Palau: A Strategic Key Point in the Pacific Under Threat—The Frontline of the Territorial Struggle Between China and the Liberal Bloc—

The article analyzes the opportunities and threats facing the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria at the moment. Algeria has the potential to become a regional leader in one of the most strategically important regions of the world in a number of parameters. These are natural and human resources, stable economic and diplomatic ties with the Arab world, Europe and America. Both the major powers and the neighbours in the region have placed their hopes in Algeria as a key partner in the efforts to ensure security and combat terrorism. The Algerian authorities seek to present their country as a strong regional leader, free from the internal divisions and extremism that have plagued other Arab States. However, in reality the situation is more complicated, Algeria is a potentially unstable state. At the moment, Algeria is in a difficult situation, given both the internal situation and the danger posed from the outside. The main reason for the political and economic uncertainty in the country is the expectations and fears associated with the upcoming change of power, the presidential elections are scheduled for spring 2019. Algeria’s socio-economic sphere was another vulnerable place that could, in case of unfavourable developments, create instability. The Berber issue, which threatens the unity of the country, is one of the long-standing major problems of the Algeria. The confrontation between Algeria and Morocco on the Western Sahara issue has led to keep on the zone of instability in the region and has contributed to the terrorist threats. Over the past decade, Algeria has had to pay increasing attention and resources to regional security issues. In this area, Algeria has demonstrated its commitment to peaceful diplomacy, non-interference in the internal affairs of other states and rejection of any external role of its armed forces. This position has brought the Republic international recognition as a regional leader and a reliable partner in the fight against terrorism.

This study focuses on the far-reaching impact of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the global political economy, particularly the dynamic interaction of cross-cultural exchanges. The article analyzes the origins and development of the Belt and Road Initiative and its strategic significance in the international political economy through three core dimensions: global governance, regional economic integration, and cultural communication. By evaluating the specific practices of the initiative in promoting international monetary cooperation, infrastructure construction, and transnational investment, the paper highlights the key role of the Belt and Road Initiative in reshaping the global economic structure and geopolitical landscape. In particular, in the context of cross-cultural exchanges, the paper explores the communication barriers between different cultural backgrounds, proposes a strategic framework for promoting crosscultural understanding and cooperation, and analyzes how to build and disseminate cultural soft power under the “Belt and Road Initiative” framework. Through empirical analysis of several specific cooperation cases, the paper further discusses the challenges and coping mechanisms encountered during the initiative’s implementation. Finally, based on the study’s results, the article presents policy recommendations and discusses the future direction of research.

The protection of biosafety diversity is of great importance on a global scale, and plays a key role in maintaining ecological balance and promoting sustainable development. The "Belt and Road Initiative" has brought new opportunities and challenges to the protection of biosafety diversity, and the legal system of biosafety diversity in China should be adjusted and improved accordingly. Reviewing the development process and current situation of China's biosafety diversity legal system, it can be concluded that there are problems and deficiencies in the current legal system, such as the imperfect legal system, insufficient law enforcement, and insufficient international cooperation, and measures should be taken to strengthen the construction of the legal system, increase law enforcement, and strengthen international cooperation. At the same time, we should also pay attention to the path of internationalization of China's biological safety diversity legal system, including active participation in international negotiations and cooperation, strengthening international exchanges and cooperation, and promoting the improvement of the international legal system.

The experience in reform and opening up shows that China’s achievements in industrialization are largely attributed to its industrial openness towards the outside world and the international cooperation. As it enters the second decade of the 21st century, China’s industry has stepped into a new era of leading international development cooperation and promoting inclusive and sustainable growth in global industry, namely a period of developing international capacity cooperation supported by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). As vigorously driven by the BRI, the international capacity cooperation has not only pushed forward the creation of new industrial cooperation models among developing countries, but also opened new paths and contributed Chinese approaches to regional and global industrial cooperations under the new situation, in particular for the implementation of the inclusive and sustainable industrial development goal set in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This mainly manifests as: dovetailing the top-level design with planning to build new mechanism-based capacity cooperation models, achieving cross-border infrastructure connectivity to promote trade, investment and industrial cooperation, constructing cooperation zones as an important platform for small and medium-sized enterprises to participate in capacity cooperation, breaking the financial bottleneck of regional development through diversified and open financial cooperation, and leading the leapfrog development of countries along the Belt and Road through technological cooperation and collaborative innovation.

