“…In addition to the multilateral AIIB, which encompasses a wider range of member states from across Eurasia to facilitate international trade and cooperation, there are several other prominent instruments that allow China to build networks with a more select group of recipient countries. Political instruments include the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which was initially established in 2001 and consists of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, and Pakistan (Toops, 2016); and the Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries, known as the "16+1," founded in 2012 (Matura, 2019). Interestingly, whilst touted as China's "grand geopolitical project threaten[ing] a new East-West divide in Europe" (Jakimów, 2017), in the Visions and Actions document for the BRI, the 16+1 is excluded from a long list of, principally Asian, multilateral mechanisms (including the SCO) that are set out as integral to the BRI.…”