As China rises as an economic and an international power, new relationships are being forged with all areas of the world including Central and Eastern Europe. This book explores how this relationship is developing. It considers how China’s links with Central and Eastern Europe fit in to China’s overall international relations strategies. It looks at economic and trade ties, diplomatic initiatives and the role of the European Union, and examines China’s bilateral relations with the different states of the region. These relationships are particularly interesting because before the end of communism in Eastern Europe China had many direct links with the countries of the region.

This book aims at illustrating the OBOR Initiative (also known as 'Belt and Road Initiative' or BRI), its many facets, including its background, and how the Chinese government intends to develop this ambitious project. It describes in detail the role and involvement of Institutions (lenders, in particular) in the OBOR Initiative. It offers guidance on how interested parties can participate in the different projects connected to the Initiative. The views of the authors, on the main aspects of this Initiative, serve as suggestions to parties interested in taking part in this Initiative.The book provides an exceptional amount of information about how projects connected to the BRI Initiative are financed and developed. The involvement of UBS clearly shows that financial institutions are interested in financing the Initiative.There is a special focus on the relationship between China and the EU, because the scope of this Initiative is not only to boost trade relationships between the two regions but also create new opportunities for all the countries along the new Silk Road.

This book focuses on the triangular relations between China, the United States and the European Union from the perspective of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) via the methodology of international political economy. China, the US and the EU are the three most important players in international politics and the global economy, and their relations are accordingly among the most influential in the global arena. This book will argue that the interactions between China, the US and the EU are highly dynamic given their close connections in trade, finance and many other economic fields. In the context of US–China competition, the decisions of the EU, which has sought to remain independent in its foreign policy for decades, crucially shape the landscape of international politics, and lucidly articulates how international relations look from China to scholars of geopolitics.

This open access book focuses on public actors with a role in the settlement of investment disputes. Traditional studies on actors in international investment law have tended to concentrate on arbitrators, claimant investors and respondent states. Yet this focus on the "principal" players in investment dispute settlement has allowed a number of other seminal actors to be neglected. This book seeks to redress this imbalance by turning the spotlight on the latter. From the investor's home state to domestic courts, from sub-national governments to international organisations, and from political risk insurance agencies to legal defence teams in national ministries, the book critically reviews these overlooked public actors in international investment law.

Young People and the Belt and Road is a joint effort by over 40 young people across 20 countries to tell their stories about the future of Central and Eastern Europe, China, and the Belt and Road Initiative. In 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative, which envisions a world with better development, better connectivity, and better cooperation was launched in Kazakhstan,. As a global, multi-generational vision, the Belt and Road Initiative will primarily benefit the young people of the world today. To ensure the success of the Initiative, their voices need to be heard. This is particularly urgent as little systematic work has been done to encourage the participation of young people. This publication places the focus on young people and asks them the question: what should the Belt and Road Initiative look like for you? In this book, young authors from 16 Central and Eastern European nations share insights about their countries. For the Belt and Road Initiative, Central and Eastern Europe plays a critical role in linking together Western Europe, Northern Europe, Central Asia, and East Asia. Each chapter focuses on a single country in the region. Based on the complex historical background and present realities of their respective countries, the authors present their cases of the potential obstacles and opportunities related to the Initiative and provide their suggestions for change. 《青年與一帶一路》一書是由超過20個國家、40位年輕人共同努力的成果。他們討論中國及16個中東歐國家在一帶一路倡議的機遇與挑戰。由於這是中文讀本較少涉及的領域，而且都是所屬國家的年輕人執筆，所以彌足珍貴。事實上，這些國家在聯繫歐洲及亞洲方面，都扮演著關鍵的角色。他們大都是上世紀90年代以後，由前蘇聯加盟共和國獨立，之後大部分成為歐盟及北約一員，而每個國家都有著複雜悠久的歷史、獨特的自然及人文資源，以及不同程度的發展。

With globalization on the wane in a world fractured by growing great power competition, Hoo and McKinney argue that regionalism is likely to re-emerge as a focal area of significance and interest in the coming years. In Asia, how regionalism evolves is inescapably linked to China’s part in this story. Hoo, McKinney and their contributors will help readers better understand regionalism as it is approached, conceived and practiced by China. Looking past the conventional attention on the Belt-Road Initiative, the contributors examine the evolving perspectives on regionalism within China, the forms which this regionalism has taken and the implications for the strategic order in Asia. This includes a focus on newer architecture such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB); lesser-known mechanisms such as the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) and the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC); and more traditional ones such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). A valuable resource for scholars and students of China’s foreign relations, and of Asian regionalism and strategic order.

Rising Powers and State Transformation advances the concept of ‘state transformation’ as a useful lens through which to examine rising power states’ foreign policymaking and implementation, with chapters dedicated to China, Russia, India, Brazil, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. The volume breaks with the prevalent tendency in International Relations (IR) scholarship to treat rising powers as unitary actors in international politics. Although a neat demarcation of the domestic and international domains, on which the notion of unitary agency is premised, has always been a myth, these states’ uneven integration into the global political economy has eroded this perspective’s empirical purchase considerably. Instead, this volume employs the concept of ‘state transformation’ as a lens through which to examine rising power states’ foreign policymaking and implementation. State transformation refers to the pluralisation of cross-border state agency via contested and uneven processes of fragmentation, decentralisation and internationalisation of state apparatuses. The volume demonstrates the significance of state transformation processes for explaining some of these states’ key foreign policy agendas, and outlines the implications for the wider field in IR. With chapters dedicated to all of today’s most important rising power states, Rising Powers and State Transformation will be of great interest to scholars of IR, international politics and foreign policy. The chapters were originally published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.