Conclusions * Turkey remains at a key geostrategic crossroads for U.S. security interests in Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. Yet, there is a perceived divergence of strategic interests between the United States and Turkey which was exacerbated by domestic political quarreling between the Islamist-led government of Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan and the Turkish General Staff. The June change in government, which saw the resignation of Erbakan, is unlikely to resolve these differences. * Membership in the European Union (EU) and the Western European Union (WEU) are key foreign policy goals for Turkey's secularist Eurocentric generals. Although the prospects for admission are slim for now, Turkish military and civilian officials place a high priority on trade and investment opportunities to be gained from EU membership. * The Turkish government had backed away from efforts to link support for NATO enlargement to Turkish acceptance as a full member in the EU. Nonetheless, Turkey is not enthusiastic about NATO enlargement and may push for a substantial pause after the first round or make another effort at linkage. Failure to resolve weapons procurement issues could erode ties with the United States and send Turkey in search of more reliable security partners and weapons suppliers. U.S.-Turkish Relations in a Changing Strategic Environment Two events have shaped U.S.-Turkish relations in the 1990s. The first came with the end of the Cold War, as Turkey perceived that its importance to the United States as a front-line state in the NATO-Warsaw Pact stand-off was steadily diminishing. The second occurred in mid-1990 when Ankara under the late President Turgut Ozal joined the coalition formed to confront Iraqi President Saddam Hussein following his invasion of Kuwait. For the first--and only-time, NATO's Article V collective defense arrangement was formally invoked in response to Iraqi threats to Turkish territory. Subsequently, Turkey has remained a key strategic crossroads for the United States, bridging the geographic boundaries between Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia. The United States and Turkey share a broad range of strategic interests, including promoting solid and stable governments in the Caucuses and Central Asia, enhancing shared economic and trade relations, cooperating on global issues such as terrorism and anti- narcotics efforts, and monitoring Iraqi and Kurdish activity in Northern Iraq through Operation Northern Watch. Generally, Ankara has sought an enhanced partnership with Washington based on its own sense of its geostrategic importance to the United States. Despite these shared interests, perceptions of diverging interests complicate U.S.-Turkish strategic relations. The greatest source of tension has been what many Turkish military officers and civilian officials view as an undeclared U.S. arms embargo on Turkey. The United States annually transfers $700 million in small military equipment to Turkey, and more than 80 percent of the Turkish military inventory is of U.S. origin. Nonetheless, American reluctance to transfer substantial military equipment, including delivery of three frigates that Turkey has already paid for or to sell Cobra helicopters to Ankara, leads Turkey's generals to worry that the United States may not be a reliable partner. From the U.S. perspective, Turkey's insistence on completing a $23 billion natural gas pipeline project with Iran raises concern in Washington over the direction of Turkish energy policy and directly challenges U.S. efforts to contain Iran through an economic embargo. A diminishing U.S. force presence also fuels a feeling among the Turks that Ankara's strategic importance to the United States is declining. Since the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, the United States has reduced its force presence from more than 20,000 personnel and dependents at 20 installations to less than 8000 personnel at six installations. …

Purpose: The research aims to examine China's economic activities around the world from the broad perspective of the country's economic security. The authors begin with explaining the concept of economic statecraft and then deal with the analysis of the Chinese overseas economic expansion. Design/Methodology/Approach: The main tools used to achieve the objectives mentioned above include a literature analysis, logical reasoning and statistical research. Findings: The last decades have revealed a new pattern in global economic cooperation. The Belt and Road Initiative turned out to be a successful instrument supporting China's economic growth and deepening international economic cooperation and interdependence. The BRI project allows China not only to secure access to supplies and markets but also strengthen its soft power and gives the possibility to build a powerful network of interconnected countries, independent from the Western powers, willingly cooperating with China in every field. Practical Implications: The research results are helpful to realise the extend and importance of the Belt and Road Initiative in China's economic statecraft and indicate potential fields for future international cooperation under the BRI. As close economic cooperation under the BRI can have significant consequences for China and all countries covered by this project, all partners have to be aware of the complexity of their involvement in this initiative and the pros and cons of such interdependence. Originality/Value: The Belt and Road Initiative is a novel form of broad international cooperation. Thus it deserves special attention and research. The research concerns an economic dimension of the Belt and Road Initiative and provides a comprehensive analysis of China's worldwide economic expansion.

