#China
What 2021 Tells Us About the Future of China-CEE Relations
The year gone by was a tumultuous one for Europe’s relations with China, to say the least. With the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) put on hold, a round of sanctions imposed on China…
Voice for CHOICE #13: Examining China’s CEE Investment Aims with Ágnes Szunomár
Via the 16+1 platform, the Belt and Road, the Digital Silk Road, and more, there is no shortage of Chinese investment initiatives touching the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. This includes infrastructure projects…
Expert Roundtable: The Impacts of China-Funded Projects in the Western Balkans
The EU future for the countries in Western Balkans has recently been challenged. This ambiguity has offered an opening to non-European actors eager to exert influence and exploit openings in the region, including China.…
What the Global North Doesn’t Understand about Sino-Latin American Relations
On December 1, the mayor of Bogotá, Claudia Lopez, sat down with representatives of the Chinese pharmaceutical company Walvax Biotechnology for talks about setting up a joint operation to produce vaccines in the Colombian…
Vatican’s Rapprochement with China, Three Years On
Recently, Pope Francis, who is often reticent to speak on the Vatican’s China policy, offered his comment to Radio COPE on that very subject. In his comments, the pontiff defended the rationale behind the…
China’s “Strategic Silence” on the Poland-Belarus Border Crisis
This article is part of a series of articles authored by young, aspiring China scholars under the Future CHOICE initiative. At the beginning of December, Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko signed Directive No.9, a law aimed…
Editors’ CHOICE: Best of 2021
It has been a busy year in China-CEE relations, to say the least. Whether it be the burgeoning ties to Taiwan raising Beijing’s ire, the 17+1 platform underperforming in President Xi’s first appearance, or…
China Pulls the Economic Coercion Card Against Lithuania
In early December, Lithuanian companies began to sense the extent of the economic price they might pay for the diplomatic row between Vilnius and Beijing. What initially appeared as a moderate diplomatic response was…
The Sino-Lithuanian Diplomatic Standoff Escalates
One year after entering office with a promise of an ambitious values-based foreign policy, the Lithuanian government is indeed creating ripples on the global stage. Most prominently, Vilnius’ decision to leave China’s 17+1 format…
Can the EU Really Re-engage with China?
After a difficult year, Brussels appears to be attempting to mend fences with China and reestablish a dialogue. Since September, the key word in Brussels has been “re-engage”. What re-engage means and how it…
Western Sanctions on Belarus’s Potash Industry Test Beijing-Minsk Partnership
At the beginning of September, the Belarusian news outlet Nasha Niva revealed that due to Western sanctions on Belarusbank, China had not paid another tranche of credit ($103 million) for the construction of the $2 billion…
High Ambitions But No Teeth in China’s Environmental Guidelines for Investing Abroad
As Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) has increased rapidly throughout the years, so has Chinese companies’ environmental footprint around the globe. Energy, mining, and construction companies are the usual suspects, but heavy industries have…