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Jamestown Foundation Posts Commentary: Central Asia Accessing Pakistani Sea Ports That Bypass Afghanistan
WASHINGTON, May 29 -- The Jamestown Foundation posted the following commentary on May 28, 2026, by Syed Fazl-e-Haider, contributing analyst at the South Asia desk of Wikistrat, in the foundation's Eurasia Daily Monitor:
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Central Asia Accessing Pakistani Sea Ports that Bypass Afghanistan
Executive Summary:
* Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Transport and Communications announced the successful implementation of a pilot transport project on the Kyrgyzstan-China-Pakistan route on April 24. The new 2,000-mile route through the People's Republic of China (PRC) is an important step for Kyrgyzstan to
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 29 -- The Jamestown Foundation posted the following commentary on May 28, 2026, by Syed Fazl-e-Haider, contributing analyst at the South Asia desk of Wikistrat, in the foundation's Eurasia Daily Monitor:
* * *
Central Asia Accessing Pakistani Sea Ports that Bypass Afghanistan
Executive Summary:
* Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Transport and Communications announced the successful implementation of a pilot transport project on the Kyrgyzstan-China-Pakistan route on April 24. The new 2,000-mile route through the People's Republic of China (PRC) is an important step for Kyrgyzstan torevive foreign trade and access seaports.
* Islamabad no longer considers Afghanistan as the primary transit gateway to Central Asia because of its ongoing conflict with the Taliban. The South Asian country has activated alternative trade corridors via the PRC and Iran to access Central Asia.
* For Central Asian countries and Pakistan, Afghan routes are currently not viable due to persistent security risks, frequent Pakistan-Afghanistan border skirmishes, and the presence of militant groups on Afghan soil.
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On April 24, Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Transport and Communications announced the successful implementation of a pilot transport project on the Kyrgyzstan-China-Pakistan route. A single truck carrying goods from Kyrgyzstan reached the port in Pakistan's city of Karachi along the Karakorum Highway via the People's Republic of China (PRC), bypassing Afghanistan. The Kyrgyz Ministry of Transport and Communications carried out the pilot project with the cooperation of the International Association of Freight Forwarders of Kyrgyzstan as part of its strategy to develop international transport corridors and provide direct access to the seaports for global trade (Kyrgyz Ministry of Transport, April 24). The successful test of Kyrgyzstan's pilot project opens access for other land-locked Central Asian countries to Pakistan's seaports. The new 2,000-mile route through the PRC is an important step for Kyrgyzstan to expand its international logistics role, revive foreign trade, and access seaports.
Islamabad no longer considers Afghanistan as the primary transit gateway to Central Asia because of its ongoing conflict with the Taliban. The South Asian country has activated alternative trade corridors via the PRC and Iran to access Central Asia. For Central Asian countries and Pakistan, Afghan routes are currently not viable due to persistent security risks, frequent Pakistan-Afghanistan border skirmishes, and the presence of militant groups on Afghan soil. Pakistan considers routes to Bishkek and Almaty through the PRC as shorter, faster, and more secure compared to Afghan transit (Business Recorder, April 21). For instance, the authorities in Uzbekistan and Pakistan signed a deal for development of trade through two major land routes bypassing Afghanistan in November 2025. These were the Pakistan-China-Tajikistan-Uzbekistan and Pakistan-China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan land routes (Eurasianet, December 8, 2025).
Other new land routes directly link Pakistani ports to Iran via multiple Pakistan-Iran border points. These land routes extend northward into Central Asia and further to Russia. In April, Pakistan dispatched its first export to Uzbekistan through Iran, bypassing Afghanistan (Times of Islamabad, May 4).
Pakistani officials say they have faced cross-border attacks from Afghanistan-based anti-Pakistan militant groups since the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in 2021. The Taliban's government turned a deaf ear to Islamabad's several requests for action against the groups allegedly operating against Pakistan from Afghan territory. In February, Islamabad declared an "open war" against the Taliban regime and launched Operation Ghazab lil Haq to target what it says are safe havens of cross-border terrorist outfits inside Afghanistan (Dawn, February 27).
Several Central Asian leaders have visited Pakistan over the past six months and proposed connectivity projects to access Pakistani seaports. In December 2025, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov visited Islamabad. The two countries signed a series of deals to revive and expand their bilateral relations in different sectors, including use of Pakistani ports (24.kg, December 4, 2025). In February, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev paid a two-day visit to Pakistan. The countries agreed to increase bilateral trade to $2 billion within the next five years, and to promote maritime trade and preferential arrangements at the Pakistani ports of Karachi, Gwadar, and Bin Qasim (Dawn, February 5). In February, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev visited Pakistan and discussed the development of transit routes through Afghanistan with Pakistani leadership. In his meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Tokayev discussed access to the Karachi and Gwadar ports. Kazakhstan and Pakistan signed 20 agreements covering transport, logistics, and other sectors. They also discussed the proposed $7 billion railway project connecting Kazakhstan to Pakistani ports via Afghanistan and Turkmenistan (Eurasianet, February 4).
