Five years ago, Chinese president Xi Jinping announced the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a trillion-dollar plan that aims to connect more than 70 countries via an overland “belt” and a maritime “road.” On October 1, the CSIS Reconnecting Asia Project hosted a half-day conference examining China’s BRI, including the challenges, risks, and opportunities it poses for the United States.
As Asia continues to develop, its demand for electricity will continue to grow. The Asian Development Bank estimates that Asia will need nearly one trillion dollars in energy investments annually through 2030 to maintain growth momentum, eradicate poverty, and respond to climate change. Reconnecting Asia’s new dataset of over 11,000 power plants can help shed additional light on the region’s changing energy landscape. Find out more about how these and other infrastructure investments are reshaping the Eurasian continent by searching our interactive map and database.
On April 25, the Simon Chair’s Reconnecting Asia Project hosted a conversation with Natalie Lichtenstein, Chief Counsel for the 57-country negotiations that led to the AIIB’s founding and the principal drafter of the Bank’s charter, to discuss her new book: A Comparative Guide to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Seven CSIS experts unpack the economic and geostrategic implications of China’s infrastructure development across the Indo-Pacific region under the Maritime Silk Road.
As Europe disappears, Asia coheres. The supercontinent is becoming one fluid, comprehensible unit of trade and conflict, as the Westphalian system of states weakens and older, imperial legacies – Russian, Chinese, Iranian, Turkish – become paramount.