https://www.scmp.com/rss/325415/feed Bob Savic is head of international trade at the Global Policy Institute in London and visiting professor of international relations at the University of Nottingham. He has over 20 years of professional experience in East Asia, where he was mainly based in Hong Kong and Singapore. His current areas of advisory and research include the practical business application of regional trade agreements, and the development of economic and political relations between China, the European Union and United... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Bob Savic Bob Savic The China-Europe railway network has evolved in the past decade from a nascent logistical experiment into a growing commercial alternative to maritime and air freight. In the wake of the US-Israel war on Iran, it might now be assuming an unanticipated role as a key security provider for transcontinental supply chains. What began as sporadic trial runs has matured into a sprawling web of rail connections that currently links 235 cities across 26 European countries with more than 120 Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3350835/middle-east-shipping-crisis-elevates-china-europe-railways-profile?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3350835/middle-east-shipping-crisis-elevates-china-europe-railways-profile?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:30:08 +0000 Bob Savic Bob Savic China’s investments in North Africa have intensified in 2026, building on long-standing Belt and Road Initiative frameworks while accelerating amid the US-Israeli war with Iran. With 40-50 per cent of China’s seaborne oil imports traditionally passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which is now blocked to most container traffic, Beijing has sought to diversify energy sources away from Gulf Arab states. For more than a decade, Beijing has pursued deeper engagement across the Middle East and North... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3348801/chinas-growing-north-africa-presence-structural-challenge-europe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3348801/chinas-growing-north-africa-presence-structural-challenge-europe?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Apr 2026 21:30:09 +0000 Although the brief “golden era” of Sino-British relations between 2015 and 2017 is over, an extended period of more sober and pragmatic commercial relations may be at hand. UK media reports point to senior Chinese and British finance ministry officials setting the stage for detailed economic talks in the near future. Reports also suggest Britain’s new finance minister, Rachel Reeves, may travel to Beijing early next year to discuss trade and investment. The news follows China’s Vice-Premier He... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3281360/chinese-investment-could-soon-pour-back-britain-its-about-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3281360/chinese-investment-could-soon-pour-back-britain-its-about-time?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Oct 2024 12:30:09 +0000 Although the brief “golden era” of Sino-British relations between 2015 and 2017 is over, an extended period of more sober and pragmatic commercial relations may be at hand. UK media reports point to senior Chinese and British finance ministry officials setting the stage for detailed economic talks in the near future. Reports also suggest Britain’s new finance minister, Rachel Reeves, may travel to Beijing early next year to discuss trade and investment. The news follows China’s Vice-Premier He... https://www.scmp.com/plus/article/3281665/chinese-investment-could-soon-pour-back-britain-its-about-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/plus/article/3281665/chinese-investment-could-soon-pour-back-britain-its-about-time?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Oct 2024 08:03:21 +0000 With deepening political polarisation in the United States in the run-up to November’s presidential election and the dangerously escalating war in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion, the world may be hurtling towards a period of instability and intensifying geopolitical rivalry. In recent months, China and India have acknowledged the consequences of this volatile environment. As two champions of the Global South, and currently the world’s second- and fifth-largest economies measured by nominal... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3275874/western-led-order-crumbles-can-china-and-india-fulfil-their-destinies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3275874/western-led-order-crumbles-can-china-and-india-fulfil-their-destinies?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Aug 2024 21:30:09 +0000 Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Paris visit next month is set to capture the political centre stage for his European tour, but his expected trips to Central and Eastern European states will be no less significant for the dynamics of the China-Europe relationship. Talks between Xi and France’s President Emmanuel Macron are likely to focus on persuading China to reduce its growing trade and industrial ties with Russia – an economic partnership that Western governments are concerned is bolstering... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3260389/xis-european-tour-why-hungary-and-serbia-are-important-stops?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3260389/xis-european-tour-why-hungary-and-serbia-are-important-stops?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Apr 2024 11:30:12 +0000 While US lawmakers hit global headlines for pushing a bill aimed at forcing China’s ByteDance to divest of its TikTok operations in the US, the European Union has passed relatively low-key rules targeting China’s commercial interests. The EU’s measures, however, could have a more far-reaching impact on Chinese industries. Arguably the most controversial is the EU’s new directive governing the oversight of international business supply chains. This will require large EU-based companies to monitor... https://www.scmp.com/comment/china-opinion/article/3256435/eu-has-reason-keep-things-sweet-china-despite-protectionist-rules?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/china-opinion/article/3256435/eu-has-reason-keep-things-sweet-china-despite-protectionist-rules?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Mar 2024 12:30:12 +0000 Following Ukraine’s inconclusive counteroffensive last year to push Russian forces out of the southern part of the country, the US government has launched a series of measures ramping up pressure largely on non-Western business interests, including some in mainland China and Hong Kong, for circumventing economic sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The intensifying sanctions have arisen amid a rebound in the Russian economy. The International Monetary Fund projects growth of 2.6 per cent... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3252416/how-us-sanctions-could-push-china-and-russia-closer-together?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/hong-kong/article/3252416/how-us-sanctions-could-push-china-and-russia-closer-together?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Feb 2024 01:30:17 +0000 In a much-publicised report issued on October 19, the US Department of Defence estimated China’s stock of operational nuclear warheads to be at 500, and exceeding 1,000 by 2030. This contrasts with its 2020 report that estimated a stockpile “in the low-200s”, which would grow to about 400 by the end of the decade. Beijing has consistently dismissed these reports, asserting they are used to serve Washington’s strategic interest of portraying China as a threat to global security. Irrespective of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3242540/why-west-suddenly-softening-china-power-grows-out-nuclear-warheads?