As Central Asia's strategy for accessing Pakistani sea ports shifts away from routes through Afghanistan because of security concerns, routes through the PRC and Iran have become more important. In April, Pakistan opened the Gabd-Rimdan border crossing with Iran, opening a functional corridor towards Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The Iran route became operational after Pakistan dispatched the first shipment of frozen meat toward Tashkent. A senior Pakistani official involved in regional connectivity planning reportedly said, "Pakistan is moving from being a terminal geography to a transit economy ... This is about securing trade continuity, diversifying routes, and reducing exposure to single-point disruptions" (Business Recorder, April 21).
Several Trans-Afghan connectivity projects from Central Asia have been in the doldrums for decades due to conflict in Afghanistan. These projects still have an uncertain future. For example, the $4.8 billion Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan (UAP) railway project cannot be completed by 2027 due to Pakistan-Afghan conflict (Special Eurasia, July 23, 2025). Similarly, the $10 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline, one of Central Asia's most ambitious infrastructure projects, has been delayed by three decades due to conflict in Afghanistan. The ongoing Pakistan-Afghan conflict, threats from Afghanistan-based militant groups, economic instability, and political uncertainty in Afghanistan continue to cast doubt on the future of this ambitious gas pipeline (Turkmen Portal, September 11, 2024).
Routes through the PRC are shorter and more secure compared to Afghan transit. Moreover, Pakistan can leverage the PRC's more developed infrastructure to connect with Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan via the Khunjerab Pass. Land routes through Iran are longer than Afghan routes, but they are more cost-effective in real terms, though also are jeopardized by conflict (Business Recorder, April 21). With a major shift in Pakistan's Afghanistan policy and activation of routes through Iran and the PRC, the future of all Trans-Afghan connectivity projects are uncertain.
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Syed Fazl-e-Haider is a contributing analyst at the South Asia desk of Wikistrat.
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Original text here: https://jamestown.org/central-asia-accessing-pakistani-sea-ports-that-bypass-afghanistan/
[Category: ThinkTank]
Jamestown Foundation Issues Commentary: Chinese 'Rules and Future' of Global Trade
WASHINGTON, May 29 -- The Jamestown Foundation issued the following commentary on May 28, 2026, by editorial assistant Jonah Reisboard in its China Brief:
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The Chinese 'Rules and Future' of Global Trade
Executive Summary:
* The People's Republic of China (PRC) is shaping global trade standards in data control and customs clearance. These standards give preference to Chinese platforms that provide Beijing with end-to-end visibility into global shipping.
* No Western equivalent of this system exists, and the resulting data asymmetry could enable PRC actors to identify supply chain chokepoints,
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 29 -- The Jamestown Foundation issued the following commentary on May 28, 2026, by editorial assistant Jonah Reisboard in its China Brief:
* * *
The Chinese 'Rules and Future' of Global Trade
Executive Summary:
* The People's Republic of China (PRC) is shaping global trade standards in data control and customs clearance. These standards give preference to Chinese platforms that provide Beijing with end-to-end visibility into global shipping.
* No Western equivalent of this system exists, and the resulting data asymmetry could enable PRC actors to identify supply chain chokepoints,exploit dependencies in critical resources, and circumvent tariffs, sanctions, and export controls.
* Chinese trade platforms gain international power via bilateral adoption agreements, multilateral institutions like the World Customs Organization, and standards-setting bodies led by Alibaba and state-run LOGINK. This ecosystem embeds Chinese platforms and norms into global trade infrastructure, locking in adoption and displacing alternatives.
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Cainiao Network Technology (Cainiao), Alibaba's logistics branch, opened a parcel processing center at the U.S.-Mexico border earlier this year (South China Morning Post, January 9). The company already has a global reach, maintaining an expansive e-commerce logistics network outside the People's Republic of China (PRC) that spans 40 warehouses across 18 different countries (Cainiao, March 12). In the United States, this included distribution centers in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and Chicago as of early 2025 (Xinhua, January 23, 2025). Cainiao has rapidly expanded throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Western Hemisphere since then (Cainiao, accessed May 5; Wall Street CN, May 19).
Cainiao's logistics network is part of a broader ecosystem of Chinese trade platforms. The National Public Information Platform for Transportation and Logistics (LOGINK), a state-supported logistics data management platform that collects data on global shipping, grounds this ecosystem. The electronic world trade platform initiative (eWTP), an Alibaba-led multi-stakeholder initiative, sets international standards and hosts a public service platform used for trade documentation. By the time goods exported from the PRC reach their overseas destination, it is plausible that a series of Chinese entities have managed every leg of the shipment.
