Africa — 9DASHLINE

The EU’s Global Gateway Initiative: Infrastructure cooperation with Southeast Asia

Written by Dr Alfred Gerstl and Nick Nieschalke

The investment in the Global Gateway Initiative (GGI) indicates the EU’s stronger global focus on infrastructure and connectivity partnerships within a dedicated scheme.

Europe and the Indo-Pacific, In Focus9DLMay 6, 20249dashline, The EU’s Global Gateway Initiative: Infrastructure cooperation with Southeast Asia, Dr Alfred Gerstl, Nick Nieschalke, EU, European Union, Indo-Pacific strategy, EU Global Gateway Initiative, Global Gateway Initiative, GGI, Indo-Pacific, Africa, Global South, geostrategic challenges, geo-economic challenges, EU institutions, EU member states, China, BRI, private sector, EU funds, Europe-Asia connectivity programme, infrastructure, connectivity partnerships, Brussels, Southeast Asia, alternative models of governance, economic benefits, values-based foreign policy, rules-based order, ASEAN, US, investment, de-risking, green transition, supply chains, energy supply, environment, health, education and research, energy, digital connectivity, UN SDG, sustainability, cooperation, Bac Ai hydropower plant, Vietnam, energy imports, net zero carbon emissions, electricity, hydropower, Hanoi, Beijing, environmental damages, lighthouse project, Philippines, Copernicus, natural disasters, climate change, Manila, soft power tool, geopolitical ambitions, security actor

China’s uncertain future as a global security provider

Written by Lukas Fiala

The key question is whether Xi’s growing assertiveness and inadequacy of existing means to ensure the security of Chinese entities abroad will lead to a more pronounced security footprint over the coming decade, featuring new military base arrangements and, potentially, institutionalised security guarantees.

Faultlines9DLAugust 11, 2023China’s uncertain future as a global security provider, Lukas Fiala, 9DashLine, China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Beijing, Global South, security, mediator, Riyadh, Tehran, Middle East, Washington, diplomacy, isolation, COVID-19, pandemic, United States, China’s overseas security strategy, strategy, foreign policy, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping, mediation, peace and security, peace broker, non-state actors, intrastate conflicts, statist approach, Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Palestine, security and defence cooperation, Hu Jintao, United Nations peacekeeping (UNPK) missions, South Sudan, Mali, Africa, Latin America, multilateral, Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), military base in Djibouti, Global Security Initiative (GSI), security actor, US-led global security order, global security governance, UN Charter, indivisible security, sovereignty, 1975 Helsinki Accords, Vladimir Putin, NATO expansion, NATO, Russia’s war in Ukraine, Western imperialism, imperial history, Western colonial powers, century of national humiliation, Soviet Union, Responsibility to Protect (R2P), Western hegemony, principle of non-interference, non-aligned movement, Cold War, non-intervention, 干涉, 干预, security provider, Sudan, Libya, ‘Go Out Strategy’ (走出去战略), Chinese state-owned enterprises, natural resources, raw materials, multilateral lenders, development finance, human rights, good governance, 2008 Beijing Olympics, al-Bashir regime, African Union, Darfur, Libyan civil war, People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA), Wolf Warrior Diplomacy, Chinese interests, power projection, security-development nexus, liberal peace, developmental peace, Ethiopia, civil war, Pakistan, South Asia, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Islamic extremism, Islamabad, sovereign lender, arbiter, Abiy Ahmed, Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), Horn of Africa, Xue Bing, Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Saudi-Iran rapprochement, Iraq, Afghanistan, global war on terror, piracy, Gulf of Aden, 9dashline

China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Central and Eastern Europe: stuttering to a halt?

Written by Dr Jeremy Garlick

The BRI’s unfulfilled potential in the region leaves the connectivity and cooperation aims of the initiative largely on the shelf, with the main successes for China located in Western Balkan countries that are not EU members.

