China’s “Maritime Road” Looks More Defensive Than Imperialist
October 27th, 2019
Via The Economist, a look at China’s BRI-related foreign port-building that seems to focus more on protecting existing trade routes than expanding such: An old saying warns about Greeks bearing gifts, but it might fit the Chinese better. In the 1400s Zheng He, a Muslim slave who became the Ming empire’s admiral, led seven voyages south and west. […]
Read more »An Undone Buckle? Trouble for Belt and Road in Myanmar
October 23rd, 2019
Via China Dialogue, an article on China’s new infrastructure route through Myanmar: A year ago, Myanmar and China signed an agreement to establish the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC), as part of China’s Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative. Today, that corridor is mired in conflict between the Myanmar military and ethnic armed groups. Stretching 1,700km, […]
Read more »Kyrgyzstan and Longhai: Chasing the Dragon
October 7th, 2019
Via Eurasianet, an interesting look at the complexities of doing business in Central Asia with Chinese firms: One afternoon in late July 2012, Christopher Kliner and a colleague stepped out of an elevator into a penthouse apartment in the Chinese city of Qingdao expecting to talk business. What greeted them was a most peculiar sight. […]
Read more »Turkmenistan’s Gas Exports Hampered by Geopolitical Realities
October 7th, 2019
Via The Jamestown Foundation, a report on Turkmenistan’s gas export visions are bumping up against geopolitical reality: On August 12, during the Caspian Economic Forum in Turkmenistan, Russia and Iran expressed their discontent regarding the long-proposed Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCP) project (see EDM, September 4). Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev stressed that all “major Caspian […]
Read more »Khorgos or Khor-stops: Hype on the Belt and Road
September 28th, 2019
Via The Diplomat, an updated look at Khorgos which is less transformative than its proponents believe – and yet it does illustrate some of the promise of the BRI: Since its announcement at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan in 2013, what has become known as China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has prompted a host of analyses […]
Read more »The Emerging Markets In China’s Belt & Road Initiative
September 2nd, 2019
Via Silk Road Briefing, a look at the emerging markets In China’s Belt & Road Initiative: China’s MOFCOM and various news media outlets such as Xinhua, the People’s Daily and Global Times do their bit in both promoting the development of the Belt & Road Initiative and the impact it is having on China trade. […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.