This ecosystem, coupled with the PRC's global array of ports and transport infrastructure, provides Beijing with a powerful tool for monitoring global trade--even when non-PRC entities are involved. [1] Chinese authorities can access this data by law, and many of the entities involved are likely to share it willingly: many leading PRC logistics, shipping, and port infrastructure firms have affirmed support for Beijing's military-civil fusion agenda (China Brief, March 15, 2024, May 9, 2025). In an age of growing geopolitical fragmentation, the exploitation of chokepoints, and the imposition of barriers to trade, dominating the platforms that manage and govern international commerce represents a clear point of leverage for Beijing.
Central Policy Drives Domestic Adoption
The rise of the PRC's sprawling logistics network can be traced back to economic insecurities around the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. The State Council issued "revitalization plans" for ten industries including, in March 2009, the logistics sector. This plan marked the first central-level endorsement of a public information platform for the logistics industry, outlining the need to "transform the mode of economic development and enhance the competitiveness of the national economy" (National Development and Reform Committee [NDRC], March 10, 2009). Implicit in this statement was a perception that a global logistics network could blunt the impact of future economic shocks. This would ultimately come to mean projecting influence overseas to maintain an advantage in relation to foreign competition; but at this stage, the nascent logistics platform was only intended for domestic use.
Seven years after the Zhejiang provincial government established LOGINK in 2007, the central government named it a "key project" in the national Medium- and Long-Term Plan for the Development of the Logistics Industry (2014-2020) (2014-2020)) (State Council, September 12, 2014; Zhejiang Online, December 16, 2015). The plan said that LOGINK would incorporate BeiDou satellite navigation, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and big data for applications such as "end-to-end traceability of information" (State Council, September 12, 2014).
Achievements made under this plan were consolidated in 2019 under the "Outline on Building a Transportation Great Power", which also promoted further penetrating global networks. Section 5 of the outline, on technological innovation, calls for "smart transportation" by incorporating big data, artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technology, and supercomputing in transportation applications. Section 8, on connecting Chinese physical and digital networks to the world, proposes using the six One Belt One Road initiative corridors and "enhancing the PRC's international discourse power in transportation" (State Council, September 23, 2019). [2]
LOGINK-Alibaba-State Synergy Sustains the Network
LOGINK, Cainiao, and the eWTP initiative have developed in parallel, and in key respects are mutually reinforcing. LOGINK ensures government support via access to data; Cainiao provides physical infrastructure across the world; and the eWTP initiative shapes the global logistics industry in ways that align with PRC interests. LOGINK has been operated by the China Transport Telecommunications and Information Center (CTTIC) under the Ministry of Transportation (MOT) since 2019. At the time, the handover was billed as a way to contribute to building a "transportation strong nation" by supporting the government first and industry second (CTTIC, April 2, 2019). Alibaba bridges the state-private sector divide through its majority stake in Cainiao and the eWTP initiative that it leads. Cainiao explicitly links its global network of warehouses and smart logistics "eHubs" to the "eWTP strategy" (Cainiao, accessed May 4). The strength of this synergy is evident in their reach: Cainiao has eHubs in Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Belgium; and eWTP's public service platform extends to logistics centers and ports in Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Mexico, with plans for integration in Korean, Polish, Pakistani, and Spanish facilities (eWTP, accessed May 3).
Adoption of one Chinese platform facilitates the expansion of the others. Setting international standards, in particular, locks in the entire Chinese network. For example, the International Port Community Systems Association (IPCSA) joined LOGINK, Cainiao, and eWTP on the International Logistics Visibility Task Force in 2018, to support their joint goal of setting "de facto industry standards" for information sharing (China News Online, October 23, 2018). This enabled LOGINK to track goods that are increasingly processed in Cainiao eHubs and facilitated by eWTP-related documentation. The network's joint expansion increases data flows for LOGINK that could be accessed by its managers at the MOT. According to LOGINK's own catalogue from 2018, it documents cargo-level tracking data, customs clearance information, corporate registry data, billing and payment documentation, and geolocation information from satellite navigation systems--in line with the plans for the platform highlighted above (USCC, September 20, 2022).
Exporting the Ecosystem
The PRC maintains and expands control by embedding this ecosystem abroad such that even when PRC entities do not own or operate ports or logistics facilities, Chinese standards and data collection mechanisms remain key to their operation.
LOGINK began to set industry standards as it spread across the PRC, even before it became a national or international tool. Hu Yijun, deputy director of the Zhejiang Province Road Transport Administration, saw how the widespread adoption of LOGINK's software facilitated the implementation of its standards as early as 2015. This process, in which "logistics information flows alongside the software", which was becoming increasingly "popularized", continues as these platforms are adopted globally, embedding Chinese software and collecting global logistics data (Zhejiang Online, December 16, 2015). Coordinated efforts to export the network began in 2018, and the adoption of both norms and platforms has continued since then.