The construction of "The Belt and Road Initiatives" has been widely welcomed by countries along the route, and a large number of cooperation projects are gradually being launched. In the context of "The Belt and Road Initiatives", we should make better use of this advantage and strengthen the cooperation with other countries in the world. This paper mainly discusses the characteristics of the international financial market and the strategic space for international financial cooperation under "The Belt and Road Initiatives", and also discuss the proposes and methods to establish an international financial cooperation system, with the aim of solving the problems that arise in the current cooperation process and making the trade cooperation between China and the countries along the route more convenient.

Relations between Germany, the US and NATO today are the core of transatlantic links. After the Cold War and the reunification of Germany, NATO has lost its former importance to Germany which was not a "frontline state" anymore. The EU acquired a greater importance for German politicians applying both for certain political independence and for establishing of a broad partnership with Russia and China. The task of the European Union Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) development has been regarded by Berlin as a necessary component of the NATO's transformation into a “balanced Euro-American alliance”, and the realization of this project as the most important prerequisite for a more independent foreign policy. Germany’s refusal to support the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 led to the first serious crisis in US Germany relations. At the same time, there was no radical break of the deeply rooted Atlanticism tradition in German policy. It was Angela Merkel as a new head of the German government (2005) who managed to smooth largely disagreements in relations with the United States. Atlanticism remains one of the fundamental foreign policy elements for any German government, mostly because Berlin’s hope for deepening of the European integration and transition to the EU CFSP seems unrealistic in the foreseeable future. However, there is still a fundamental basis of disagreements emerged in the transatlantic relationship (reduction of a military threat weakening Berlin’s dependence from Washington, and the growing influence of Germany in the European Union). According to the federal government's opinion, Germany's contribution to the NATO military component should not be in increasing, but in optimizing of military expenses. However, taking into account the incipient signs of the crisis overcoming in the EU, and still a tough situation around Ukraine, it seems that in the medium-term perspective one should expect further enhancing of Germany’s participation in NATO military activities and, therefore, a growth in its military expenses. In Berlin, there is a wide support for the idea of the European army. However, most experts agree that it can be implemented only when the EU develops the Common Foreign and Defense Policy to a certain extent. The US Germany espionage scandals following one after another since 2013 have seriously undermined the traditional German trust to the United States as a reliable partner. However, under the impact of the Ukrainian conflict, the value of military-political dimension of Germany’s transatlantic relations and its dependence on the US and NATO security guarantees increased. At the same time, Washington expects from Berlin as a recognized European leader a more active policy toward Russia and in respect of some other international issues. In the current international political situation, the desire to expand political influence in the world and achieve a greater autonomy claimed by German leaders seems to Berlin only possible in the context of transatlantic relations strengthening and solidarity within the NATO the only military-political organization of the West which is able to ensure the collective defense for its members against the external threats. However, it is important to take into consideration that not only the value of the United States and NATO for Germany, but also the role of Germany in the North Atlantic Alliance as a “representative of European interests” has increased. The role of Germany as a mediator in establishing the West–Russia relations remains equally important.

Belt and Road Initiative is major decision proposed by CPC Central Committee with comrade Xi Jinping as core co-ordinating domestic and international overall situations, and concerns peaceful rise of China and extension of strategic opportunity period of modernization construction. It needs multi-faceted safeguards to successfully impel the Belt and Road Initiative, in which disaster risk identification and its effective prevention and control are indispensable links. By integrating geogeographic and atmospheric environmental factors, countries along the Belt and Road Initiative belong to frequent occurrence region of major natural disasters. It restricts not only economic and social development of relevant countries but also implementation effect of the Belt and Road Initiative construction, and is also related to success or failure of Chinese enterprises going out to a certain extent. It should enhance disaster prevention and mitigation and ensure safety of major infrastructure construction related to interconnection of the Belt and Road Initiative by disaster identification and prevention, which is key of successfully impelling strategy implementation and major need for guaranteeing people's livelihood of countries along line. The work of disaster prevention and mitigation in countries along line is generally weak, and it is urgent to raise level of disaster prevention as a whole by promoting disaster prevention and mitigation cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative area; improve coverage and level of disaster risk insurance; enhance construction in monitoring and early warning capability of natural disaster; strengthen structural adjustment of economy, industry and land use responding to climate change risks; establish a comprehensive disaster reduction forum of the Belt and Road Initiative, and contain relevant content in the Belt and Road Initiative series of high-end forum topics.

