China looks to ASEAN for closer ties, freer trade, and more harmonious relations: a Commentary

This paper is in three main parts. Firstly, we summarize key features of the history of trade relationships between the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Association of South East Asian countries (ASEAN). This includes a brief examination of the different visions held by ASEAN and PRC and the implications for the various trade partners. In the second part we turn our focus to the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GAZR) that is on the shores of the South China Sea and a key region being developed as the Beibu Gulf Economic Rim. The port city of Qinzhou is the nearest deep-water port to the ASEAN countries like Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines etc and lies at the eastern end of the Southern Transport Corridor (STC) that links Lanzhou on the Yellow River in NW China, to the coast. Finally, we present a cameo on Qinzhou’s Free Trade Port Areas and their role in the ASEAN–China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA).

Geopolitics of Chabahar Port for Iran, India and Afghanistan

In January 2016, Iran, India and Afghanistan signed a trilateral economic agreement on developing the Chabahar Port in south-eastern Iran. This project holds immense economic and geopolitical value for both Iran and India. Chabahar, as Iran’s first deep water port, connects it to oceanic trade routes. This helps Iran to mitigate US sanctions and sustain trade relations with neighbours and independent states such as India. For India, Chabahar is the key point of the ‘International North–South Transport Corridor’, an ambitious project connecting India to Central Asia and Europe. The article analyses the geostrategic, economic and trade-related importance of Chabahar port from both Iranian and Indian perspectives. This Iranian–Indian trade co-operation is considered a strategic alternative, if not a rival, to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), whose key point is the Gwadar port in Pakistan, next door to Chabahar.

Metabotropic group II glutamate receptors mediate cue-triggered increases in incentive motivation for reward

RationaleReward-associated cues can acquire incentive motivational properties and invigorate reward-seeking actions via Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT). Glutamatergic neurotransmission mediates the appetitive effects of reward-associated cues. We characterized the expression of PIT and its mediation by metabotropic group II glutamate (mGlu2/3) receptor activity in female and male rats.ObjectivesAcross the sexes, we used PIT procedures to determine i) cue-triggered increases in incentive motivation for water reward (Experiment 1), ii) the respective influences of the mGlu2/3 receptor agonist LY379268 and reward devaluation by satiation on this effect (Experiment 2).MethodsWater-restricted male and female Sprague-Dawley rats learned to lever press for water. Separately, they learned that one of two auditory stimuli predicts free water (CS+ vs CS-). On PIT test days, the CS+ and CS- were presented non-contingently, and we measured effects on lever pressing under extinction (no water). In Experiment 1, we characterized PIT across the sexes. In Experiment 2, we measured PIT after systemic LY379268 administration (0, 0.3 and 1 mg/kg), and water satiation, respectively.ResultsFemale and male rats showed similar PIT, with CS+ but not CS- presentations potentiating water-seeking behaviour. LY379268 (1 mg/kg) attenuated CS+ evoked increases in both water-associated lever pressing and conditioned approach to the water port. Reward devaluation attenuated both water-seeking and CS+ evoked conditioned approach behaviour.ConclusionsThe sexes show similar cue-triggered increases in reward ‘wanting’, and water devaluation suppresses both water seeking and cue-triggered anticipation of water reward. Finally, across the sexes, mGlu2/3 receptor activity mediates cue-triggered increases in reward ‘wanting’.

Pengaruh Pandemi Covid-19 Terhadap Kunjungan Pelabuhan Perairan Pedalaman: Studi Kasus Pelabuhan Talang Duku

