There is a strong Central Asian theme this week and especially with Uzbekistan, where reforms and infrastructure developments are transforming the BRI supply chains. That is spilling over into Turkmenistan also. In China, we look at the practical issues of importing goods from Taiwan and the benefits of the Mongolia Double Tax Treaty. Elsewhere we look at how Turkiye is taking on the role as distributor of EU and US products to Russia, and India’s hopes of highway links deep into ASEAN.

CHINA

Practical Issues in Handling China-Taiwan Trade and Supply Chains

Import bans and stricter labeling requirements for Taiwanese goods imported to mainland China have raised concerns over delays for companies engaging in import-export and those sourcing components from the Taiwan region and integration into the BRI. We discuss practical steps that companies can take in handling China-Taiwan trade and how to mitigate against future risks.

China-Mongolia DTA: What Are the Key Elements?

In recent years, the comprehensive strategic partnership between Mongolia and China has developed rapidly, leading to accelerated investment and trade activities between the two countries.

CENTRAL ASIA

Uzbek INSTC Routes to Europe and South Asia Given a Logistics Boost

The Uzbekistan Ministry of Transport has agreed to simplify the regulations for international freight traffic with Iran and Turkmenistan. This is significant as Uzbekistan is a double-landlocked country and needs to reply on neighboring states to facilitate trade.

Uzbekistan Asks Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to Establish Mutual Investment Action Plans

The move is significant because it brings the SCO into sharper focus as a developing regional trade and investment bloc as opposed to being seen as a security grouping. The SCO currently comprises eight member states: China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan, while Iran is due to join next month. Observer states include Afghanistan, Belarus, and Mongolia, while Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkiye are dialogue partners.

Chinese imports of Russian energy have jumped 75% since the start of the conflict in Ukraine and the ensuing sanctions war between Moscow and the West, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing China’s latest customs figures.

According to the data, covering the period from March to July, Beijing’s purchases of Russian crude, oil products, gas and coal rose to $35 billion from about $20 billion a year prior.

The increase comes as China takes advantage of Russia’s discounts on energy exports, introduced to draw in new buyers after many Western states started to shun Russian commodities due to Ukraine-related sanctions.

China imported a record amount of Russian coal in July – 7.4 million tons – 14% more than the same time last year. This made Russia China’s top supplier of the fuel last month, relegating Indonesia to second place.

Russia is China’s top oil supplier for third straight monthREAD MORE: Russia is China’s top oil supplier for third straight month

Crude imports from Russia to China in July dropped slightly from June, but were still 8% higher than in the same month last year at 7.15 million tons.

Shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) showed a 20% increase year-on-year. This figure does not include LNG imports via pipelines, which are the main transport route for the fuel from Russia to China, which means the actual import volume may be much larger.

Overall, China spent $7.2 billion on Russian fuel imports in July, up from $4.7 billion in the same month last year.

Mongolia released a set of guidelines to help listed companies, prospective issuers and other interested companies disclose their sustainability practices.

The ESG and Sustainability Reporting Guidance for Mongolian Companies provides an overview of global sustainability reporting frameworks and trends, followed by an eight-step outline of how listed companies and other issuers can build the capacity to report on sustainability. Also included in the document are lists of indicators that companies can select from to fulfill their sustainability disclosure requirements.

“By introducing this ESG disclosure and sustainability reporting guidance in line with international standards, we hope to harness good ESG management and disclosure market practice and help issuers and other financial institutions in creating long-term value that benefits Mongolian financial market as a whole. We also believe that the public, investors, and stakeholders will benefit from improved transparency and disclosure practices,” says Mr. Bayarsaikhan Dembereldash, Chairman of the Financial Regulatory Commission (FRC).

Efforts to integrate sustainability in financial analysis and investment globally are often hindered by a lack of quality ESG reporting data. This is also the case in Mongolia where, according to the analysis of a recent study, only 13% of companies listed on the stock exchange publicly disclosed their environmental indicators.

A recent survey of 42 companies listed on the Mongolian Stock Exchange (MSE) revealed that current reporting practices on sustainability issues is limited, with more information being disclosed on governance-related indicators compared to environmental and social ones (such as greenhouse gas emissions reduction and climate risks) due to lack of the technical knowledge and skills. The survey, however, noted that companies were willing to engage on sustainability reporting and believe the relevant information can be collected and disclosed if given the right guidance and capacity-building support.