Trade Associations Provide Global Data
LOGINK joined the IPCSA's Network of Trusted Networks (NoTN) in 2022. NoTN was developed to provide information sharing on end-to-end shipping data, a capability that had been promoted by the PRC as a key goal since 2014 (IPCSA, April 11, 2022). Participation provided LOGINK with global vessel and voyage information, adding to its ability to track and trace cargo (Smart Maritime Network, April 11, 2022).
Adoption Through Bilateral Agreements
At a G20 summit in Hangzhou in 2016, the leaders' communique noted the development of the eWTP (G20 Research Group, September 5, 2016). The summit took place on Alibaba's home turf, enabling founder Jack Ma to chair the affiliated B20 Business summit. Ma leveraged his position as chair to secure this quasi-endorsement of the eWTP, which soon led to the first adoption agreement with Malaysia in 2017 (eWTP, accessed May 3). Then-Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak highlighted Ma's involvement, saying that his meeting with Ma convinced him to "embrace" eWTP, culminating in a memorandum of understanding between Cainiao and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (Beijing Business Today, November 4, 2017). [3]
Belgium joined the network in 2018 when Cainiao opened an eWTP hub in Liege. The Belgian BE-GATE e-commerce customs clearance system is now linked to the eWTP portal, and Liege airport receives direct cargo flights from major Chinese cities such as Guangzhou and Hangzhou. Liu Xiaochen, deputy division leader at the General Administration of Customs of China's (GACC) international office, said that Alibaba envisions the eventual "mutual exchange and recognition of customs declaration information" (China Pictorial, September 14, 2020). Such an agreement would encourage bilateral trade by removing barriers, potentially displacing trade with Western partners. That Alibaba is reportedly moving in this direction shows how the export of digital standards by corporate actors advances broader national priorities. Cainiao expresses direct support for national strategies, describing this facility as supporting dual-circulation, which in practice fuses security and development "into a single system of strategic advantage," according to analysts (China Brief, November 3, 2025; Cainiao, accessed February 14). [4]
Pakistan, a reliable partner of the PRC, is planning an eWTP partnership centered around customs clearance and currency settlement (Hangzhou Online, November 22, 2024). At the World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit in 2024, Syed Aftab Haider, CEO of the country's trade documentation platform Pakistan Single Window, said that the country should "consult policies currently being adopted by countries such as the PRC". In April 2024, a Pakistani delegation on a tour designed to help participants "understand China" also met with representatives from eWTP (People's Daily Overseas, April 30, 2024).
These examples indicate that eWTP is steadily entering the global market in receptive countries. As more countries implement these platforms and norms, however, the PRC will work to set them as the global default.
'PRC-Only' Multilateralism Exports Norms to ASEAN
PRC engagement with multilateral organizations encourages the adoption of its platforms and standards. The ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) 3.0 Upgrade Protocol codified "economic and technical cooperation" in, among other areas, customs procedures and trade facilitations; standards, technical regulations, and conformity; supply chain connectivity; and micro, small, and medium enterprises (Ministry of Commerce, accessed May 13). Yuan Bo of the Ministry of Commerce lauded the agreement, which she characterized as the "rules and future" of PRC-ASEAN trade (International Business Daily, November 21, 2025). Even though eWTP has not been adopted by all ASEAN member states, the PRC's multilateral relations allow Chinese entities to define these institutions.
International Organizations Codify Norms
In December 2023, the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the PRC's GACC launched the Smart Customs Project (WCO, December 18, 2023). The project, funded by the WCO-GACC Customs Cooperation Fund of China (CCF-China), aims to integrate technological solutions into customs systems, launch a digital platform to share solutions, and host regional workshops. These workshops, like others held in Lima in March 2024 and Cameroon in April 2026, encourage global adoption of Chinese standards by providing training and educating audiences on the utility of Chinese platforms (WCO, March 28, 2024; April 21). The Smart Customs Community Portal, funded by CCF-China, serves the same purpose (WCO, March 5, 2025).
The most visible contribution of the PRC's GACC has been in the deployment of AI and machine learning (ML) applications in customs clearance. A WCO case study, published in January 2025, outlines Chinese applications of AI/ML for smart image analysis to scan for discrepancies in customs declarations (WCO, January 2025). GACC and CCF-China's research on applications within the WCO sets the stage for export of the Chinese hardware (Nuctech scanners) and software (tianxuan AI; stacks (Nuctech, March 20, 2024; WCO, accessed April 27, 2025). As early as 2022, customs officials from the United Kingdom, Mongolia, and Norway had visited Tianjin to review GACC's smart customs system, suggesting international interest in adopting their tools (China News Online, April 18, 2022). On the hardware side, Nuctech scanners are already deployed around the world, including at NATO-Russia border crossings in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland (Associated Press, January 20, 2022; AidData, February 20, 2025). Nuctech launched its newest customs platform at a WCO conference this year, reflecting how the platforms leading the PRC's digital trade network bring other problematic entities along with them (AidData, February 20, 2025; Nuctech, accessed May 7).
