholders involved.

As the challenges facing China’s BRI multiply, the initiative’s links to international financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the AIIB

The anticipated economic and strategic windfall from environmental change in the Arctic has spurred China to officially enunciate an Arctic policy. Ke

Gone are the days, when Latin America used to be an insignificant region for China, over fears of antagonising the US. Today, Latin America has outpac

The dragon has officially risen. But as China spreads its reach and influence beyond its borders through the Belt and Road Initiative, implementation

The rise of BRI is directly proportional to American strategic confusion in Asia.

Trump is a short-term problem. The China challenge — on the other hand — is a continuing and long-term problem.

The BRI initiative sits perfectly to balance two strategic objectives by leveraging China’s economic might and using it as in instrument to advance

Chinese and not Indian firms will become more prominent in the neighbourhood, cashing in on their willingness and urgency to join OBOR.

China expects to sign BRI agreements with nearly 20 countries and more than 20 international organisations at the forum.

Cherry-pick the BRI and look for business opportunities that can be fruitfully exploited

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is central to the country’s ambitious policy reorientation. The energy sector accounts for nearly 40 percent of all investments under the BRI, with significant geostrategic and geoeconomic implications. In recent years, China has adopted a “greening the BRI” strategy, emphasising green energy projects. This brief analyses China’s BRI investments in the energy sector to establish the potential trend

Over the last two decades, China has established a significant economic presence in most African countries. Its lucrative economic investment package, flexible political approach, and focused big-ticket development projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) provide an ostensibly massive opportunity to African countries. However, the unilateral nature of the initiative, the lack of transparency and accountability to African countries, and t

The Narendra Modi government's decision to boycott the Belt and Road Initiative Forum in China constitutes one of the three biggest Indian foreign policy risks in recent memory.

China doesn’t have the money to fulfill its infrastructure-building ambitions. That doesn’t mean the West should pay up.

For the moment, it is Southeast Asia and Central Asia that are at the centre of BRI and that have embraced the project wholeheartedly

With a number of African countries reworking their energy basket, Beijing could emerge as the partner country of choice

As geopolitical tensions rise, African nations are increasingly aligning with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Global Security Initiative. The framework, which promotes non-interference, respecting sovereignty, and development-focused security, is appealing to African countries as an alternative to Western-led interventions. Through military cooperation, peacekeeping missions, counterterrorism assistance, and non-conditional security aid, among o

China is showing Nepal that the Himalayas may not be a trade barrier for rail-based trade with Asia or Europe or even maritime trade through the South China Sea. The landlocked country is now actively considering the use of alternative routes from India’s sea ports to China’s, once its roads and rails log into the BRI. This brief examines three learnings from Nepal’s growing engagement with China through the Belt and Road International Trad

Nepal signed the framework agreement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with China in May 2017. Of the initial 35 projects that Nepal had proposed, the final number eventually came down to nine. Seven years later, none of the BRI projects have been completed. In 2023, the tenth year of the BRI, controversies surrounding China’s attempt to co-opt even ‘non-BRI’ projects under the framework, and Nepal’s efforts to secure more grants inst

China has twice broached the matter of expanding the membership of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa): first, at the 2017 Xiamen Summit, and again, more recently, at the 14th BRICS Leaders’ Meeting in June 2022 convened virtually under the chairmanship of Beijing. With China and India locked in a stalemate along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Chinese proposal has raised concerns in New Delhi. This brief examine

Since 1991, New Delhi's ties with the Central Asian countries have developed slowly despite a shared culture and trade links via the ancient Silk Road

Over the last five years, Brexit, the victory of Donald Trump in the US and the assumption of power by Xi Jinping in China, the seizure of Crimea and the Ukrainian crisis, the South China Sea disputes, and the emerging Iran crisis, have all helped upend the world order. Amidst these crises, the surge of Chinese acquisitions and investments in Europe did not draw much attention. The acrimony, however, between China and the US on trade and industri

Iran and Saudi Arabia resumed bilateral relations in March 2023, following a deal brokered by China and ending a hiatus of seven years. The diplomatic breakthrough underlined Beijing’s political inroads into the Middle East. Indeed, China’s relations with Iran have grown in recent years due to an alignment in their geopolitical interests, while China-Saudi Arabia relations have also notably strengthened. The deepening of the strategic partner

Beijing's expanding footprint in this oil-rich region has set the stage for a competition with Washington

China, a late entrant in Latin America, has now emerged as the region’s major economic partner. Bilateral trade between the two stands today at more than USD 200 billion. By augmenting investments and trade in Latin America, Beijing has managed to project itself as an alternative to the United States, which had previously enjoyed overarching influence in the region. The US’ inability to lead Latin America into a path of sustainable econ

The last India-Africa Forum Summit took place in New Delhi way back in 2015, and significant shifts in global geopolitics and geoeconomics have occurred since then.