China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has significantly transformed the global landscape. The BRI challenges conventional thinking about global development, prompting us to reconsider the interplay between existing development agencies. Numerous studies have explored different facets of China’s BRI, spanning various disciplines, approaches, and theories. Many studies delve into China’s overarching strategy behind the BRI. They analyze China’s economic [...]

The government of Japan introduced the concept of “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) and turned it into a strategy in 2016. Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed his government’s commitment to this strategy at a conference in Kenya in that year. However, even before formalizing the FOIP as a strategy, similar ideas appeared in the previous speeches or [...]