LOGINK and Alibaba also played a role in developing new standards for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Zhu Hongru, head of Alibaba's standardization department, chaired the technical committee that produced ISO 23354, which requires end-to-end visibility of logistics flow for businesses. ISO 23355 went into effect in 2024, providing specifications for logistics visibility data and data elements (ISO, November 30, 2021). According to Zhu, these standards were developed based on industry practices developed by LOGINK, as well as the Northeast Asia Logistics Information Service Network (NEAL-NET) and the IPCSA, both of which count LOGINK as a member. As the guiding force behind the new standards, and as an established leader in logistics data collection, the new standards consolidate LOGINK's leadership and facilitate its global adoption.
Conclusion
There is no Western equivalent of the PRC's global trade platform ecosystem. U.S. Customs and Border Protection operates the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) system for processing imports and exports; the EU operates the Customs Union framework to unify continental trade; and other countries and regions have their own single-window systems for customs and trade processing. None of these systems or interfaces is currently promoted as a global solution in the way that Chinese systems are. Synergy between the state, Alibaba's Cainiao and eWTP, and LOGINK has created a system that can track nearly all global shipping data and re-write the rules of customs clearance.
The growing presence of Chinese platforms in global trade presents the Chinese Communist Party with unprecedented control over trade flows. Access to other countries' shipping data means that PRC actors have visibility into their supply chains. As the platforms spread around the world, this will provide the PRC government a more comprehensive picture of U.S. and Western dependencies. This would enable identifying and potentially exploiting chokepoints, such as imports of critical minerals, energy resources, and agricultural products. In the hands of Chinese operators, this data could empower Chinese exporters to skirt tariffs, sanctions, import restrictions, and export controls--including those related to Russia's war in Ukraine and Iran's ability to sustain its war effort. All of these tools depend on visibility into logistics information that is increasingly controlled by PRC entities, posing a challenge to U.S. economic statecraft and law enforcement efforts.
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Jonah Reisboard is an editorial assistant at the Jamestown Foundation.
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Original text here: https://jamestown.org/the-chinese-rules-and-future-of-global-trade/
[Category: ThinkTank]
Ifo Institute: Price Pressure Eases Somewhat
MUNICH, Germany, May 29 -- ifo Institute issued the following news release:
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Price Pressure Eases Somewhat
Somewhat fewer companies are planning to raise their prices. The ifo price expectations dropped slightly in May to 30.3 points, down from 31.3 in April. "Although price pressure is easing somewhat, producer and consumer prices are nevertheless likely to rise significantly in the coming months.
More expensive energy and tighter supplies of intermediate products are driving up production costs, which companies are passing on to their customers," says ifo researcher Tiphaine Wibault.
... Show Full Article
MUNICH, Germany, May 29 -- ifo Institute issued the following news release:
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Price Pressure Eases Somewhat
Somewhat fewer companies are planning to raise their prices. The ifo price expectations dropped slightly in May to 30.3 points, down from 31.3 in April. "Although price pressure is easing somewhat, producer and consumer prices are nevertheless likely to rise significantly in the coming months.
More expensive energy and tighter supplies of intermediate products are driving up production costs, which companies are passing on to their customers," says ifo researcher Tiphaine Wibault.Following the sharp rises in price expectations in March and April, the level remains high.
Among service providers and in trade, price expectations declined slightly from 27.2 and 54.3 points, respectively, in April to 25.0 and 48.7 in May. The indicator also fell in the manufacturing sector, from 34.4 to 32.0 points.
Price pressure eased particularly for energy-intensive companies, with the indicator falling from 47.4 to 41.8 points.For non-energy-intensive companies, on the other hand, price expectations increased slightly, from 29.9 to 30.7 points.
The points for the ifo price expectations indicate the percentage of companies that intend to increase prices on balance. The balance is obtained by subtracting the percentage of companies that want to lower their prices from the percentage of those that want to raise their prices.
If all the companies surveyed intended to increase their prices, the balance would be +100 points. If they all wanted to lower their prices, it would be -100. The balance was seasonally adjusted. The ifo Institute does not ask about the amount of the planned price change.
