Belt and Road

Research and Insights

Geopolitics

Belt and Road

China’s global port politics, with Clark Banach and Jacob Gunter

Podcast

Nov 07, 2024

The first cargo ship of COSCO Shipping's "Yantai - Southeast Asia" container line loads containers at Yantai Port in Yantai, Shandong province, China, August 15, 2024.

Mapping China’s global port network: on the backfoot in 2024, but still well entrenched

Clark Banach

Jacob Gunter

Comment

Nov 07, 2024

Chinese investments in European non-maritime transport infrastructure (European Parliament)

Jacob Gunter

Francesca Ghiretti

Gregor Sebastian

Plamen Tonchev

External publication

Dec 12, 2023

picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS | Louise Delmotte

Don’t count on China’s Belt and Road Initiative to disappear

Jacob Gunter

Comment

Nov 01, 2023

A decade of the Belt and Road Initiative, with Clark Banach and Jacob Gunter

Podcast

Oct 20, 2023

China Inc is recalibrating its approach to its overseas footprint as the BRI turns 10 years old

Jacob Gunter

Aya Adachi

Francesca Ghiretti

Gregor Sebastian

China Global Competition Tracker

Sep 27, 2023

Rethinking China's Belt and Road (Deutsche Welle)

Francesca Ghiretti

External publication

May 20, 2023

A train pulls into Dongwu port District to carry an inbound iron ore unloaded by a foreign ship in Putian, Fujian province, China, Sept 29, 2022

Europe's competition with China in third markets

Jacob Gunter

Aya Adachi

Francesca Ghiretti

China Global Competition Tracker

Dec 14, 2022

After the Party Congress, where is the Belt and Road Initiative going?

Francesca Ghiretti

Comment

Nov 11, 2022

22nd Summit of SCO Council of Heads of State in Samarkand

Xis global engagements outside "Fortress China" in Q3

Aya Adachi

Jacob Gunter

Francesca Ghiretti

China Global Competition Tracker

Sep 30, 2022

A large number of vehicles for export goods are waiting to be loaded at The port of Yantai, East China's Shandong Province.

Economic stress has repercussions for China's ambitions

Aya Adachi

Jacob Gunter

Jacob Mardell

China Global Competition Tracker

Jul 07, 2022

The BRI and the war in Ukraine, with Francesca Ghiretti and Jacob Mardell

Podcast

May 27, 2022

MERICS Global China Inc. Tracker

Francesca Ghiretti

Jacob Gunter

Jacob Mardell

China Global Competition Tracker

Mar 30, 2022

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen talks to media at the end of the weekly EU Commission meeting, in the Berlaymont, the EU Commission headquarter on December 1, 2021 in Brussels, Belgium.

Global Gateway: playing “catch-up” with China or a chance for change?

Francesca Ghiretti

Grzegorz Stec

Comment

Jan 10, 2022

China is securing battery metals on the global stage

Jacob Mardell

China Global Competition Tracker

Dec 16, 2021

MERICS Global China Inc. Tracker

Jacob Mardell

China Global Competition Tracker

Dec 16, 2021

COSCO takes stake in Hamburg Port terminal

Jacob Mardell

Giovanni Giamello

China Global Competition Tracker

Sep 30, 2021

MERICS Global China Inc. Tracker

Jacob Mardell

Giovanni Giamello

China Global Competition Tracker

Sep 30, 2021

The Belt and Road Initiative promoted China's image on the global stage (Deutschlandfunk)

Jan Weidenfeld

Interview

Aug 09, 2021

EU-China Opinion Pool: The new EU connectivity initiative - Defining success

Janka Oertel

Sven Biscop

Jakub Jakóbowski

Grzegorz Stec

Maaike Okano-Heijmans

Comment

Aug 05, 2021

The EU’s new connectivity agenda – What (not) to learn from the Belt and Road Initiative?

Jacob Mardell

Grzegorz Stec

MERICS Europe China 360°

Jul 29, 2021

Competing with China's Belt and Road Initiative

Jacob Mardell

China Global Competition Tracker

Jun 17, 2021

MERICS Global China Inc. Tracker

Jacob Mardell

Juliana Bouchaud

China Global Competition Tracker

Jun 17, 2021

Beijing fills gaps left by Brussels in the Western Balkans

Jacob Mardell

China Global Competition Tracker

Mar 18, 2021

Aerial view of colorful freight trains in North China

MERICS Global China Inc. Tracker

Jacob Mardell

China Global Competition Tracker

Mar 17, 2021

The Two Faces of the China Model. BRI in Southeast Asia.

Matt Ferchen

External publication

Jan 15, 2021

The BRI in Latin America

Matt Ferchen

External publication

Jan 15, 2021

Chinese medical experts arrive in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Aug. 4, 2020.

China’s global healthcare ambitions: Gaining influence on the international stage

Jacob Mardell

Comment

Nov 26, 2020

Chinese-aided Children's Hospital of Diamniadio, Senegal, receives donated medical supplies on June 19, 2020.

