Baku is one of the first candidates to form a decisive link in this new chain. US interest in the post-Soviet region has increased since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Washington wants to forge an anti-Chinese axis stretching from Israel to India. An economic, political and even military alliance to counterbalance the anti-Western axis of Moscow and Beijing.
India wants China to open a flight corridor over Xinjiang, even though the area is highly militarised. Tensions with India have led Pakistan to close its airspace to Indian aircraft, causing Air India losses estimated at over US$ 450 million a year. Meanwhile, closures of land crossings between Pakistan and Afghanistan are paralysing regional trade, leading Ariana Afghan Airlines to lower fares to Indian markets.
The blogger who reported on the Wuhan pandemic - sentenced two months ago to another four years in prison - has been taken to a new detention centre for ‘education’ sessions. Meanwhile, the former abbot of Shaolin Temple, who fell from grace in July for being too ‘independent’, has now been sent to prison on charges of corruption.
A meeting in Beijing between senior officials from the two foreign ministries failed to solve the heated dispute. The number of tourist cancellations over the weekend reaches early COVID-19 levels. Beijing is also putting pressure on Chinese students, who, faced with visa difficulties in the United States, increasingly opted for Japanese universities.
In prison for a year along with a local shop owner, the former "official" head of a diocese in Zhejiang province has denied corruption charges, maintaining that he acted as a priest. Pressure has ben put on Catholics who wanted to be in court to support him. Some argue that his real 'fault' lies in a pilgrimage to Rome or the failure to support the nomination of a bishop imposed by the Communist Party.
A new, large-scale mining facility, 75 per cent owned by Chinese companies, began operations this week in the hills of southern Guinea. It is expected to have a major impact on the global mining industry, not least because of the quality of the extracted material, which is more suitable for low-carbon steel production.