Europe and the Indo-Pacific9DLJune 12, 20239DashLine, China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Central and Eastern Europe: stuttering to a halt?, Jeremy Garlick, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), China, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), One Belt One Road, Beijing, Russia, Western Europe, developing world, Global South, investment, Cold War, Soviet influence, Sino-Soviet split, communist regimes, 16+1 framework, 16+1, 16+1 summit, 14+1, 17+1, EU, trade, economy, trade routes, China-CEE cooperation, Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s invasion, Russia's aggression, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Taiwan, infrastructure, Western Balkans, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, China-CEE cooperation framework, Russia’s regional influence, Greece, high-speed railway, Belgrade, Budapest, EU regulations, Hungary, Baltic states, Estonia, Latvia, Southeast Europe, port of Piraeus, trade chain, Suez Canal, trade volumes, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, bilateral deals, EU bureaucracy, highway, railway, Danube River, bridge, sewer system, power plants, energy infrastructure, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Central Asia, Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), Africa, EU accession, EU integration, creditor, Fudan University, ‘One China’ policy, United Nations, Xinjiang, connectivity, Eurosceptic, CEE countries, CEE region, regionalisation, CEE, Central and Eastern Europe, European Union

’We’re going through changes’ – What Xi meant when he spoke to Putin

Written by Dr Kerry Brown

In this context, the one positive Russia offers to China is that it does not belong to the Western bloc. Xi’s seemingly warm words to Putin are an acknowledgement that his enemy’s enemy is his friend.

Editor's Picks9DLMay 11, 20239DashLine, ’We’re going through changes’ – What Xi meant when he spoke to Putin, Kerry Brown, President Xi Jinping, China, Russia, Vladimir Putin, Moscow, geopolitics, Chinese elite, America, Russian invasion of Ukraine, Sino-Russian, China-Russia alignment, Beijing, autocratic norm, democracy, common destiny, Community of Common Destiny, community of common destiny for mankind, win-win, Belt and Road Initiative, Qing, Republican, People’s Republic, Winston Churchill, Second World War, Great Powers, UK, middle-income, sense of destiny, Western hegemony, multipolarity, Western bloc, NATO, Soviet, Middle East, Africa, Latin America, peace plan, nuclear weapons, ‘WE’RE GOING THROUGH CHANGES’ – WHAT XI MEANT WHEN HE SPOKE TO PUTIN, Xi Jinping, Putin, Ukraine, Nuclear, United Kingdom, US, WW2, WWII, Lau China Institute, Kings College London, Centro Studi Sulla Cina Contemporanea Summer School

Road to nowhere? Prospects for the BRI in 2023 and beyond

Written by Philip Lott

With increased competition from the EU and the G7, as well as recent readjustments of the Belt and Road Initiative’s scope and spending, one question remains: will China’s “project of a century” be short-lived?

Faultlines9DLJanuary 24, 20239dashline, Philip Lott, Road to nowhere? Prospects of the BRI in 2023 and beyond, China, Beijing, Belt and Road Initiative, BRI, exports, soft connectivity, hard connectivity, Memorandums of Understanding, Xi Jinping, international development spending, EU, G7, Green Finance and Development Centre, GFDC, Africa, accountability, corruption scandals, labour rights, environmental protection regulations, public pushback, debt trap, local infrastructure, Chinese influence, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Southeast Asia, zero-covid strategy, private-sector initiatives, infrastructure projects, Chinese leadership, Wang Yi, Global Development Initiative, GDI, Global Security Initiative, GSI, Party Congress, foreign policy heirarchy, loans, Export-Import Bank of China, EXIM, European banks, US banks, International Development Finance Corporation, DFC, connectivity initiatives, geopolitical landscape, EU’s Global Gateway, Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, Build Back Better World, B3W, investment

Putin’s war and a world in crisis: Beyond democracies and autocracies

Written by Eva Seiwert

The EU and allies should scrap the framing of ‘democracies vs autocracies’ not just with regard to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but also when speaking about China’s increase in power.

Faultlines9DLJanuary 12, 20239dashline, Putin’s war and a world in crisis: Beyond democracies and autocracies, Eva Seiwert, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ukraine, Russia, Europe, World War II, European Union, EU, Moscow, Russia's aggression, Western governments, democracy, Autocracy, the West against the Rest, democracies vs autocracies, United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), UNGA resolution, sanctions, SWIFT, Belarus, North KoreaNorth Korea, Syria, Nicaragua, Eritrea, Iran, drones, China, trade, rules-based international order, Global South, Global North, India, abstention, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Russia’s war, the West, Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), neutrality, anti-Americanism, Cold War, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Iraq, vaccine nationalism, climate change, Western hypocrisy and selfishness, Ukrainian refugees, Beijing, Western double standards, anti-West narratives, Arab World, Latin America, Africa, Russian and Chinese media outlets, UN Charter, international law, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Argentina, Senegal, G7 summit in Schloss Elmau, G7, G20, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

In Dialogue: India's presence in the Indo-Pacific

Written by Sankaran Krishna and Aditi Malhotra

If the other members of the Quad harden their stance against the Chinese, India will find it increasingly difficult to continue its balancing act of being part of a group hostile to the very country on which its own economic survival depends.