China’s “Health Silk Road”: Adapting the BRI to a pandemic-era world

Jacob Mardell

Comment

Nov 25, 2020

Two new crown inactivated vaccine by the national medicine group China biological.

China’s vaccine diplomacy assumes geopolitical importance

Jacob Mardell

Comment

Nov 24, 2020

Two cooling towers of the Sahiwal Coal Power plant

Plamen Tonchev on "greening" the Belt and Road Initiative

Interview

Oct 22, 2020

All roads lead to Beijing (Edition - Le Monde Diplomatique)

Jan Weidenfeld

Claudia Wessling

External publication

Oct 13, 2020

China-Venezuela Relations in the Twenty-First Century (USIP Special Report)

Matt Ferchen

Sep 29, 2020

Padma Bridge in Bangladesh, constructed by China Major Bridge Engineering Company

The BRI in Bangladesh: Walking the tightrope between Beijing and Delhi

Jacob Mardell

Comment

Aug 11, 2020

The BRI in Pakistan: China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

The BRI in Pakistan: China’s flagship economic corridor

Jacob Mardell

China Global Competition Tracker

May 20, 2020

The Digital Silk Road is a development issue

Rebecca Arcesati

Comment

Apr 28, 2020

Beijing’s understanding of development assistance is fundamentally different from that of OECD countries.

Matt Ferchen: "In many developing countries, China is the only option available"

Podcast

Mar 24, 2020

China’s Central Asian connection

Oyuna Baldakova

Comment

Feb 06, 2020

Toasting pine nuts – the China-Afghan air corridor turns one

Barbara Kelemen

Comment

Jan 13, 2020

Bridge under construction by CRBC in Kyrgyzstan.

China building roads and bridges in Kyrgyzstan: A project fueled by ambition

Jacob Mardell

Comment

Dec 17, 2019

Protests along the BRI: China’s prestige project meets growing resistance

Oyuna Baldakova

Comment

Dec 10, 2019

Chen Xiangming on the China-Europe Freight Train

Podcast

Oct 31, 2019

On the "Middle Corridor," China is largely absent

Jacob Mardell

Comment

Oct 25, 2019

Adnan Aamir on the BRI in Pakistan

Podcast

Sep 25, 2019

Networking the “Belt and Road” - The future is digital

Thomas S. Eder

Rebecca Arcesati

Jacob Mardell

China Global Competition Tracker

Aug 28, 2019

China's BRI on the ground: The Moraca bridge project in Montenegro is built and financed by China.

Brussels makes way for Beijing in the Balkans

Jacob Mardell

Comment

Jul 04, 2019

Powering the Belt and Road

Thomas S. Eder

Jacob Mardell

China Global Competition Tracker

Jun 27, 2019

What China's rise means for Europe - Kristin Shi-Kupfer at "scobel" (3sat)

Prof. Dr. Kristin Shi-Kupfer

Jun 07, 2019

Belgrade briefings on bossy Brussels and benevolent Beijing

Jacob Mardell

Comment

May 20, 2019

The Great Stone Industrial Park outsite Minsk

Big, empty, but full of promise? The Great Stone industrial park in Minsk

Jacob Mardell

Comment

Apr 29, 2019

Belt and Road Forum: “Chinese companies are clearly the main beneficiaries of BRI projects”

Press release

Apr 24, 2019

The first direct freight train running from Britain to China arrives at Yiwu West Station in Yiwu city, east China's Zhejiang province, 29 April 2017.

EU-China rail freight: Trade infrastructure investment or propaganda tool?

Jacob Mardell

Comment

Apr 15, 2019

Exploring the physical reality of the "Belt and Road"

Jacob Mardell

Comment

Apr 02, 2019

Italy’s BRI blunder (Project Syndicate)

Lucrezia Poggetti

Mar 21, 2019

Italy’s minister for economic development, Luigi Di Maio, at the Daci temple in Chengdu (September 2018) making preparations for Xi Jinping’s state visit to Italy.

Xi Jinping in Europe: Italy embraces BRI as Europe pushes back against Beijing

Mar 21, 2019

Xi Jinping heads to Europe: “This could be a watershed moment for Italy's China policy”

Press release

Mar 19, 2019

The Bar-Boljare Highway linking Montenegro’s Adriatic coast to Serbia is built with a Chinese loan. The ambitious project has added fuel to the debate about debt risks associated with the BRI.

Traveling 60,000 kilometers across China’s Belt and Road

Jacob Mardell

Comment

Feb 12, 2019

Section of the TAZARA railway, whose construction in the 1960s and 1970s was made possible by a Chinese loan.

Greening China’s Belt and Road in Africa

Lauren A. Johnston

Comment

Dec 21, 2018

Chinese producers of electric vehicles' batteries are holding a front-row position as suppliers.

