China’s Belt and Road Initiative is booming again

Russia, China, and the Race to Rebuild the Silk Road

Lachie Macfarlan | Europe and Eurasia FellowImage sourced from Prime Minister's Office - Government of India via Wikimedia Commons.For centuries, Central Asia was the connective tissue of the Silk Road, the historic route that moved goods, people and ideas between China, the Middle East and Europe. UNESCO describes these routes as an “interconnected network” linking oasis cities such as Samarkand and Bukhara to the Mediterranean.Today, their mod…

China’s Belt and Road Initiative is booming again

From The Economist America is still the single biggest destination for Chinese exports of goods. Yet its share of China’s shipments has fallen sharply since trade tensions soared during Mr Trump’s first term as president, from nearly 20% in the first nine months of 2018 to less than 12% in the same period this year. The global south is taking up the slack. Year-on-year exports to ten members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN)…