June 12, 2019

Ukraine Is lagging Behind Its Competitors in Relations with China

Comparative Analysis of China's Relations with Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia in the Context of the “One Belt, One Road” Initiative

 

The global goal of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative has always been establishment of logistics routes to the markets for Chinese goods in the EU. In this context, the leadership of the PRC should pay particular attention to transit countries, through which, in fact, go the routes to Europe. In their turn, transit countries should be interested in establishing such cooperation, hoping for at least multibillion investments in infrastructure. The arguments about the danger of slipping into a debt pit are destroyed by the positive experience of such recipients of Chinese investments as Malaysia and Myanmar. Where in this scheme is Ukraine and whether it is there at all - we will try to find out now. For clarity, we will compare at what stage are countries such as Belarus and Kazakhstan, which are comparable to Ukraine in their importance for China as transit countries. Besides, we will find out how China and Russia cooperate and what factor is system-forming in China's relations with post-Soviet countries. Let's start with the year 2014, when there were tectonic changes in Central and Eastern Europe, and the initiative “One Belt, One Road” began to be fully implemented.

The article is available in Ukrainian