“The goal of business and investors has shifted towards creating long-term stakeholder value and sustained growth,” says Orkhon Onon, Chairman of the Mongolian Sustainable Finance Association (MSFA). “This guidance will be key to aligning Mongolia’s financial system with sustainable development.”

The guidance suggests a set of key ESG indicators that companies should consider reporting on, and provides practical resources that companies can explore when preparing their sustainability reports. MSE-listed companies are expected to submit their first sustainability reports in 2023.

Listed issuers are strongly encouraged to refer to the guide in the implementation of sustainability practices, as well as annual reporting. Organizations that are not listed on the stock exchange can also use this document as a guide to assess their sustainability reporting practices and identify and address any gaps.

Mr. Altai Khangai, CEO of Mongolian Stock Exchange (MSE) says “Adoption of ESG reporting standards in the capital market is a critical step in aligning business activities and private financing with the SDGs. The Mongolian Stock Exchange fully recognizes the role of the capital markets in mobilizing required financing for accelerating sustainable development and will continue working on creating an enabling market environment for ESG investment.”

“We know from our global and regional experience that investors are increasingly interested in the sustainability agenda. They are actively looking to see how companies are tackling issues such as climate change, gender diversity, or biodiversity and supply chain risks, all factors which impact a company’s bottom line. Regulators too are driving the agenda, as we’ve seen in Mongolia, as they recognize increased disclosure of environmental and social impacts is key to supporting the creation of sustainable capital markets, especially in today’s challenging environment,” said Kate Lazarus, IFC Senior ESG Advisory Lead for Asia Pacific. IFC has contributed to the adoption of 145 codes, laws, and regulations, 40 scorecards on corporate governance and sustainability, and 11 ESG reporting guidelines worldwide.

“The Government of Mongolia is taking important initiatives to revive the local economy and transform it in-line with sustainable development principles. As a main driver to thrive economies, businesses and private sector entities must commit to sustainable corporate practices, including improving its transparency and alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, the UN in Mongolia strongly encourages the Government of Mongolia to demonstrate its leadership in implementing the Integrated National Financing Framework and strategy with its reporting mechanism to catalyze transformative change and accelerate implementation of the SDGs for inclusive and sustainable development for all, which is envisaged in Mongolia’s Vision 2050,” said Mr. Tapan Mishra, UN Resident Coordinator in Mongolia.

UNDP Mongolia’s Resident Representative Ms. Elaine Conkievich emphasized the importance of the Sustainability Reporting Guidance and stated, “The adoption of ESG and sustainability reporting standards provides the private sector with the possibility to unlock a variety of opportunities and access potential investment opportunities while integrating sustainability factors into their business decisions and thus contributing towards achieving the SDGs.”

Sustainability reporting is an organization’s practice of reporting publicly on its significant economic, environmental and/or social impacts, in accordance with globally accepted standards. Such disclosures enable organizations to measure, understand and communicate their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals as well as a company's progress towards them.

"Sustainability reporting offers a solution to the financial community's growing demand for transparency and accountability. Targeting both listed and non-listed companies, this Guidance offers a practical reference, including frameworks and indicators, to assess their sustainability reporting practices, identify and address any gaps, and plan for continuous improvement. It highlights the relevance of true commitments through assigning roles and keeping these accountable at the firm level. In this way, its application will enable transparently informing external stakeholders and investors on ways in which a company is creating value over time and whether it is making a positive contribution to society" says Ms.Florencia Baldi, Head of FC4S & SIF Knowledge Hub.

The guidance was developed through a partnership between the FRC, MSE, MSFA, International Finance Corporation (IFC), UNDP-hosted Financial Centres for Sustainability Network (FC4S), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations (UN) Resident Mission in Mongolia, with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and UN Joint SDG Fund.

The Green Finance Platform will support Mongolia’s efforts to build dialogue and engagement around sustainability disclosure guidelines as part of the GEF-funded Aligning Finance Policies project. In addition, the project will support Mongolia’s efforts to advance the Mongolia Sustainable Finance Roadmap, which was approved by the Financial Stability Council (Ministry of Finance of Mongolia, Central Bank of Mongolia, Financial Regulatory Commission, Deposit Insurance Commission) at Mongolia’s first Green Finance Regional Forum in March 2022.

