Oct 23,2020 National Commentaries

Mongolia’s Response to China’s New Educational Policy in Inner Mongolia

As Chinese authorities began to introduce the new educational policy in Inner Mongolia, protests have been staged by ethnic Mongolian communities in Chinese northern provinces. The new educational policy, which has already been implemented in minority ethnic schools in autonomous regions of Xinjiang in 2017 and Tibet in 2018, requires three subjects—“language and literature,” “morality […]

Mendee Jargalsaikhan
"Belt and Road" Initiative , “Save the Mongolian Language” , Battulga Khaltmaa , China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor , Dalai Lama , Shanghai Cooperation Organization , Xi Jinping
Oct 19,2020 Open Forum

Kazakhstan in Sino-Russian Relations: Cooperation and Competition between the EEU and BRI

On the sidelines of the recent Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) foreign ministers’ meeting in Moscow on September 12, 2020, Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, issued a joint statement hailing the Sino-Russian “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.”1 While containing a boilerplate restatement of the two parties’ commitment to a multipolar world […]

Michael Clarke , Dana Rice
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Commonwealth of Independent States , Eurasian Economic Community , Eurasian Economic Union , Shanghai Cooperation Organization , Xinjiang
Sep 25,2020 Country Reports

Country Report: Russia (September 2020)

Russians faced at least five Indo-Pacific regional challenges in the late summer of 2020, most of which were not being discussed forthrightly. No doubt the one looming in the forefront was the deterioration of relations between China and India, as their border in the Himalayas saw a large military build-up after a serious clash. As […]

Editorial Staff (with the assistance of Olga Puzanova)
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Abe Shinzo , One China policy , Shanghai Cooperation Organization , Taiwan , US-China rivalry
Apr 06,2020 National Commentaries

A Chinese Perspective on India

Xi Jinping’s “Neighborhood Diplomacy” since 2018 is a response to Donald Trump and a recalibration of how to move toward Sinocentrism in light of difficulties with BRI and past policies toward regional great and middle powers. Varied approaches have been taken to US allies and members of the aspirational Quad. To Japan, an about-face has […]

Gilbert Rozman
"Belt and Road" Initiative , COVID-19 , Indo-Pacific strategy , Narendra Modi , RCEP , Shanghai Cooperation Organization , Xi Jinping
Nov 04,2019 National Commentaries

An Indian Perspective

In September 2019, Narendra Modi became the first Indian prime minister to visit Russia’s Far East. He travelled to Vladivostok to give the keynote at the Eastern Economic Forum and participate in the annual India-Russia leaders’ level summit—the 20th of its kind. The premier’s visit was designed to 1) revitalize India’s Russia relationship so that […]

Tanvi Madan
"Belt and Road" Initiative , BRICS , Eastern Economic Forum , Eurasian Economic Union , free and open Indo-Pacific , Shanghai Cooperation Organization
Jun 17,2019 Open Forum

Domestic politics of China’s Belt and Road Initiative

China has an authoritarian political system and state-controlled capitalism. It is natural for foreign observers to predominantly view the autocrat-launched Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a cohesive geostrategy to project Chinese power abroad. Such a view, however, is premised on misunderstanding China’s domestic politics and overlooks deep fragmentation among policymakers in China and market […]

Min Ye
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank , Pakistan Economic Corridor , Shanghai Cooperation Organization , Silk Road Economic Belt , Silk Road Fund
Apr 12,2019 Alternative Scenarios

Positive Scenario II

Russia’s ability to become an independent, geopolitical center in Eurasia is closely tied to the position of other countries and geopolitical tendencies in the region. The idea of a special role for Eurasia in world economics and politics has long been discussed by various theoreticians, among them Halford Mackinder and Nicholas Spykman, who considered control […]

Alexander Lukin
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Eurasian Economic Union , Greater Eurasian Partnership , Shanghai Cooperation Organization , Silk Road Economic Belt
Apr 12,2019 Alternative Scenarios

Negative Scenario II

Alexander Lukin, in his Positive Scenario 1, writes that “the course to transform Russia into an independent Eurasian center of power and world influence has today become the official policy of the Kremlin and the main direction of thought of the majority of Russian experts on foreign policy strategy.” In my first essay I took […]

Jeff Schubert
"Belt and Road" Initiative , 5G , Shanghai Cooperation Organization , Silk Road Economic Belt , UAVs
Feb 27,2019 Alternative Scenarios

Positive Scenario I

The course to transform Russia into an independent Eurasian center of power and world influence has today become the official policy of the Kremlin and the main direction of thought of the majority of Russian experts on foreign policy strategy. Vladimir Putin, who in 2000 had discussed with Bill Clinton the possibility of Russia’s entrance […]

Alexander Lukin
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Eurasian Economic Union , Eurasianism , Shanghai Cooperation Organization , Silk Road Economic Belt
Feb 27,2019 Alternative Scenarios

Negative Scenario I

Russia is doing many sensible things on a bilateral basis in its attempt to become one of the two main independent poles in Eurasia – the other pole, of course, being China. At the May 2017 Belt and Road (BRI) summit in Beijing, President Putin said: “I believe that by adding together the potential of […]

Jeff Schubert
"Belt and Road" Initiative , Eurasian Economic Union , Greater Eurasian Partnership , Shanghai Cooperation Organization , Silk Road Economic Belt