Impacts of the Ukraine war on China’s BRI

21.06.2022 | 18.00-19.30 | Hörsaal XV, Universität Bonn

Liebe Polisianer*innen, Interessierte der Sicherheitspolitik und natürlich Rheinländer*innen,

Wir laden Euch herzlich zu unserer Veranstaltung Impacts of the Ukraine war on China`s BRI zusammen mit dem CASSIS ein.

Grusswort: Prof. Wolfram Hilz (CASSIS, University of Bonn)

Referent*innen: Prof. Xiangming Chen (Center for Urban and Global Studies, Trinity College) und Dr. Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova (Riga Stradins University & Latvian Institute of International Affairs)

Moderation: Dr. Enrico Fels (CASSIS, University of Bonn)

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has developed an overwhelming geoeconomics orientation to Eurasia by having forged an extensive set of China-Europe and China-Central Asia rail freight routes as a transcontinental logistics system. The war in Ukraine, through its expansive repercussions across Eurasia and beyond, has created a major shock to the BRI and its Europe-facing freight train operation and Eurasia-based infrastructure projects, forcing some train routes to be rerouted and some projects to be suspended or undermined. In this lecture, I will discuss how the Ukraine War and its broader geopolitical spillover affect the BRI by pressing China to: 1) consolidate its domestic westward regional development, 2) adjust its Europe-bound freight routes while opening up new intermodal logistics lines linking Europe and Asia, and 3) navigate a riskier geopolitical environment for pursuing the next phase of the BRI.