How have Chinese BRI investments been distributed around the world geographically and sector by sector in the context of the pandemic? The piece by ISPI [China’s Financing of the Belt and Road Initiative During the Pandemic] addresses this question. Sector by sector, the report reveals that energy and transport have always been the key foci of the BRI. Regionally, the Middle East and Africa are the top destinations of Chinese BRI investment. The piece then investigates ‘the change in the composition of financing’ that is becoming the new norm for the BRI; that is to say, there is going to be more private overseas investment coming from China.
The Middle East and Africa are also significant regions of interest for Chinese vaccine diplomacy, a topic covered by the MEI article [Vaccine diplomacy in the MENA region]. The article reports that ‘The Chinese Sinopharm vaccine forms the cornerstone of vaccination campaigns in the UAE and Morocco, and that of Chinese Sinovac in Turkey’. China (together with Russia) is also offering ‘licensing deals that have not been offered yet by Western companies and imply long-term pharmaceutical cooperation’, such as Sinopharm production cooperation in UAE and Morocco. The article ends with policy recommendations for the EU and the US, in terms of how they can compete with China and Russia in this foreign policy area.
Mamad Forough
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