“This guidance will help Mongolia’s capital market players adequately price sustainability risks and allocate capital accordingly,” says Camille Andre, Manager of the Green Finance Platform. “The Financial Stability Council’s endorsement reflects its commitment to transparency and market discipline.”

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Under Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded Aligning Finance Policies project, the Green Finance Platform is working with six countries – China, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Mongolia and Nigeria – to help them develop and implement sustainable finance roadmaps to align the financial system and capital markets with sustainability goals. The Green Finance Platform provides a clearinghouse of market, policy and regulatory innovations for the financial system to contribute to the transition towards a low-carbon, resilient and inclusive economy.

On occasion of 50th anniversary of establishment of relation between Mongolia and Japan, a delegation from Tokushukai Medical Group visited in Ulaanbaatar at invitation of Prime Minister of Mongolia L.Oyun-Erdene. After working at four State Hospitals in Ulaanbaatar, Dr.Shinichi Higashiue, President of the Tokushukai Medical Group expressed his intention of constructing a Cardiology Center in Mongolia to reduce morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases, and to strengthen the primary health care system in the country. The Japan group is expected to invest USD 50-60 million for construction of the center.

The Tokushukai Medical Group is leading medical group in Japan, including 71 hospitals nationwide from Hokkaido to Okinawa.

In Mongolia, cardiovascular diseases have been the single biggest cause of mortality, accounting for 34.4% of all deaths in 2018. Tertiary health facilities are overwhelmed with heart disease patients, whereas primary health centers lack the capacities – and sometimes simple yet necessary tools – to provide preventive care for conditions like hypertension and diabetes.

Prime Minister of Mongolia L.Oyun-Erdene received a delegation headed by Moto Hayashi, a member of the House of Representatives of the Japanese Parliament and Chairman of the Japan-Mongolia Parliamentary Friendship Group.

Expressing gratitude to the delegation for paying a visit to Mongolia in a large group on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, the Prime Minister noted that cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries has made a valuable contribution to the development and expansion of the relations between Mongolia and Japan. Moreover, the Prime Minister expressed interest in implementing big projects and programs in the next 50 years and further expanding cooperation.

The Prime Minister expressed his deepest condolences over the death of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, while underscoring his valuable contribution made to the development of Mongolia-Japan bilateral relations. He then noted that he will be attending the state funeral for Shinzo Abe which will be held on September 27.

The Prime Minister also expressed his desire to implement a project to extract hydrogen from coal and build a hydrogen power plant, and during his visit to Japan, he expressed his interest in meeting with representatives of companies in this area and exchanging ideas.

For his part, Mr. Moto Hayashi thanked Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene for expressing his solidarity through his attendance at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo-2020 Summer Olympics amid the difficult situation of the pandemic.

The meeting also touched on the expansion of cooperation in the infrastructure, education, and tourism sectors.

On the occasion of the diplomatic anniversary, more than 80 people arrived in Mongolia representing the Japanese House of Representatives, Japan-Mongolia Parliamentary Friendship Group, and the business sector.

Following the meeting, Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene received President of Tokushukai Medical Group Shinichi Higashi.

During the meeting, Mr. Shinichi Higashi expressed his desire to establish a Cardiovascular Center in Mongolia. He also said that he will pay attention to the training of doctors and the exchange of mutual experience.

Tokushukai Medical Group, which is famous in Japan for endoscopic surgery and cardiovascular surgery, donated medical equipment such as hemodialysis machines to our country in the past.

HOHHOT, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has achieved high-quality growth over the past decade, focusing on ecological and green development, according to a press briefing on Monday.

Over the past ten years, Inner Mongolia's GDP increased from 1 trillion yuan (about 146 billion U.S. dollars) in 2012 to more than 2 trillion yuan in 2021, said Sun Shaocheng, Party chief of Inner Mongolia.

Meanwhile, 1.57 million impoverished residents in Inner Mongolia were lifted out of poverty in the past decade. The per capita disposable income of residents in the region increased from 42,000 yuan in 2012 to 85,000 yuan in 2021.

The region had planted about 8.13 million hectares of forests and 19 million hectares of grass during the period amid its sand-control efforts, according to Sun.

The grassland vegetation coverage and forest coverage increased from 40.3 percent and 20.8 percent to 45 percent and 23 percent over the past decade, respectively. As the area of desertification and desertified land continued to decrease, the number of sandstorm days in the region fell from 4.9 days to 0.6 days per year.