China’s battery industry is powering up for global competition

Anna Holzmann

Comment

Oct 24, 2018

Chinese mercenaries are tightening security on the Belt and Road

Helena Legarda

Comment

Oct 19, 2018

After 46 years of strategic partnership between China and Pakistan, there is little reason to doubt either side’s commitment to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The BRI in Pakistan: Too big to fail

Jacob Mardell

Thomas S. Eder

Comment

Sep 20, 2018

Sculptures of giant panda and African elephant are installed in Beijing to mark the upcoming Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on September 3 and 4.

China owns the stage in Africa

Sabine Mokry

Comment

Aug 31, 2018

China as a conflict mediator

Helena Legarda

Comment

Aug 22, 2018

Guardians of the Belt and Road

Helena Legarda

Meia Nouwens

Report

Aug 16, 2018

Experts on Belt and Road

Rebecca Arcesati

Lead Analyst (Brussels office)

Digital Silk Road; artificial intelligence; technology and innovation in Europe-China relations

Jacob Gunter

Lead Analyst

China's political economy; Industrial policy; Innovation

Belt and Road

China’s global port politics, with Clark Banach and Jacob Gunter

Mapping China’s global port network: on the backfoot in 2024, but still well entrenched

Chinese investments in European non-maritime transport infrastructure (European Parliament)

Don’t count on China’s Belt and Road Initiative to disappear

A decade of the Belt and Road Initiative, with Clark Banach and Jacob Gunter

China Inc is recalibrating its approach to its overseas footprint as the BRI turns 10 years old

Rethinking China's Belt and Road (Deutsche Welle)

Europe's competition with China in third markets

After the Party Congress, where is the Belt and Road Initiative going?

Xis global engagements outside "Fortress China" in Q3

Economic stress has repercussions for China's ambitions

The BRI and the war in Ukraine, with Francesca Ghiretti and Jacob Mardell

MERICS Global China Inc. Tracker

Global Gateway: playing “catch-up” with China or a chance for change?

China is securing battery metals on the global stage

MERICS Global China Inc. Tracker

COSCO takes stake in Hamburg Port terminal

MERICS Global China Inc. Tracker

The Belt and Road Initiative promoted China's image on the global stage (Deutschlandfunk)

EU-China Opinion Pool: The new EU connectivity initiative - Defining success

The EU’s new connectivity agenda – What (not) to learn from the Belt and Road Initiative?

Competing with China's Belt and Road Initiative

MERICS Global China Inc. Tracker

Beijing fills gaps left by Brussels in the Western Balkans

MERICS Global China Inc. Tracker

The Two Faces of the China Model. BRI in Southeast Asia.

The BRI in Latin America

China’s global healthcare ambitions: Gaining influence on the international stage

China’s “Health Silk Road”: Adapting the BRI to a pandemic-era world

China’s vaccine diplomacy assumes geopolitical importance

Plamen Tonchev on "greening" the Belt and Road Initiative

All roads lead to Beijing (Edition - Le Monde Diplomatique)

China-Venezuela Relations in the Twenty-First Century (USIP Special Report)

The BRI in Bangladesh: Walking the tightrope between Beijing and Delhi

The BRI in Pakistan: China’s flagship economic corridor

The Digital Silk Road is a development issue

Matt Ferchen: "In many developing countries, China is the only option available"

China’s Central Asian connection

Toasting pine nuts – the China-Afghan air corridor turns one

China building roads and bridges in Kyrgyzstan: A project fueled by ambition

Protests along the BRI: China’s prestige project meets growing resistance

Chen Xiangming on the China-Europe Freight Train

On the "Middle Corridor," China is largely absent

Adnan Aamir on the BRI in Pakistan

​Networking the “Belt and Road” - The future is digital

Brussels makes way for Beijing in the Balkans

Powering the Belt and Road

What China's rise means for Europe - Kristin Shi-Kupfer at "scobel" (3sat)

Belgrade briefings on bossy Brussels and benevolent Beijing

Big, empty, but full of promise? The Great Stone industrial park in Minsk

Belt and Road Forum: “Chinese companies are clearly the main beneficiaries of BRI projects”

EU-China rail freight: Trade infrastructure investment or propaganda tool?

Exploring the physical reality of the "Belt and Road"

Italy’s BRI blunder (Project Syndicate)

Xi Jinping in Europe: Italy embraces BRI as Europe pushes back against Beijing

Xi Jinping heads to Europe: “This could be a watershed moment for Italy's China policy”

Traveling 60,000 kilometers across China’s Belt and Road

Greening China’s Belt and Road in Africa

China’s battery industry is powering up for global competition

Chinese mercenaries are tightening security on the Belt and Road

The BRI in Pakistan: Too big to fail

China owns the stage in Africa

China as a conflict mediator

Guardians of the Belt and Road

Rebecca Arcesati

Jacob Gunter

Become a member

Data policy push + SME financing + Green hydrogen

Networking the “Belt and Road” - The future is digital