The EU ventures into the strategic “jungle”

Written by Mohammadbagher Forough

While tropes such as ‘values’ and ‘standards’ are promoted as the main feature of the Global Gateway’s connectivity agenda, African countries (and many others in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America) will not overlook the fact that this promoted feature contrasts uneasily with neo-colonialist-sounding dichotomies like ‘garden/jungle’.

Faultlines9DLOctober 27, 20229DashLine, Mohammadbagher Forough, The EU ventures into the strategic “Jungle”, European Diplomatic Academy, Josep Borrell, Borrell, Vice-President Borrell, HRVP, garden, jungle, diplomacy, European Union, European Commission, geoeconomic, Global Gateway, Western, Europe, US security, Russian energy, Asia, Pivot to Asia, Biden administration, Indo-Pacific, Russian war against Ukraine, Ukraine, Russia, strategic autonomy, geopolitics, Ursula von der Leyen, China, EU’s Chips Act, John Keats, Germany, China strategy, Olaf Scholz, business lobby, France, Global Gateway initiative, EU Global Gateway Initiative, Europe’s Global Gateway, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), supply chains, resilience, shared communities of interest, India, Africa, Cold War, anti-colonialism, Middle East, Latin America, neo-colonialist, Robert Kagan, colonialism, racism, Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness”, Putin, Edward Said, decolonial

South Asia must proactively prepare to face climate change

Written by Manali Kumar

South Asian countries would do well to finally set aside their mutual animosities and start developing transnational and regional mechanisms to adapt to climate change and recover from disasters.

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Western Indian Ocean: The missing piece in the US Indo-Pacific Strategy

Written by Rushali Saha

The Biden administration’s expansion of the geographic definition of the Indo-Pacific to include the entire Indian Ocean, while a positive first step, is merely a symbolic move unless complemented with concrete policy action.

Pacific9DLOctober 13, 20229DASHLINE, Western Indian Ocean: The missing piece in the US Indo-Pacific Strategy, RUSHALI SAHA, Indo-Pacific, Indo-Pacific Strategy, Sub-Saharan Africa, White House, Biden, Department of Defense, Central Command, Africa, China, US, US-China, Indian Ocean, United States, Cocos Islands, Keeling Islands, Comoros Archipelago, Red Sea, East Africa, Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, Asia, Middle East, WIO, energy, Washington, USPACOM, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Quad, South Asia, Afghanistan, Gulf Cooperation Council, Djibouti, hydrocarbons, People Liberation Army Navy, Camp Lemonnier, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Belt and Road Initiative, BRI, Madagascar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Free and Open Indo-Pacific, FOIP, France, India, SAGAR, Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, IPEF, Maritime Doctrine, Mozambique, Seychelles, Iran, Indian Ocean Commission, UAE, African Union, blue economy, Sagarmala Project, Delhi, Uganda, New Delhi, Modi, Mauritius, Vanilla Islands, Saint-Denis, Reunion Island, Trilateral Development Cooperation Fund, Trump, Sri Lanka, Israel, National Security Strategy, Diplomat Risk Intelligence, South Asian Voices

Approach with caution: blockchain experimentation in the Indo-Pacific

Written by Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn and Francesco Giumelli

The Indo-Pacific region has become a key site for informal attempts to create “crypto-utopias” and formal pilots of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).

