Abstract

This paper examines the implication of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to the energy cooperation among Eurasian countries and explains opportunities and challenges ahead. As a development strategy and framework with strong geo-political and geo-economical dimension, BRI aims at promoting interconnectivity and cooperation in infrastructure, policy, trade, finance and culture among Eurasian countries. The implementation of BRI is expected to involve plenty of investments, infrastructure constructions and industrial integration in the energy sector. Whilst BRI presents clear opportunities for investors, the road is likely to be a bumpy one. Challenges will be as diverse as the BRI countries contain significant divergences in operational and investment risks. These risks and other potential political, economic and social risks require careful planning by BRI investors. The need of investment protection and management of transnational projects will further promote multilateral cooperation and hence a multilateral institution between China and its neighbourhood countries in Eurasia. This paper argues that BRI foresees turning China’s energy cooperation in Eurasia into more of a regional and multilateral engagement strategy. In order to protect the energy cooperation in BRI from geopolitics challenges, China is expected to look into better global energy governance.

About Dr. Yu

Dr. Kaho Yu is an Associate at Harvard Kennedy School (Geopolitics of Energy Project) and an Assistant Lecturer in Global Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He specializes in Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese energy security and climate policy, US-China-Russia energy cooperation, Eurasian geopolitics and global governance. Kaho also holds affiliated research positions at Asian Energy Studies Centre at Hong Kong Baptist University, European Center for Energy and Resources Security (EUCERS) and London Asia Pacific Centre for Social Science at King’s College London and Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Science. From 2013 to 2014, he taught a master course on geopolitics of energy for the MGPE program at the CUHK. Kaho obtained his PhD in IPE from King’s College London. Besides, Kaho provides policy advice and commentary on international energy and climate policy frequently.