Chinese ambitions could transform Southeastern Europe into a key area

China's One Belt, One Road initiative, which involves Beijing underwriting billions of dollars of infrastructure investment in countries along the old Silk Road linking it with Europe, has the potential to transform the Black Sea region in terms of development and economic integration barring geopolitical competition between the big powers in the area, Frans Paul van der Putten, a senior research fellow at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael, has told Kathimerini English Edition.

The Dutch expert, who is speaking at the Balkans & Black Sea Cooperation Forum in Serres, northern Greece, believes that China's ambitious foreign policy can work in favor of the long-troubled Balkan peninsula.

"The region could well transform from being Europe's periphery into a more centrally positioned part of the integrated Eurasian economic zone that China...