BRI

From the global industrial chain to the Belt and Road Initiative, China's interactions with the world is markedly changing due to the Covid-19 outbreak. East Asian Institute’s senior research fellow Yu Hong says that as the impacts of globalisation are magnified during the pandemic, the world will be reconsidering the consequences of its over-reliance on and deeply entrenched links with China. But are alternatives available?

Singaporean candidate Daren Tang, chief executive of the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, won the nomination for the post of the new director general of the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) on 4 March, pipping the Chinese deputy director general to the post. Chinese professor Zhu Ying analyses the push back from the US amid China’s rising influence in various UN bodies.

Professor Andrew Delios shares the possible outcomes of the BRI, from fulfilling strategic objectives to the Red Scare Scenario. To find out which is the most likely, he says we must first consider if the BRI is just a series of road, rail and ocean linkages across nations. And what is the point of a route of transportation, without a destination? He finds the answers in China's economic zones.

With their complementary strengths, China and Singapore can undertake Singapore-China projects that meet the needs of developing countries, says academic Gu Qingyang. Among other things, he suggests that the two countries can establish a third-party market cooperation and coordination mechanism to turn the BRI into a platform for win-win global collaboration.

In this two-part article, prominent Hong Kong commentator and columnist Yang Jinlin assesses Chongqing’s strengths such as its strategic location and expertise in smart city building and waste management while sharing his personal reflections on how the megacity has changed and will continue to grow as it moves from one decade to the next. Read about Raffles City Chongqing, a 2019 project by CapitaLand Limited, and Chongqing's web in this first part.

China's latest BRI railway project through Laos, connecting northern Thailand to China's southwestern province of Yunnan, has the potential to facilitate China's shipment of goods to the markets of mainland Southeast Asia. However, international attention is focused on the more than US$1.5 billion combined debt exposure that Laos has racked up for the railway project, with the prospect of national resources such as "underground mineral resources" being used as collateral for loan financing. Time will tell if the economic benefits for Laos will outweigh the costs.

China's Amity Printing Co. (APC) produces an average of 70 Bibles per minute. This month, Jiangsu-based APC celebrates the printing of its 200 millionth Bible. Yang Danxu observes that its monopoly over the Bible economy helps to ensure that Christianity in China adapts to the context in China, as desired by the Chinese government.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is extending all over the world, including the little country of Timor-Leste, situated between Indonesia and Australia. How is China’s influence perceived there, and how are the locals reacting? Sim Tze Wei finds out.

Vietnam is a rising star amongst Southeast Asian economies. Its GDP totalled US$238.5 billion in 2018 and its economy grew more than 7%, the fastest it has grown since the 2008 global financial crisis. Many said Vietnam is benefiting from the China-US trade war and stands to gain from Chinese investments and the BRI. But what is the reality? Researcher Yu Hong was in Vietnam to find out.