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More Information
Survey (https://www.ifo.de/en/facts/2026-05-29/price-pressure-eases-somewhat)
ifo Podcast: Inflation (https://www.ifo.de/en/podcast-inflation)
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Original text here: https://www.ifo.de/en/press-release/2026-05-29/price-pressure-eases-somewhat
[Category: ThinkTank]
Ifo Institute: Business Expectations in Germany's Chemical Industry Plummet
MUNICH, Germany, May 29 -- ifo Institute issued the following news release on May 28, 2026:
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Business Expectations in Germany's Chemical Industry Plummet
The business climate in Germany's chemical industry clouded over further in May. The Business Climate Index fell to -30.2 points, down from -28.6* points in April. While companies assessed their current business situation at -17.5 points as better than in April, when it stood at -25.8* points, their expectations continued to decline, dropping from -31.3* to -42.0 points. "Companies view the current uptick in business as temporary," says
... Show Full Article
MUNICH, Germany, May 29 -- ifo Institute issued the following news release on May 28, 2026:
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Business Expectations in Germany's Chemical Industry Plummet
The business climate in Germany's chemical industry clouded over further in May. The Business Climate Index fell to -30.2 points, down from -28.6* points in April. While companies assessed their current business situation at -17.5 points as better than in April, when it stood at -25.8* points, their expectations continued to decline, dropping from -31.3* to -42.0 points. "Companies view the current uptick in business as temporary," saysifo industry expert Anna Wolf.
The economic upturn that began in April is continuing in May: Parts of the industry are benefiting from higher demand for chemical products due to disruptions in global supply chains.
At the same time, the supply situation for intermediate products remains tense: 31.1 percent of companies reported material shortages.
In the first quarter, the figure was just 7.0 percent. Prices for chemical products rose sharply as a result. The indicator for month-on-month price development rose to 47.5 points, up from 32.5* points in April.
The majority of companies expect further prices increases. Despite the uptick in demand, companies are planning to lower production and make further job cuts. Export expectations also deteriorated significantly to -15.7 points, down from -2.0* points in April.
"Although this temporary economic upturn provides the industry with some short-term relief, the core structural problems remain unresolved," says Wolf.
*Seasonally adjusted
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More information
Survey (https://www.ifo.de/en/facts/2026-05-28/business-expectations-germanys-chemical-industry-plummet)
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Original text here: https://www.ifo.de/en/press-release/2026-05-28/business-expectations-germanys-chemical-industry-plummet
[Category: ThinkTank]
Hudson Institute Issues Commentary to Central Times of London: Silk Seven or the OTS? Central Asia May Not Have to Choose
WASHINGTON, May 29 -- Hudson Institute, a research organization that says it promotes leadership for a secure, free and prosperous future, issued the following commentary on May 28, 2026, by senior fellow Ken Moriyasu to the Central Times of London:
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Silk Seven or the OTS? Central Asia May Not Have to Choose
A new proposal circulating in Washington - the Silk Seven Plus (S7+) initiative - aims to reshape Central Asia by linking its five post-Soviet states with Afghanistan and Pakistan into an integrated economic region. Azerbaijan is also seen as a potential addition.
The idea, advanced
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 29 -- Hudson Institute, a research organization that says it promotes leadership for a secure, free and prosperous future, issued the following commentary on May 28, 2026, by senior fellow Ken Moriyasu to the Central Times of London:
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Silk Seven or the OTS? Central Asia May Not Have to Choose
A new proposal circulating in Washington - the Silk Seven Plus (S7+) initiative - aims to reshape Central Asia by linking its five post-Soviet states with Afghanistan and Pakistan into an integrated economic region. Azerbaijan is also seen as a potential addition.
The idea, advancedby the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, is straightforward: connect landlocked Central Asia to the Black Sea and Arabian Sea through new trade corridors.
On paper, the bloc looks compelling. The seven countries form a contiguous zone in the heart of Eurasia, potentially turning geography from a constraint to an advantage.
"Central Asia needs an organization built by Central Asian states and for Central Asian states," said Justin Burke, a resident senior fellow at the New Lines Institute, at a recent event in Washington. "If Central Asia can speak with one voice rather than five different voices, that will make it a more reliable investment destination."
There are signs of momentum. Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbekistan's President Shavkat Mirziyoyev made back-to-back visits to Pakistan earlier this year, highlighting regional connectivity. Proponents argue that if Afghanistan stabilizes, the Silk Seven could become a formidable cluster.
But that is a big "if." It also raises a deeper question: why construct a new, geographically convenient bloc when an existing organization - the Organization of Turkic States (OTS)--already offers something deeper: shared language, history, and identity?
While the Silk Seven spans broadly Muslim-majority countries, it is linguistically and culturally diverse. The grouping spans Turkic-speaking Central Asia, Persian-speaking Tajikistan, and Indo-Aryan Pakistan.