SINCE THE END OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, multilateral diplomacy has been the cornerstone of Canada's foreign and trade policy. Canada's role in initiating and developing the system of international organizations and setting in place mechanisms for multilateral rules-making has been well documented. From Lester Pearson to Stephen Lewis, Canadians have been central in building the U.N.'s role in peacekeeping and the oversight of global security issues; similarly in developing its economic diplomacy Canada is active in the GATT/WTO, the G7, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), where Canadian Donald Johnston currently serves as secretary general. The underlying rationale for this activism has been that the development of international rules is the surest way for a middle power to defend and advance national interests not least by limiting the ability of the superpowers to impose unilaterally their own solutions. Born in 1989 into the post-cold war era, APEC is a new-age body. In many senses, it is still feeling its way in establishing its objectives and operating approaches, as well as its relationship to other regional and global organizations and fora. Despite its initial identity problems, APEC's activities and visibility have grown rapidly. This has been particularly pronounced since the initiation in 1993 of annual meetings of APEC leaders, and the dramatic announcement in 1994 at Bogor, Indonesia that APEC would seek to establish free and open trade and investment within the region by the year 2010 (with APEC's developing economies undertaking to do so by 2020). One reason for its rapid growth is that, even though its focus is economic, APEC serves political and regional security interests as well. It has helped to keep the U.S.A. engaged in the region since the end of the cold war, and has brought China, Hong Kong, and Chinese Taipei (as Taiwan is known in APEC) together in an innovative manner. It gathers the region's leaders on an annual basis to discuss their priorities and concerns, while affording opportunities to leaders and ministers of foreign affairs and international trade to advance key bilateral interests on a regular basis. It has introduced the practice of personal diplomacy into the Asia Pacific region, in the process breaking down formalized practices and attitudes. This paper holds that multilateral diplomacy is as critical to Canadian interests today as at the close of WW II. However, to remain relevant in a world in transition, approaches and objectives must also be open to change. In this regard, APEC provides a window on the quickest-growing region in

Research Problem: The article addresses China’s concerns regarding the expansion of U.S. influence in Asia, particularly focusing on Afghanistan's strategic importance in the geopolitical competition between the two powers. The U.S. military presence and Afghanistan’s religiously influenced governance pose a significant challenge for China, which must navigate both political and religious dynamics to secure its interests in the region. This research investigates how these factors shape China’s foreign policy and its interactions with Afghanistan. Research purposes: The study aims to explore how China’s foreign policy towards Afghanistan has evolved in response to the geopolitical and religious landscape influenced by U.S. actions. Specifically, it examines China’s strategic calculations regarding Afghanistan’s religious governance and how this affects its efforts to engage with Afghan political actors, such as the Taliban, while maintaining its broader geopolitical and economic goals, including the Belt and Road Initiative. Research methods: The research employs a historical and analytical approach, drawing on data from 2011 to 2019 to examine China's foreign policy shifts in response to U.S. actions in Afghanistan. The study relies on secondary sources, including policy papers, academic works, and governmental reports, to assess China’s evolving role and strategies concerning the religiously influenced political structures in Afghanistan. Results and Discussion: The findings show that China’s foreign policy towards Afghanistan is significantly influenced by its concerns over U.S. military presence and alliances in the region. China’s engagement with Afghanistan has been shaped by the need to navigate the religious-political dynamics, particularly with the rise of religiously motivated actors such as the Taliban. China’s strategic responses include strengthening diplomatic ties, economic investments, and engaging with both Afghan religious and political leaders to secure its geopolitical interests. The article discusses how China's secular approach to governance contrasts with Afghanistan’s religious influences, affecting its foreign policy strategies. Research Implications and Contributions: This study contributes to the broader understanding of how religion, politics, and governance intersect in Afghanistan’s international relations, particularly with China. It provides insights into how China adapts its foreign policy to account for religiously motivated governance, while also pursuing its geopolitical goals in the region. The research offers valuable perspectives for policymakers and scholars on the interplay between religion, governance, and foreign policy in a strategically significant context like Afghanistan.