Inner Mongolia has made great efforts to develop a modern energy economy during the period, with a total installed power capacity reaching 156 million kilowatts, including 56 million kilowatts from new energy.

Len Collingwood, a clinical nurse specialist in psychotherapy, retired on his 65th birthday. He had made a deal with his wife, Sally: she would train as a yoga teacher and he would “start out as an adventure cyclist”.

Four months later, he set off on a 13,000km cycle ride from Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia to Edinburgh, much of it roughly shadowing Marco Polo’s Silk Road. No sooner had he started out than a snowstorm hit. He hid in his tent, wearing every item of clothing he had packed. At -18C it was too cold to venture outside to cook. He survived the next 48 hours by eating a “massive bag of Snickers and Crunchies” his colleagues had given him when he retired.

So it is a surprise to hear Collingwood say that he has never feared for his life. Except occasionally when a car veered too close, that is. Surely there were days on that six-month journey when he couldn’t face the saddle?

“Never. There’s always something to be curious about,” he says. “And I’m very happy in my own company.”

Collingwood has minimised his equipment, often using tips from mountaineers. On very wet or windy nights, he might sleep in a culvert. In 2018 he pedalled solo in a single-speed rickshaw from Edinburgh to Istanbul to earn a place in Guinness World Records. “There are very few records a man over 60 can break,” he says.

He turns 71 this year. As we speak, he is perched on the sea wall in Penzance, Cornwall, about to pedal to Land’s End to begin the 1,407km trip to John o’Groats. It sounds arduous but he insists “it’s not a lot of effort. The gearing is so low, it’s just a matter of spinning the wheels.”

Still, they don’t spin on their own. His daughter – like Sally, a yoga teacher – has suggested weights to maintain muscle mass. He plans to start in the autumn. His son, an ultra-distance cyclist, keeps him up to speed on the latest technology. They each came to cycling independently of one another. “If there is a shared inspiration, it’s the humble bicycle that has the capacity to enable the rider to travel vast distances fast or slow,” Collingwood says.

His parents never cycled. His older sister had a bike that he rode back when the handlebars were higher than his head, always going “a bit further down the road, a bit further”.

But the biggest influence, he thinks, was a Ladybird book on Marco Polo that he borrowed from Everton library when he was six. It was the incongruity of Italian clothes and camels that caught Collingwood’s eye. The Guinness Book of Records, as it was then, was another favourite: “I would go over and over it.”

Collingwood was a precocious reader, but grammar school was not a happy place for him. His family could not afford the uniform and he felt conspicuous.

“I fell in with the rebellious crowd,” he says. At 12, he and his friends bought a motorbike to ride around the fields near his home in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. At 15, he started an apprenticeship in heavy mechanical maintenance. But when he finished, he felt a yearning. “I wanted to do something different,” he says.

The local psychiatric hospital, West Cheshire, was looking for nursing assistants. Spurred on by his reading of RD Laing, Thomas Szasz and David Cooper, Collingwood applied and trained. He spent the next 45 years as a mental health nurse with a specialism in psychotherapy and family therapy. “I’ve always been earnest of purpose. If something is to be done, it is to be done properly.”

The job taught him resilience. “People go forwards and people go backwards. The difficult bit is managing the times when people go backwards,” he says. “Don’t let the moment spoil the whole thing.”

In Mongolia he got a dozen punctures in the space of an hour. But he fixed each one till he was patching the patches.

Collingwood is planning new rides in France next year, and beyond that hopes “to spread my wings further. There is peace on a bicycle,” he says. “The joy is the actual doing of the activity. Going further means you’re just doing more of something you enjoy.”

On August 23, the ‘Milky Way’ Dance Festival was held on the central square of the capital, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and Japan.

For the festival, organized at an initiative of the Honorary Consul of Mongolia in Tokushima Prefecture, Kawauchi Shiro, more than 150 delegates from the Japanese side arrived in Mongolia. More than 500 Mongolian and Japanese dancers participated in the Milky Way festival.

The opening ceremony was attended by Chairman of the State Great Khural G. Zandanshatar, Deputy Mayor of Ulaanbaatar Z. Tumurtumuu, Japanese Ambassador to Mongolia Kobyashi Hiroyuki and other officials.

