Recent news reports suggest that Italy is considering leaving the BRI, and will make a final decision by the end of the year. This move may be mainly symbolic though, with limited economic impact, just as the original decision by Italy to join the BRI was.

During a visit to Myanmar this week, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang agreed with his counterpart to deepen cooperation in trade, agriculture and other economic development under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) so as to promote the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership.

The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, visited China last week, his first trip to China as Malaysia's leader. During the trip, the two sides renewed their commitments to bolster their economic relationship, and delivered some agreements on trade and investment.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong visited Beijing last week and during his visit, the two governments announced "substantive" progress on the negotiations to expand their bilateral trade agreement, and reached agreements on food safety, dispute settlement, and R&D.

A recent report published by researchers from the World Bank and several academic institutions describes China as an emerging lender of rescue loans over the past two decades. Analyzing 128 rescue loans worth $240 billion, the report sets out some distinctions between Chinese lending and lending by other governments and

Last week, the General Court of the Court of Justice of the EU issued judgements in Case T-480/20 and T-540/20 (Hengshi Egypt Fiberglass Fabrics and Jushi Egypt for Fiberglass Industry v Commission) addressing the issue of when the EU can impose countervailing duties against "cross-border" subsidies,

Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Lao President Thongloun Sisoulith met and talked about trade, investment, and infrastructure, and signed over 20 cooperation documents in these areas.