Worrying about the region’s “chokepoints” is a hobby of mine, and I see PWC have just put out a report on the subject with some useful tables. It’s also a subject worth repeating given growing concerns about Yemen (Strait Bab el Mandeb) and persistent worries about Egypt (Suez Canal).
The PWC report is titled “Transportation and Logistics 2030: Securing the Supply Chain”. Yes, it’s possibly a little ambitious to forecast events into 2030 (I wouldn’t take bets on 2020…) – but the useful data is current and found on page 18 and 20.
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I recently had a coffee with Wai Yip Ho in Hong Kong. He’s one of the few, if only, academics studying Hong Kong’s Muslim community.
It’s a fascinating topic because the community is a mash of influences, from British colonialism to Chinese policy towards its Muslim communities, and so produces some often stark, and insightful, contrasts.
Wai Yip has written several articles on the subject: I’m highlighting two here.
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The leader of Libya’s opposition movement, Mahmoud Jibril, was recently in China. I’m surprised, yet also not surprised.
I’m surprised because it’s unusual for Beijing to reach out to anyone other than the incumbent government. It’s partly to avoid setting precedents for the way foreign governments deal with China.
(I’ve been reminded by Chinese academics that Beijing doesn’t reach out to foreign NGOs for the same reason).
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