Sebagai negara kepulauan, Indonesia memiliki karakteristik yang unik. Selain di tepi pantai, terdapat juga pelabuhan perairan pedalaman seperti di semenanjung Malaysia and Nigeria, dilayari oleh kapal laut hingga pelosok menuju pelabuhan tujuan. Pengaruh Pandemi Covid-19 dialami juga oleh angkutan laut, khususnya terhadap Kunjungan kapal di Pelabuhan, salah satunya adalah Pelabuhan Talang Duku. Tujuan dari penelitian ini untuk memberikan rekomendasi kebijakan terkait proses bongkar muat kargo selama masa pandemi Covid-19 di Pelabuhan Talang Duku. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian kuantitatif, analisis gap, dan analisis komparatif. Kajian ini akan membandingkan penanganan bongkar muat barang sebelum dan selama pandemi, serta menganalisis bahwa bongkar muat kargo di pelabuhan mengikuti protokol kesehatan yang ditetapkan pemerintah. Secara umum, panggilan kapal kargo sedikit menurun tidak signifikan sebesar 8,5% di awal pembatasan mobilitas. Sedangkan untuk kegiatan bongkar muat terjadi penurunan yang tidak signifikan sebesar 13,0%. Penurunan terendah terjadi pada Oktober 2020.The Effect of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Inland Water Port Arrival: A Case Study of Talang Duku Port; As an archipelagic country, Indonesia has unique characteristics. In addition to port in the coast, there are also inland water ports such as in peninsula of Malaysia, and Nigeria, navigable by ships to remote areas to the destination port. The influence of the Covid-19 pandemic is also experienced by sea transportation, especially on ship visits at the port, one of which is the Talang Duku Port.The purpose of this study is to give a policy recommendation regarding the process of loading and unloading cargo during the Covid-19 pandemic at Talang Duku-port. This research using quantitative research methods, gap analysis, and comparative analysis. This study will compare the handling of loading and unloading goods before and during the pandemic, and analyze that loading and unloading cargo in the port is following health protocols established by the government. In general, cargo ship calls decreased slightly, but not significantly by 8.5% at the beginning of restriction mobility. While for loading and unloading activities, there was an insignificant decrease of 13.0%. The lowest decline occurred in October 2020.

Benthic community establishment on different concrete mixtures introduced to a German deep-water port

Concrete is a widely used building material in coastal constructions worldwide. However, limited natural resources used in the production process, as well as high CO2-emission due to the calcination process of limestone and the thermal energy demand for Portland cement clinker production, raise the demand for alternative constituents. Alternative mixture types should be environmentally friendly and, at best, mimic natural hard substrates. Here five different concrete mixtures, containing different cements (Portland cement and blast furnace cements) and aggregates (sand, gravel, iron ore and metallurgical slags) were made. Three replicate cubes (15 × 15 × 15 cm) of each type were then deployed in a German deep-water Port, the JadeWeserPort, to study benthic community establishment after one year. Results are compared to a similar experiment conducted in a natural hard ground environment (Helgoland Island, Germany). Results indicate marked differences in settled communities in the Port site compared to natural environments. At the Port site community composition did not differ with the concrete mixtures. Surface orientation of the cubes (front/top/back) revealed significant differences in species abundances and compositions. Cubes hold more neobiota in the Port site than in natural hard ground environments. Implications for the usage of new concrete mixtures are discussed.

City of Water Port-au-Prince, Inequality, and the Social Meaning of Rain

The history of water infrastructures in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, illuminates the role of the environment in the production of social and political inequality. This article combines original archival research with insights from political ecology and urban anthropology to argue that the circulation of drinking water and flood water was a critical and quotidian form of exchange connecting Haiti’s stratified social hierarchies. A comparative historical analysis of two neighborhoods representative of elite and non-elite communities demonstrates that water infrastructures exacerbated poverty and inequality by facilitating the upward distribution of wealth and the downward distribution of risk. A case study of water politics in the 1970s shows how the Duvalier dictatorship’s technocratic reforms changed urban elites’ expectations of the state and made urban water dynamics a key metric for assessing the presence of the state in daily life. Dominant narratives of urban crisis in Haiti tend to focus exclusively on the challenges posed by unchecked rural-to-urban migration and the demographic expansion of the underclass. This article offers a new angle by uncovering the destructive environmental consequences of elite-driven urban development.

Jinan City Land Without Water Port Construction Model

With the global economic integration and the continuous development of the logistics industry, multi-directional transport in the international position is becoming more and more important, the port is the carrier of the development of multi-vehicle transport. The competition of various countries is no longer the competition of the previous infrastructure and operational capacity, and the construction of a waterless port in the inland will become an effective measure for the sustainable development of Jinan. Taking the development of multi-mode transportation in Jinan as the background, this paper analyzes the strategic environment for the development of inland waterless port in Jinan city and the construction mode of inland waterless port in Jinan city by introducing the multi-mode transportation in Jinan area.