Competing visions for regional integration and development in Northeast Asia speak to its potential global significance. But for now, Northeast Asian development remains mostly promise and, even where actual progress is made, it tends to stir no shortage of controversy.
Covid-19 has boosted Asia-Europe rail freight traffic during 2020, as Chinese exports have soared amid the global economic slowdown. However, it remains to be seen if the surge in traffic and rise of emerging routes will endure after the pandemic recedes.
Negotiations between North and South Korea have revived prospects for reconnecting the Korean peninsula. A critical aspect of connectivity is energy infrastructure, which will require analysis and technical planning to make the most of any future political openings. This series of case studies underscores the poor state of North Korea’s existing energy infrastructure, illustrates different models for delivering projects, and considers the strategic implications of different paths forward for the peninsula’s energy connections.
On September 29, CSIS hosted an online discussion of Jonathan Hillman’s new book on China’s Belt and Road Initiative, The Emperor’s New Road: China and the Project of the Century, moderated by Axios China reporter Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian. Hillman recounts his journey to China’s projects in Asia, Europe, and Africa to reveal the global risks lurking within Beijing’s project of the century.
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are attempting to put economics at the center of their strategic partnership, but a closer look at four dimensions of China-Russia connectivity reveals a partnership of unequals that will become even more lopsided in the future.