søndag 7. april 2019

China’s “16+1” Is Dead? Long Live the “17+1.”


This year’s summit might be the last for the “16+1” initiative – not because it’s dying, but because it’s expanding. The old city of Dubrovnik in Croatia is gearing up to host the ninth summit of the heads of state and government of China and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) on April 11-13. The summit is likely to be a momentous event for China-CEE relations. Many are asking whether this is not going to be the last summit for the fledgling initiative.

We should not forget that it was the siege of Dubrovnik in the early 1990s that shifted the attitudes of the international community and precipitated the dissolution of former Yugoslavia. Is Dubrovnik now going to scupper China-CEE cooperation as we know it? The answer is both yes and no.