China and the BRI: Challenges and Opportunities for Southeast Asia

Since Xi Jinping’s unveiling, in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has drawn remarkable global attention, raising polarized judgements about China’s ambitions. A number of countries and institutions enthusiastically considered the BRI as a valuable infrastructural and economic contribution that would enhance connectivity among Eurasian countries; on the other hand, critics viewed the BRI as part of Beijing’s effort to gain global influence, especially within its neighborhood. Chinese policymakers have considered Southeast Asia as a critical region for the success of the BRI, mainly because of the geographical proximity as well as the strong economic ties with both individual states and the ASEAN. In Southeast Asian states’ view, however, the BRI still presents a mixed picture of opportunities and challenges. Despite the clear appeal the BRI has to both democratic and authoritarian leaders in the region, especially at a time of economic uncertainty—fueled by unhelpful actions by the United States (withdrawal from the TPP and the trade war against Beijing)—concerns remain. Potential overdependence on China, the BRI’s financial sustainability and negative popular perceptions about Beijing within certain Southeast Asian countries, all contribute to nurture caution in the region. The paper aims at showing how the implementation of the BRI will likely enhance China’s influence in Southeast Asia. Against this backdrop, whereas the establishment of a renovated Sinocentric system is far from certain, this study sheds light on the challenges and opportunities the BRI is determining upon Southeast Asian countries and their relationship with Beijing

Beijing turns to the seas. Combining assertive postures with cooperation

China’s effort to build itself up into a maritime superpower has drawn scholars’ attention. Questions arise whether the Chinese maritime turn can be considered in terms of potential destabilization of the maritime border in the Western Pacific and Indian Ocean region, or rather, as a contributor to maintaining such an order. Those who believe that China’s maritime rise represents a destabilizing force, point at Beijing’s assertive posture in the East and South China seas. Other scholars argue, that Chinese navy (PLAN) has taken part in humanitarian assistance, disaster relief (HA/DR) and anti-piracy missions in the Indo-Pacific region, contributing to the international maritime cooperation. State-of-the-art analyses have focused either on China’s assertiveness, chiefly in regional seas, or on Beijing’s difficulties to catching up with a blue-water navy status in a global scenario. Rather than assuming China’s maritime projection as a uniform pattern, this study empasizes that Beijing pursues a twofold strategy. On regional waters, where its navy is capable of exercising effective military might, China operates assertively and does not seek multilateral cooperation. On the high seas, where PLAN’s forays suffer from weaker preparedness and training, Beijing has joined the international community in maintaining the world order. China pursued naval diplomacy efforts, as demonstrated by its participation in anti-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden since 2008 and its contribution to numerous HA/DR initiatives. China’s regional assertiveness and its global cooperative posture reinforce Beijing’s maritime projection

Into Beijing's Net: Strategic Reasons and Implications of China's Navl Rise

Questo studio intende contribuire alla comprensione dell’ascesa navale cinese attraverso l’analisi delle premesse storiche, delle caratteristiche, delle ragioni e degli obiettivi nazionali, e infine delle implicazioni strategiche legate alla proiezione della Cina sul dominio marittimo. In particolare, alla luce dell’analisi relativa alla visione strategica cinese, viene esaminata la condotta navale di Pechino sui teatri regionali dell’Asia orientale, con particolare attenzione al Mar Cinese Meridionale, e sui domini di mare aperto, sui quali la proiezione cinese ha iniziato a guadagnare un relativo consolidamento, soprattutto nella regione dell’Oceano Indiano. In questa prospettiva, l’analisi delle implicazioni strategiche ha rivelato come l’ascesa della potenza navale cinese abbia stimolato un processo di competizione con Giappone e India, mentre anche per l’egemonia marittima statunitense la potenza cinese si conferma un attore sempre più competitivo, in particolare in Asia orientale. Inoltre, il consolidamento cinese nella regione ha determinato una trasformazione strategica e territoriale del Mar Cinese Meridionale, mentre la competizione navale con l’India ha contribuito a una certa riconfigurazione strategica dell’Oceano Indiano. Con queste premesse, la presente analisi ambisce a dimostrare come l’ascesa della potenza navale cinese non abbia innescato processi di forte destabilizzazione dell’ordine marittimo vigente, ma si sia piuttosto affermata in modo graduale e controllato. In questo quadro, l’impegno di Pechino a sostegno della stabilità marittima globale, attraverso esperienze di cooperazione navale e diplomazia militare, è stato enfatizzato in quanto dimensione integrante della visione strategica cinese nel suo insieme.This study aims to contribute to the understanding of China’s naval rise through the analysis of its historical background, characteristics, reasons and objectives, as well as the strategic implications linked to China’s increasing projection on the maritime domain. Particularly, within its overall strategic vision, Beijing’s naval conduct is examined within the East Asian scenario, with particular attention to the South China Sea, and on the open sea domains, where the Chinese projection is obtaining a relative consolidation, especially in the Indian Ocean region. From this perspective, the assessment of its strategic implications reveals how China’s naval rise has triggered a process of competition with Japan and India, whereas Beijing has emerged as an increasingly competitive actor vis-à-vis the US maritime hegemony, especially in East Asia. In addition, the consolidation of China’s reach in the region has led to a strategic and territorial transformation of the South China Sea, and ongoing naval competition with India has contributed to a certain strategic reconfiguration of the Indian Ocean. Considering these processes, this analysis aims to demonstrate how the rise of China’s naval power has not provoked critical destabilization of the current maritime order, rather emerging as a progressive and controlled evolution. Against this backdrop, Beijing's commitment to supporting global maritime stability, through contributions to naval cooperation and military diplomacy, has been emphasized as an integral dimension of China’s strategic vision at sea

Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy: Default emission factors for local emission inventories – Version 2017

The Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy initiative, hereafter called “Covenant” or “CoM”, brings together local and regional authorities voluntarily committing to develop and implement a Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan (SECAP) containing measures to reduce their energy (and non-energy) related Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. Within the CoM 2010 guidebook ‘How to develop a Sustainable Energy Action Plan’ (Bertoldi et al., 2010), Part II focuses on the compiling of local GHG emission inventories in the 28 Member States of the European Union (EU). This technical report provides an update of the CoM default emission factors, reported in Part II of the CoM 2010 guidebook and subsequently revised (CoM, 2014; CoM, 2016), together with information on the methodologies, assumptions and data sources, as well as recommendations for their application to the calculation of CO2 and GHG (CO2, CH4 and N2O) emissions due to local use or production of energy (fuel, municipal wastes, renewable energy sources (RES), electricity). As for previous versions, the CoM default emission factors - Version 2017 (expressed in tCO2 or CO2 equivalent/MWh), to be used to estimate standard direct emissions are the IPCC (2006) default factors for stationary combustion for the energy carriers and RES, the most commonly used in the European Union. The CoM default emission factors to estimate local emissions using the Life Cycle Assessment approach, which also includes emissions from the entire supply chain, have been updated using the lastest version (v3.2) of the European Life Cycle Database, as well as other Life Cycle databases and literature reviews. For indirect emissions from local consumption of electricity, national and EU annual factors have been calculated for the 1990 to 2013, using an updated methodological approach and an extended set of energy data (IEA, 2016). The GHG emission factors (in tCO2-eq/MWh) have been estimated using the 100-year time horizon Global Warming Potential factors from the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC, 2007), which are the ones currently recommended to the EU countries for the national inventory reporting, in the frame of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Regular updates of CoM default emission factors are foreseen for the future. New CoM signatories are therefore recommended to use the latest version of Annex I available from the Covenant on-line library . It is important to note is that the emission factors used to calculate emission inventories should be consistent for the entire implementation process of the SECAP. In particular, since more recent knowledge and technologies can give substantial changes, it is strongly recommended when opting for the use of CoM default emission factors, not to modify the ones applied to the Baseline Emission Inventory during the monitoring phase, in order to identify the trends and changes in local emissions that are due to local energy production and consumption. When selecting the CoM default emission factors, it is also important to ensure that they are appropriate to local fuel quality and composition. If local authorities prefer to use emission factors that better reflect the properties of the fuels used in their territory for the calculation and update of their local emission inventories, they are welcome to do so, when more country specific or local data are available and reliable.JRC.C.5-Air and Climat

The Future of Cities

This report is an initiative of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the science and knowledge service of the European Commission (EC), and supported by the Commission's Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO). It highlights drivers shaping the urban future, identifying both the key challenges cities will have to address and the strengths they can capitalise on to proactively build their desired futures. The main aim of this report is to raise open questions and steer discussions on what the future of cities can, and should be, both within the science and policymaker communities. While addressing mainly European cities, examples from other world regions are also given since many challenges and solutions have a global relevance. The report is particularly novel in two ways. First, it was developed in an inclusive manner – close collaboration with the EC’s Community of Practice on Cities (CoP-CITIES) provided insights from the broader research community and city networks, including individual municipalities, as well as Commission services and international organisations. It was also extensively reviewed by an Editorial Board. Secondly, the report is supported by an online ‘living’ platform which will host future updates, including additional analyses, discussions, case studies, comments and interactive maps that go beyond the scope of the current version of the report. Steered by the JRC, the platform will offer a permanent virtual space to the research, practice and policymaking community for sharing and accumulating knowledge on the future of cities. This report is produced in the framework of the EC Knowledge Centre for Territorial Policies and is part of a wider series of flagship Science for Policy reports by the JRC, investigating future perspectives concerning Artificial Intelligence, the Future of Road Transport, Resilience, Cybersecurity and Fairness Interactive online platform : https://urban.jrc.ec.europa.eu/thefutureofcitiesJRC.B.3-Territorial Developmen

Taking cover before the outbreak: understanding precautionary behaviors of Chinese in Italy in the COVID-19 scenario

