Emanuele Scimia

Shanghai and Shenzhen open in sharp decline after a week. Steps taken by Chinese authorities have proven insufficient to shield the economy. The Chinese tourism industry lost US$ 144 billion over the Lunar New Year holidays.

Xi Jinping’s mammoth project to improve trade connections along the ancient Silk Road between China and Europe has funding problems. Nonetheless, Beijing continues to offer only crumbs for non-Chinese firms. More and more Europeans are growing disillusioned about the BRI – and irritated by China’s diplomacy.

The new US legislation is aimed at safeguarding Hong Kong’s autonomy, but many believe the Trump administration will not put the territory’s special trade status at risk. Hong Kong is the eighth largest market for US exports according to the International Monetary Fund, and 1,344 US companies operate in the autonomous territory. Nonetheless, the Act is a blow to Xi Jinping and the CCP, according to a former top Pentagon official.

The free trade pact will test the European bloc’s ability to link trade liberalization to humanitarian issues while trying to enhance ties with ASEAN members. Singapore is a key trading partner for the EU, but its human rights record is troubling.

Xi Jinping sang the praises of the New Silk Roads during his recent Greece trip. Faced with a stagnant economy, many European countries are desperate for Chinese investment, but risk becoming tributary vassals of Beijing. The West should create a serious alternative to China’s mega-infrastructure project.

The Ankara government says it is conducting an anti-terror campaign against Kurds in Syria, but the opposition CHP believes Erdogan is trying to polish his image amid domestic woes. Erdogan prepares new elections. Western sanctions could severely damage Turkey’s fragile economy.

EU does not downplay the risk associated with the use of 5G hardware, but has so far ruled out an outright ban on Huawei, the main supplier of this technology. Experts: China’s legal framework is the real problem, not technological issues. Chinese tech companies are legally compelled to cooperate with their country’s intelligence services.

China’s economic reforms have achieved great results over the past four decades, but some scholars, including Chinese governance expert Minxin Pei, believe the regime must change the country’s political system.

Xi scored a diplomatic coup by getting Italy to join the BRI during his recent Europe trip. But some EU countries that are already committed to the Chinese megaproject have started to question the Asian giant’s geoeconomic strategy.

The memo of understanding between Italy and China should foster the participation of Italian seaports in the New Silk Roads project. Trieste and Venice could become Belt and Road hubs – unless the US and the EU throw a spanner in the works.

Beijing wants to maintain a foothold in Latin America, Washington’s “geopolitical backyard”. But dealing with the dysfunctional Venezuelan regime is a risky game for the Chinese, which could face similar challenges along the New Silk Roads.