At the opening, Chairman of the State Great Khural G. Zandanshatar said, “On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, 2022 has been declared the Year of Friendship and Exchanges between Mongolian and Japanese Children and Youth, and we are pleased to jointly organize a wide range of cultural events throughout the year. I would like to express my deep gratitude to Kawauchi Shiro, Honorary Consul of Mongolia in Tokushima, who makes a valuable contribution to strengthening the precious ties between our two countries by organizing the Milky Way Joint Cultural and Art Festival. I am very glad that the festival of friendship that is showing the unique heritage and culture of the two countries is taking place as part of the celebration of historical 50th anniversary.”

Hong Kong (CNN) As US President Joe Biden and top American officials traveled the world this summer, promoting a pledge of hundreds of billions of dollars for poorer countries, a largely unspoken motivation loomed in the background: competition with China.

For nearly a decade, Beijing's sprawling overseas development initiative, known as the Belt and Road, has poured billions of dollars into infrastructure projects each year -- paving highways from Papua New Guinea to Kenya, constructing ports from Sri Lanka to West Africa, and providing power and telecoms infrastructure for people from Latin America to Southeast Asia.

Washington now appears keen to bolster its own role in global infrastructure development as it intensifies its competition with China across the globe.

In June, Biden and leaders from the Group of Seven advanced economies promised to unleash $600 billion in investment -- $200 billion of that from the US alone -- by 2027 to "deliver game-changing projects to close the infrastructure gap" between countries.

This month, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman visited the South Pacific, promoting a new partnership to bolster support for island nations, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a plan aimed at Africa.

"We've seen the consequences when international infrastructure deals are corrupt and coercive, when they're poorly built or environmentally destructive, when they import or abuse workers, or burden countries with crushing debts," Blinken said during a visit to Pretoria, where he revealed the White House's new "Sub-Saharan Africa Strategy."

"That's why it's so important for countries to have choices, to be able to weigh them transparently, with the input of local communities without pressure or coercion," he said in an apparent reference to common criticisms of Chinese-funded projects.

The challenge from the United States comes at a precarious time for China's Belt and Road. Even as the initiative has had an impact on a number of countries, funding shortfalls and political pushback have stalled certain projects, and there is public concern in some countries over issues like excess debt and China's influence. Accusations that Belt and Road is a broad "debt trap" designed to take control of local infrastructure, while largely dismissed by economists, have sullied the initiative's reputation.

Economic challenges at home and a changing financial environment globally also have the potential to impact how China's lenders and policymakers deploy funds, analysts say.

All this may create an opportunity for Washington to step forward and work with willing partners in need of financing. But major questions hang over the extent to which the US can deliver, both in terms of mobilizing billions and driving infrastructure -- areas in which China has long excelled.

Boom or bust?

Since its official launch in 2013, early in the first term of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, funds under the initiative have powered the construction of bridges, ports, highways, energy and telecoms projects across Asia, Latin America, Africa and parts of Europe.

To do this, China has relied on lending, with capital often coming not only from its development banks but state-run commercial lenders -- a stark difference to the American model that's been largely based on official aid.

On average, during the first five years of the initiative from 2013 to 2017, China spent about $85 billion financing overseas development projects per year, more than twice as much as any other major economy, AidData, a research lab at William & Mary in the US, which tracks this spending from Chinese government institutions and state-owned entities, said in a 2021 report.

And while funding has been welcomed by countries around the world, it has also come with problems.

"We find that 35% of (Belt and Road) projects are suffering from some sort of implementation challenge," said research scientist Ammar A. Malik, who heads AidData's Chinese Development Finance Program. He said those issues include environmental incidents, corruption scandals and labor violations, and the 35% figure refers specifically to projects implemented solely by a Chinese entity.

AidData has also reported on what it terms "hidden debts," referring to cases where the recipients of Chinese loans are entities like private or project companies, not governments themselves, but the terms of the loan require the host government to guarantee it. This can ultimately pass liability to them for repayment if the borrowers fall short, the researchers say.

China has pushed back on assertions of risky lending or environmental issues in its projects, pointing to its "green" initiatives and saying "such allegations do not reflect the whole picture."

Another question concerns the direction of the initiative, especially as China's own economy flags amid a mortgage crisis and Covid-19 lockdowns, while many developing countries are struggling with rising debt and inflation -- making lending a potentially riskier proposition.