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3242540/why-west-suddenly-softening-china-power-grows-out-nuclear-warheads?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Nov 2023 08:30:08 +0000 Several Southeast Asian leaders were feted by Russian President Vladimir Putin at last week’s Belt and Road Forum in Beijing as part of his pivot to Asia, elevating the importance of the region’s political centrality and economic vitality to Russia’s Indo-Pacific strategy. This was Putin’s second official foreign trip since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him. To the surprise of many observers, his main scheduled meetings were dedicated to Southeast Asian leaders,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3238543/amid-western-sanctions-putin-courts-southeast-asia-belt-and-road-forum?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3238543/amid-western-sanctions-putin-courts-southeast-asia-belt-and-road-forum?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Oct 2023 21:30:17 +0000 The European Union’s call to investigate Beijing’s use of state subsidies in the production of Chinese electric vehicles, along with the possibility of tariffs on EV exports to Europe, comes as Chinese carmakers diversify their manufacturing of EVs into Southeast Asia. Chief among Chinese EV makers’ prospective hubs is Thailand. The country has by far the largest automobile sector within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and is luring Chinese EV carmakers under an ambitious government... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3236563/thailand-chinas-ev-makers-have-found-refuge-eu-subsidy-probe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3236563/thailand-chinas-ev-makers-have-found-refuge-eu-subsidy-probe?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Oct 2023 07:30:08 +0000 A phoenix from the ashes Several decades ago, East Asia became the epicentre of superpower rivalry during the Cold War. Following a stalemate war in Northeast Asia’s Korean peninsula, in the early 1950s, military and ideological rivalry shifted to the Indochina peninsula and broader Southeast Asia in the 1960s. In the midst of debilitating turmoil, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) was founded in 1967. Notably, during the 1970s, several Western countries, including Australia,... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3155312/chinas-sudden-renewed-interest-asean-may-be-more-about-aukus?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/3155312/chinas-sudden-renewed-interest-asean-may-be-more-about-aukus?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Nov 2021 00:15:17 +0000 For China’s policymakers, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership marks a new milestone in Asian regional economic integration. In 2019, China’s total trade with RCEP member states accounted for about one-third of its total foreign trade, while investment from other RCEP economies made up more than 10 per cent of China’s total foreign investment. After the agreement takes effect, which could be as early as mid-2021 depending on it being ratified by several countries, more than 90 per... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3112758/are-chinas-export-control-law-and-rcep-pulling-different-directions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3112758/are-chinas-export-control-law-and-rcep-pulling-different-directions?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Dec 2020 02:15:15 +0000 With the fifth anniversary of the China-Britain Comprehensive Strategic Partnership approaching, it is remarkable to see how dramatically this much-heralded “golden era” of relations has turned into one of deepening mistrust and bitter acrimony. In the past few weeks, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has banned Huawei from involvement in Britain’s 5G networks, suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and extended its China arms embargo to the city. In light of these developments,... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3095108/end-golden-era-uk-china-relations-goes-beyond-any-us-meddling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3095108/end-golden-era-uk-china-relations-goes-beyond-any-us-meddling?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Jul 2020 17:30:10 +0000 This year’s G7 annual gathering of developed economies in Biarritz, France, yielded very little in the way of solutions for a sagging and troubled global economy, and the various social and environmental challenges facing globalisation. The ineffectiveness of this select group in influencing the course of world development is doubtless due to a variety of profound changes, both global in nature and country-specific. But, the main underlying reason for their inability to effect change is... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3024568/despite-best-efforts-trump-and-boris-johnson-future-globalisation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3024568/despite-best-efforts-trump-and-boris-johnson-future-globalisation?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 28 Aug 2019 19:00:13 +0000 When Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the “Belt and Road Initiative” in 2013, it seemed to be essentially an economic project, albeit one of the most ambitious in history. But, recently, Beijing has stepped out of its overseas economic and financial policy framework to directly address the world’s most explosive ethnic and refugee crisis: the Rohingya community’s mass displacement from Myanmar to Bangladesh. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s offer of a three-stage plan to resolve the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2121415/china-flexes-its-diplomatic-muscle-rohingya-crisis-cashing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2121415/china-flexes-its-diplomatic-muscle-rohingya-crisis-cashing?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Nov 2017 05:00:31 +0000 China’s 19th Communist Party Congress ended with the inclusion of President Xi Jinping’s name and political thought into the party’s constitution, elevating his status as a leader alongside Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. A few days before, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, already the country’s third-longest-serving political leader, consolidated his position towards becoming the longest serving by winning a new term in office. The next few years are likely to be a seminal period under their... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117267/can-xi-and-abe-work-together-belt-and-road-build-better-sino?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2117267/can-xi-and-abe-work-together-belt-and-road-build-better-sino?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Oct 2017 09:28:27 +0000 Even if there was some back room deal-making between the US and North Korea, perhaps through Russia’s promised mediation, it is unlikely to make any real difference in deterring Kim from his efforts to provoke an American military attack. After the George W. Bush administration declared North Korea as one of the three countries on its “Axis of Evil”, and a month after the March 2003 US invasion of Iraq, North Korea announced that it ­possessed nuclear weapons. In 2006, it undertook the first of... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2114143/why-kim-jong-un-may-be-banking-us-military-strike-ensure-his?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2114143/why-kim-jong-un-may-be-banking-us-military-strike-ensure-his?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Oct 2017 01:57:28 +0000