Pacific9DLApril 26, 20229DashLine, Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn, Francesco Giumelli, blockchain, Bitcoin, NFTs, databases, digital transactions, sanctions, permissionless, permissioned, Financial Times, Tonga, Vanuatu, Central Bank Digital Currencies, CBDCs, South Africa, Japan, India, Vietnam, Chainalysis, Global Crypto Adoption Index, Global South, crypto-colonialism, Ukraine, Russia, China, Sputnik, America, USA, US, Eurasian Economic Union, FinTech Association, e-ruble, Putin, Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, SWIFT, Cross-Border International Payments System, CIPS, Digital Currency/Electric Payment, DCEP, digital yuan, People's Bank of China, PBoC, financial sovereignty, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Universal Digital Payments Network, UDPN, Multiple Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge, m-CBDC, Thailand, UAE, United Arab Emirates, Global North, OFAC, US Office of Foreign Assets Control, Suex, New York State's Department of Financial Services, Coinbase, Accenture, Digital Dollar Project, European Central Bank, ECB, Bahamas, Caribbean, Philippines, Approach with caution: blockchain experimentation in the Indo-Pacific, CBDC, Crypto, Indo-Pacific, CIA, Masterchain, FinTech, Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, ross-Border International Payments System, People’s Bank of China, Digital yuan, European Union, EU

Liberalism from below: The Global South, Ukraine and the Liberal International Order

Written by Indrajit Roy

Of the 141 countries that condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, over 90 are from the Global South. Criticisms of Russia are thus not confined to European or North American countries.

Faultlines9DLApril 12, 20229DASHLINE, Indrajit Roy, Liberal International Order, Global South, LIO, Non-Aligned Movement, China, India, Pakistan, South Africa, UNGA, Russia, Putin, Ukraine, Zelensky, Middle East and North Africa Region, MENA, Rule of law, Eurocentric, Second World War, Atlantic Charter, UN, United Nations, US, UK, USSR, Kenya, Haiti, Nepal, Liberia, multilateralism, rules-based order, liberal internationalism, Potsdam, Tehran, Yalta, Bandung Conference, South Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, Nigeria, Antigua, Barbados, Cote d'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Palau, colonisation, colonialism, Maldives, Martin Kimani, Liberalism from below: The Global South, Ukraine and the Liberal International Order, Asia Pacific, Nations General Assembly, Middle East, North Africa, Latin America, internationalism, WW2, United States, United Kingdom, Multilateralism, Asia, Africa, Trinidad, Non-alignment, University of York

China's IUU fishing fleet a growing threat to global food security

Written by Joseph Hammond

Perhaps most importantly, more effort should be put into enhancing the enforcement and naval capabilities of states involved where significant IUU fishing is present from Africa to the South Pacific.

Nonalignment’s long shadow: India and the Ukraine crisis

Written by Rohan Mukherjee

The political relationship between India and Russia is unlikely to suffer greatly. Indeed, it will remain an asset if India is to avert the terminal decline and collapse of Russia, which would make it an unviable pole in India’s preferred multipolar world order.

Russia and Pakistan: Strange partnership

Written by Vuk Vuksanovic

Pakistan needs partners among great and regional powers concerned about the fate of Afghanistan. Russia, on the other hand, had to strengthen its diplomatic and market ties with non-Western countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America as a result of the Ukraine Crisis and worsening relations with the West.

In Conversation: Rory Medcalf on Indo-Pacific Empire

It is fair to generalise that most Indo-Pacific countries welcome the new style of European naval presence in the Indo-Pacific, which is about partnership and cooperation, helping us consolidate the reality that this is a sea of many flags that no one power is entitled to dominate.

In Conversation9DLApril 26, 2021Rory Medcalf, Indo-Pacific, China, Australia, Cold War, Japan, Pacific, South China Sea, SCS, COVID-19, Taiwan, East Asia Summit, Quad, India, G7, D10, EU, European Union, Germany, Trump, United States, Africa, Indonesia, Netherlands, Britain, France, US, UNCLOS, Cyber, Capitol Riot, Biden, Obama, Kurt Campbell, Mira Rapp-Hooper, 9dashline

Locating Africa within India’s Indian Ocean strategy

Written by Abhishek Mishra

The African continent increasingly occupies a central place in India’s strategic calculus. While India and Africa’s trade, investment, and capacity building initiatives are growing, it is the maritime-security partnership where ties are set to evolve.

Most Popular, South Asia9DLJuly 7, 2020China, Indian Ocean, India, Africa, Indo-Pacific

COVID-19: Will Africa rethink relations with China?

Written by Niranjan Marjani

16,000 African citizens live in Guangzhou in the Chinese province of Guangdong. After the COVID-19 outbreak, Africans living in China, especially Guangzhou, accused the Chinese authorities of undertaking acts of discrimination.

East Asia9DLMay 24, 2020China, Africa, Covid-19