Beijing has said it remains dedicated to the initiative, with its top diplomat Yang Jiechi at a trade forum on August 14 calling for Belt and Road to "promote the early recovery and growth of the global economy."

But while tracking investments across a wide range of players, and without a central, public Belt and Road data source, is difficult work, there are signs that China's efforts, especially big-ticket projects, have been slowing in recent years and since the pandemic.

For example, Chinese loans to Africa dropped 77% from $8.2 billion to $1.9 billion from 2019 to 2020, according to data from the Boston University Global Development Policy Center.

"Potential reasons for this decrease include the Covid-19 pandemic's deterioration of economic conditions in host countries and a lack of host country demand due to fiscal constraints and debt issues. Limited travel and suspension of several (Belt and Road) projects may have also contributed to preventing financial deal closing," said data analyst Oyintarelado Moses of the center's Global China Initiative.

"Before the pandemic, Chinese policy bank finance was already on the decline. The pandemic appears to have accelerated this trend," she said, adding Chinese institutions would now "take stock" of their strategies.

More time may be needed to observe whether Belt and Road infrastructure financing has peaked, and to assess the performance of the initiative overall, others say.

"The (initiative) is not even a decade old yet. Labeling it a failure because of delayed or distressed projects would be premature and simplistic, as would deeming it a success for Chinese global influence," said Austin Strange, an assistant professor of international relations at the University of Hong Kong.

Build Back Better?

The US is already the world's top donor of aid for developing countries. But whether it can mobilize its private sector and a recently revamped development finance arm, known as the US International Development Finance Corporation, to rival China as an infrastructure financier is another question.

The G7 initiative, originally announced in 2021 under the name Build Back Better World, meanwhile, has gotten off to a slow start, analysts say. The leaders only formally launched the initiative -- now called the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment -- in Germany this summer.

In addition to the US pledge of $200 billion from grants, federal financing, and private sector investments, the White House promised the project would "demonstrate how millions of dollars can mobilize tens or hundreds of millions in further investments and tens or hundreds of millions can mobilize billions."

But unlike Beijing's model, where state-run entities play a key role, the US has no such ability to determine the size and scope of investments made by its private sector, analysts say.

The US also doesn't have the same kind of domestic dynamics, such as excess capacity in the industrial sector, which made the Belt and Road an ideal outlet for the Chinese economy and enabled it to launch projects quickly.

"This is not the first time that expectation has been built, but it's going to be quite challenging to get private companies to finance (projects) because at the end of the day, they're accountable to their shareholders and they want projects that are bankable," said AidData's Malik.

But while US private companies will be looking to return a profit, the plan does have the potential to open up opportunity for the US and partners in developing countries, particularly in certain sectors, analysts say.

One reason is that US appears poised not to compete with China on the kinds of signature big-ticket items like bridges and railroads its known for, or to seek to push countries to choose it or China -- a choice few would likely be willing to make.

Instead, it could use its own model of public-private finance and focus on areas where it may have competitive advantages, analysts say, with Biden laying out energy security and climate resilience, information and communications technology projects, as well as infrastructure that promotes gender equality and strengthens health care systems, as areas of focus.

However, the US and its partners will need to do more than in the past to become "strong alternative sources of investment" chosen by partner governments over China, according to Moses at Boston University, who added US strengths in regulatory standards, transparency and environmental or social safeguards could appeal to some partners.

The US may also need to face perceptions that it retreated from Africa after the end of the Cold War, only to return when there is another great power rivalry at play, according to Christopher Isike, director of the African Center for the Study of the United States at South Africa's University of Pretoria.

"When these initiatives come, like (the US' new "Sub-Saharan Africa Strategy") people are skeptical," he said.

Governments on the continent, however, would welcome more sources of funding to meet shortfalls, and there is a perception that the US is more transparent and it has an advantage when it comes to soft power, according to Isike.

As that great power competition returns to Africa, the question, he said, should not be whether or how countries would choose between the US or China, but if African governments "would be ready to leverage the benefits of having this kind of contest."

Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the U.S. State Department Daniel J. Kritenbrink will pay a visit to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from August 23-25.

During the visit, the Assistant Secretary will participate in Mongolia-U.S. annual bilateral consultation meeting. At the meeting, the parties planned to exchange detailed opinions on issues such as strengthening cooperation and strategic partnership based on common interests and values, including strengthening Mongolia's democratic institutions and diversifying the economy.