This paper provides an empirical exploration of the preemptive measures adopted by Chinese in Italy vis-à-vis the early outbreak of COVID-19. Based on a quantitative dataset obtained through an online survey, the assessment of preemptive self-isolation has been pursued in relation to: the sources of information regarding the pandemic, the perception of risk, the level of trust towards both Italian and Chinese authorities, and the level of perceived stigma. According to the evidences we have collected, most of the Chinese living in Italy began an “all-out self-isolation” prior to the enforcement of the national lockdown. Such behaviors appear as the result of individual decisions taken on the basis of an individual, high perception of risk, apprised by Chinese sources of information and fueled by distrust towards policies enforced by the Italian governmental authorities. This article suggests that the precautionary behaviors of the Chinese in Italy can be seen as the result of the combination of their “preparedness” and their perception of stigma and discrimination

Preparation of an efficient and selective voltammetric sensor based on screen printed carbon ink electrode modified with TiO2 nanoparticles for Azithromycin quantification

The tetragonal (rutile) nanostructures of TiO2 Nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) have gained importance due to their large active sites, electronic states influencing superior electrode performance, stability and conductivity. In this regard, Screen printed carbon ink electrode modified with TiO2 was proposed as an electrochemical sensor for the quantification of Azithromycin. TiO2 NPs was used as a modifier in order to improve the electrochemical signal of the bare carbon ink used for the screen printed carbon ink electrode (SPCIE). Some other nanostructured materials, such as Multi Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT) and Graphene Nano Platelets (GNPL), were also studied with the purpose of increasing the current signal of carbon electrode, but they did not show any expected significant effects, or they were mechanically not suitable to be printed as electrode. Azithromycin is one of the top prioritized antibiotics which are widely used by humans; lastly it is one of the most used antibiotics to treat patients with COVID-19 infection. Therefore, the determination of Azithromycin in urine samples as well as in water media is important, because of the implications antibiotics are known to have with health and natural environment. SPCIE bulk-modified with TiO2 NPs was characterized by SEM-EDS analysis. Cyclic voltammetry analysis was used to determine Azithromycin and with all optimized accompanying analytical parameters. The prepared TiO2 NPs/SPCIE electrode showed a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.93 μM with a limit of quantification (LOQ) of 3.1 µM, sensitivity of 7.36 µA µM−1 cm−2 (S/N = 3), and a linearity range of 0.05–50 μM towards determination of Azithromycin standards

The combined effect of betamethasone and ritodrine on the middle cerebral artery in low risk third trimester pregnancies

Aims: To evaluate the effect of antenatal betamethasone and ritodrine in third trimester low risk singleton pregnancies by Doppler technology. Subjects and methods: Eighty-four third trimester pregnant women who received a full course of betamethasone and delivering uneventfully were recruited. The Doppler examination included the assessment of the pulsatility index (PI) of the umbilical artery (UA PI) and the middle cerebral artery (MCA PI) prior to treatment (baseline), and 48, 72 and 96 h after the second dose of betamethasone. Results: No significant difference was found in UA PI and UA/MCA values following betamethasone therapy. In contrast, MCA PI decreased significantly 48 h from the last injection of betamethasone in the whole study group (P < 0.001), and returned to basal values at 96 h. We also found that MCA PI was reduced significantly at 48 h in the subgroup under tocolysis (n = 41) and in the subgroup not receiving tocolysis (n = 43). We compared MCA PI values for both subgroups in the four timings, and found a non-significant difference comparing baseline and 96 h values. However, when comparing MCA PI values after 48 and 72 h, significantly lower differences in PI values in both subgroups were found. Conclusion: In low risk pregnancies, betamethasone therapy in the third trimester is related to a significant but transient reduction of MCA PI, which is more pronounced during tocolytic therapy. Although the physiological basis of this effect is currently unclear, it could be related to the local regulation of intracerebral blood flow

The Covenant of Mayors Initiative: An Assessment and Evaluation

Local governments play a crucial role in mitigating the effects of climate change, all the more so when considering that 80 % of energy consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is associated with urban activity. The Covenant of Mayors (CoM) is the mainstream European movement involving local authorities, voluntarily committing to meet and exceed the European Union 20 % CO2 reduction objective by 2020 by increasing energy efficiency and through the use of renewable energy sources on their territories. In order to achieve its CO2 reduction objective, a city that signs the CoM commits to a number of actions such as: to prepare a Baseline Emission Inventory (BEI); to submit a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP); to adapt city structures in order to undertake the necessary actions, and to mobilise the civil society in their respective geographical areas to take part in implementing the Action Plan. A regular Monitoring of Emission Inventories in which progress towards target is measured is also required. Finally signatories of CoM have to submit an action report at least every second year after submission of the Action Plan. So far, over 5000 cities have signed up to participate in the CoM and over 3000 cities have submitted their SEAPs. 1850 SEAP have been analysed and approved. The paper presents the evaluation of the CoM intiative after 5 years, including the expansion of the scheme to ex-CIS countries and North Africa.JRC.F.7-Renewables and Energy Efficienc