Articles
Written by RISAP’s team of researchers and analysts
Hindi Chini Bye Bye will mark the Asian Century
This week, just when China and India were making progress in easing weeks-long border tensions in Ladakh, the clashes between the two turned deadly for the first time in decades, leading to dozens of [...]
Strategic competitors in search of China: The story of Romania and Bulgaria
Romanian and Bulgarian interests have diverged on many occasions throughout history, but their outlooks have recently become more aligned. For one thing, both countries have fostered a competitive dynamic to exploit their advantageous [...]
Are we witnessing the end of the golden age of Chinese diplomacy?
Over the past 40 years, China’s economic rise has been powered by the work, sacrifices and creativity of hundreds of millions of citizens. Yet its rise as a global power has come about thanks [...]
China and the Budapest-Belgrade Railway Saga
In November 2013, at the Bucharest Summit of the 16+1 initiative, China, Hungary, and Serbia talked about building a high-speed railway that would connect Belgrade to Budapest (respectively the capitals of Serbia and Hungary). [...]
The Belt and Road Initiative in the times of pandemic
As the novel coronavirus spread from country to country, reaching the level of a pandemic, some voices pointed toward the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as the main avenue of contagion. But had it [...]
How Russia helped the United States fight Huawei in Central and Eastern Europe
Thirty years of independence from communism and the Soviet Union have also meant 30 years of fear of a Russian invasion for Central and Eastern European countries. As a result, these countries have spent [...]
There is no such thing as free health care in China, a communist country
As the Wuhan virus spreads, Chinese health care is under the microscope. On Jan. 22, the government declared that it would cover the costs of treatment for victims of the coronavirus. But that might [...]
China must decide what kind of geopolitical Europe it wants
China is slowly losing Europe. This is happening even though transatlantic relations are at a low point and right when the European Union is finally aiming to become a global geopolitical player. Ursula von [...]
How China can drive the US out of the Asia-Pacific
Many observers believe China is building up its military, especially its navy, to break through the first and second island chains and push the United States out of the Asia-Pacific. China’s military expansion in the region [...]
How the US-China competition is playing out in Romania
There is an old myth in Romania that during the communist era, dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu systematically avoided developing infrastructure in the eastern part of the country because he feared a Soviet invasion. Today the [...]
How to build Global China
When the People’s Republic of China was proclaimed in 1949, almost 40 years had passed since China’s territory had last been administered by a functional central government, the Qing Dynasty. This period of chaos [...]
Brazil needs compensation if it is to protect the Amazon
Millions of hectares of forest are burning, as we watch powerlessly. Siberian wildfires prompted Russia to declare a state of emergency in July, and now the Amazonian rainforest is ablaze. Brazil’s management of the [...]
Germany’s lesson for China
On September 1st, the world commemorated 80 years since Germany’s invasion of Poland, which marked the start of the Second World War. Over the next 5 years, German troops went on fighting all over [...]
How close are we to a world with Chinese characteristics?
The latest confrontation between the United States and China officially started with the trade war in 2018. The time since then has reminded us just how different the two countries are and how difficult [...]
Transforming the Belt and Road into an international organization
As even Chinese President Xi Jinping has realized, the Belt and Road Initiative has to find a new groove. The BRI has come under harsh criticism over the past year, amid the heat of [...]
The Green Belt and Road is China’s best leadership bet
Seven years ago, in 2012, when China announced it wanted to build an ecological civilisation, it was hard to take it seriously. The concept sounded good, but it was too much to hope [...]
How China blew its chance in Eastern Europe
When it was launched by China and 16 countries from Central and Eastern Europe in 2012, the 16+1 mechanism sparked hope throughout the region that it could close the investment gap. The figures being [...]
China is burning away its ecological future
China’s industrialization has put heavy pressure on the environment. For decades, China was the fastest-growing country in the world, powered by heavy industry that transformed it into the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. [...]
The BRI between China and the US
A route that spans around Eurasia, an infrastructure project that encompasses over 70 countries, a branding strategy, are just some of the ways in which the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been described [...]
How China and the United States wrecked the 21st century
“For of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: It might have been.” – John Greenleaf Whittier *** On the first day of January 2039, in Washington, the presidents of [...]