The improvement of the governance system is an important adaptation factor for medium-sized powers to join the "Belt and Road Initiative" cooperation. The sound governance system, rule system and implementation capacity are highly consistent with the basic concept of win-win cooperation advocated by "Belt and Road Initiative". It will help to reduce institutional costs and various risks and challenges in international cooperation, and improve the efficiency of cooperation. Chile is a typical representative of a medium-sized power with a relatively perfect governance system in Latin America. Chile is an important partner for China to carry out "Belt and Road Initiative" Latin American infrastructure construction cooperation with stable political situation, complete legal system and clear strategic planning. its railway modernization is the main platform for "facility connectivity" between China and Chile. It centrally reflects the special logic and wisdom of the medium-sized powers participating in the cooperation of "Belt and Road Initiative" with complete system. The author takes the largest single contract of Chilean National Railway Company as the case study object, taking the governance mechanism as the starting point, on the basis of medium power theory and embedded autonomy theory, this paper discusses the governance of the project from three aspects: system docking, interest coordination and risk prevention and control. And contact the literature and cases of friendly relations between the two countries, transnational knowledge transfer, medium-power governance, unification of railway standards, bilateral trade, digital Silk Road, industrial linkage development, foreign investment strategy, foreign governance and so on. This paper reveals the inherent law of Belt and Road Initiative cooperation among medium-sized powers with complete system based on multi-dimensional governance system, and summarizes the replicable experience and enlightenment, so as to provide theoretical reference and practical plan for deepening multi-field cooperation between China and similar countries.

The Belt and Road Initiative proclaimed by President Xi in 2013, a strategy developed by the Chinese government, is very important to China but is not confined to China. In order for the initiative to be successful it needs to be embraced by the countries on the terrestrial and maritime route indicated in the plan. In the late 1980s Deng Xiaoping proposed to integrate Socialism with Chinese Characteristics (Zhongguo Tese Shehui Zhuyi, ) into global capitalism and in the 1990s the Jiang Zemin leadership initiated the Going out policy (Zouchuqu Zhanlue, ) – the current Belt and Road Initiative is China’s continuation in implementing those policies into actual deeds. China’s accession to WTO in 2001 marked China’s full integration into the global economy and since then the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has become the largest trading partner for more than 180 countries. The Xi-Li administration has been extremely proactive since it was established in 2012; from that year on, Chinese behavior in international affairs has gained an ever-growing role as a forger of economic and diplomatic ties between countries. The primary example of this behavior is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). As every serious foreign policy plan, the BRI is an accumulation of various other initiatives. For example, the cooperation mechanism “16+1”, with which the PRC has approached Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC), can be integrated under the BRI. This paper analizes the “16+1” China-CEEC cooperation mechanism in the context of the bigger BRI initiative, and tries to comprehend the economic and political factors intertwined with its implementation.

The burgeoning conflict over the water sharing is now a global phenomenon. Many international treaties, laws and water management models are available to settle down the water sharing issues among the states like Absolute Territorial Sovereignty and the Upper Riparian, Absolute Territorial Integrity and the Lower Riparian and Mediated Strategy of Restricted Integrity. Inter-provincial water sharing issue in Pakistan is a classic example of upstream-downstream rivalry which has been traced back from the pre-partition history of Pakistan. Lower riparian province Sindh has a historical conflict with upper riparian province Punjab, Balochistan being lower riparian has water conflicts with Sindh, and KPK has water sharing issue with Punjab. The constitution has also empowered the existing institutions like CCI and IRSA and established several new rules for the water manageme among provinces. Currently, it has become the issue of federation and has disturbed the provincial harmony and national integration.

Coordinated regional economic development is not only an important prerequisite for the sound development of the national economy, but also a necessary requirement for China to eliminate poverty and achieve common prosperity of Chinese people. Improving the opening-up level of underdeveloped areas is very critical for narrowing regional gaps and achieving coordinated regional economic development. Coordinating the development of the multi-modal domestic transport network and the construction of national key transport routes with the six major Belt and Road international economic cooperation corridors may enable logistics at home and abroad to be linked with the Belt and Road region, advance efficient flows and allocations of the B&R economic factors and promote regional economic opening-up and coordinated development. China is vigorously implementing thegoing global strategy in order to expand outward foreign investment and international cooperation on production capacity. As there are certain similarities on comparative advantages and industrial development stages between central and western China and the Belt and Road region, the construction of domestic transport routes may advance the opening up in central and western areas and help them to undertake industrial transfer from the eastern coastal areas of the country. It is of great significance to long-term stability and sustainable development of China’s economy to, through connecting the Belt and Road Initiative, accelerate the construction of domestic transport routes, industrial layout coordination and coordinated development of open economy among different areas in China.