ASEAN offers a cautionary example. Despite decades of cooperation, its religious, linguistic, and geopolitical diversity - combined with consensus-based decision-making - has often prevented it from speaking with one voice, particularly on China. In The Clash of Civilizations, Samuel Huntington wrote that when ASEAN was created in 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, it was an organization of "one Sinic, one Buddhist, one Christian, and two Muslim member states." Such multicivilizational regional organizations have limits, he said.
The Silk Seven risks similar limitations.
The OTS, by contrast, rests on a narrower but deeper foundation: its core members--Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan--share closely related languages and overlapping historical experiences.
Tucked away in the eight-page document issued after the informal OTS summit earlier this month was a revealing signal of intent: clauses dedicated to cataloguing Turkic cultural heritage, promoting youth engagement through Khiva's designation as the 2026 Youth Capital, and launching a "Turkic Heritage" digital platform. Together, they show that the OTS is actively building a shared cultural space.
Yet even as members emphasize common heritage, differences remain over how far the organization should evolve politically. Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the summit host, stressed in his remarks that "the Organization of Turkic States is neither a geopolitical project nor a military organization," but rather "a unique platform" for cooperation across trade, technology, culture, and humanitarian ties.
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev struck a more ambitious note, saying that "the Turkic world must grow into one of the influential geopolitical centers of the 21st century," and pledging that Baku would spare no effort to strengthen the organization.
The question of OTS surfaced at a recent New Lines Institute seminar in Washington.
Asked why the OTS could not be sufficient, Kamran Bokhari of New Lines argued that it is shaped by Turkey's leadership, reflects Ankara's aspirations, and, as a Turkic-focused organization, would struggle to incorporate Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Iran. The Silk Seven, by contrast, is designed to define a "core Central Asia" while remaining flexible enough to expand.
Azeem Ibrahim warned that the global system is weakening, leaving smaller states more vulnerable. "The assumption that great powers will uphold open trade and security can no longer be taken for granted," he said, arguing that regional cooperation is becoming essential for resilience.
Bokhari said the time is ripe for Central Asian countries to engage with the United States and that the U.S.-proposed Silk Seven could serve as a roadmap. "The Russian footprint is receding. The Chinese are taking up that space as much as they can," but Central Asian nations do not want to move away from an overbearing Russia to be dominated by China. "Who do you reach out to? Well, you reach out to the United States," Bokhari said.
These competing visions - one rooted in connectivity, the other in shared identity - highlight the central dilemma facing the region.
The appeal of the Silk Seven lies in geography and connectivity. But the strength of OTS lies in a shared civilizational identity. In an era of geopolitical fragmentation, Central Asia may find that infrastructure enables growth-but identity anchors political cohesion.
For centuries, Central Asia's nomadic societies thrived not by choosing fixed alignments, but by remaining fluid--adapting to shifting trade routes, political currents, and external powers. Mobility and flexibility were not weaknesses, but survival strategies.
In that sense, the Silk Seven and the Organization of Turkic States need not be competing visions. Central Asia's strength may lie precisely in its ability to straddle both--building multiple connections without being bound by any single framework.
Read in the Central Times of London (https://timesca.com/silk-seven-or-the-ots-central-asia-may-not-have-to-choose/.
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At A Glance:
Ken Moriyasu is a senior fellow at Hudson Institute.
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Original text here: https://www.hudson.org/security-alliances/silk-seven-or-ots-central-asia-may-not-have-choose-ken-moriyasu
[Category: ThinkTank]
Capital Research Center Issues Commentary: Enemies of Energy - American CO2 Emissions
WASHINGTON, May 29 (TNSrep) -- The Capital Research Center issued the following commentary on May 28, 2026, by Managing Editor and Director of Content Ken Braun:
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Enemies of Energy: American CO2 emissions
Despite being the planet's undisputed economic superpower, the United States produces a comparatively small share of CO2 emissions relative to our massive economy; a little less than 13 percent of the total. Nearly 32 percent comes from China.
Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from the "Myths and Misconceptions" section of Enemies of Energy, a research report created for the
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 29 (TNSrep) -- The Capital Research Center issued the following commentary on May 28, 2026, by Managing Editor and Director of Content Ken Braun:
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Enemies of Energy: American CO2 emissions
Despite being the planet's undisputed economic superpower, the United States produces a comparatively small share of CO2 emissions relative to our massive economy; a little less than 13 percent of the total. Nearly 32 percent comes from China.
Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from the "Myths and Misconceptions" section of Enemies of Energy, a research report created for theCapital Research Center. The page for the full report is here: Enemies of Energy.
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The anti-energy NGOs operate from the presumption that major reductions in American use of oil, natural gas, and coal will meaningfully reduce the world's CO2 emissions and thus reduce global warming. This assumption does not account for the unique size of the American economy nor our comparatively small contribution to total planetary carbon dioxide emissions.
Despite being the planet's undisputed economic superpower, the United States produces a comparatively small share of CO2 emissions relative to our massive economy; a little less than 13 percent of the total. Nearly 32 percent of world's CO2 comes from China. [i] [ii]
The trajectory of US and China CO2 emissions also reinforces the relative insignificance of reducing American hydrocarbon use.
American CO2 emissions in 2024 were 4.9 billion tonnes--identical to the USA carbon dioxide emissions from 1988. But Chinese CO2 emissions in 2024 were 12.29 billion tonnes, five times more than China's emissions in 1988, and obviously more than double the American emissions. [iii]
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A reasonable counterpoint is that China was still an immature economy in 1988, and by 2024 had grown to the world's second largest.
Fair enough. By 2005 China was growing rapidly and this was the last year that its CO2 emissions were lower than the USA. Since then, China has become (by far) the largest national emitter of carbon dioxide. Conveniently for this analysis, 2005 also marked the year American emissions peaked at an all-time high of 6.13 billion tonnes. From 2005 until 2024, USA carbon emissions fell by 20 percent while China's increased by 109 percent. [iv]
Unlike China and other developing nations (such as India) the USA has mastered a growing and prosperous economy without increasing CO2 emissions. This becomes even more clear when we look at American carbon dioxide emissions per person.
USA CO2 emissions per capita in 2024 were less than in 1940--the year before the attack on Pearl Harbor and American entry into World War II. The dramatic decline began this century, starting in 2000. From there until 2024, USA CO2 emissions per person plummeted by 33.6 percent.[v]
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Full report hyperlinked below (https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/Enemies-of-Energy.png)
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Endnotes
[i] "GDP (current US$)" World Bank. Accessed January 14, 2026. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD
[ii] Ritchie, Hannah; Pablo Rosado, and Max Roser. "Per capita, national, historical: how do countries compare on CO2 metrics?" Our World in Data. Accessed January 14, 2026. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-metrics
[iii] Ritchie, Hannah; Pablo Rosado, and Max Roser. "Per capita, national, historical: how do countries compare on CO2 metrics?" Our World in Data. Accessed January 14, 2026. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-metrics
[iv] Ritchie, Hannah; Pablo Rosado, and Max Roser. "Per capita, national, historical: how do countries compare on CO2 metrics?" Our World in Data. Accessed January 14, 2026. https://ourworldindata.org/co2-emissions-metrics
[v] "CO2 emissions per capita." Our World in Data. Accessed January 14, 2026. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/co-emissions-per-capita
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Ken Braun
As managing editor and director of content of CRC, Ken Braun edits Capital Research magazine.
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Original text here: https://capitalresearch.org/article/enemies-of-energy-american-co2-emissions/
[Category: ThinkTank]
America First Policy Institute: Trump Accounts App Makes Investing in Your Children's Future More Accessible
WASHINGTON, May 29 -- The America First Policy Institute issued the following news release on May 28, 2026:
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Trump Accounts App Makes Investing in Your Children's Future More Accessible
The U.S. Department of the Treasury today launched an application that allows parents to manage "Trump Accounts" for their children from their phones. More than 6 million children have already been registered for these accounts.
"Trump Accounts are a huge win for American families by providing them with a simple way to save and invest for their children's future," said Mike Faulkender, co-chair for American
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, May 29 -- The America First Policy Institute issued the following news release on May 28, 2026:
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Trump Accounts App Makes Investing in Your Children's Future More Accessible
The U.S. Department of the Treasury today launched an application that allows parents to manage "Trump Accounts" for their children from their phones. More than 6 million children have already been registered for these accounts.
"Trump Accounts are a huge win for American families by providing them with a simple way to save and invest for their children's future," said Mike Faulkender, co-chair for AmericanProsperity at the America First Policy Institute. "I commend Treasury Secretary Bessent for his leadership in renewing our nation's commitment to the success and prosperity of future generations of Americans."
Trump Accounts are new custodial investment accounts created by the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, allowing families to benefit from tax-deferred growth on investments for their children's future. Parents of children under 18 can open a Trump Account now, and beginning July 4, 2026, they may begin funding and investing in these accounts, contributing up to a combined $5,000 a year.
American children born from 2025 to 2028 are eligible for a pilot program and will receive a $1,000 initial investment from the U.S. Department of the Treasury on July 4, 2026.
This application will make it easy for parents to monitor the growth of their children's Trump Accounts. It will also include financial literacy tutorials for parents new to investing. Trump Accounts will help give the next generation of Americans a head start on pursuing their American Dream.
To read more about AFPI's work on the tax policies and benefits created by the Working Families Tax Cuts, click here.
To learn more about Trump Accounts, visit their website (https://trumpaccounts.gov/).
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Original text here: https://www.americafirstpolicy.com/issues/trump-accounts-app-makes-investing-in-your-childrens-future-more-accessible
[Category: ThinkTank]
