By Yeghia TASHJIAN, Beirut-based regional analyst and researcher, columnist, "The Armenian Weekly”

China’s position on the TRIPP (Trump’s Route for International Peace and Prosperity) has been cautious and low-profile, shaped less by enthusiasm for the project itself than by Beijing’s overall policy toward the South Caucasus and the region’s geopolitical rivalries. From China’s perspective, TRIPP is not mutually exclusive with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). From the U.S. perspective, however, the project carries geopolitical weight, aimed at containing or counterbalancing Russian, Iranian and Chinese influence in Eurasia.
China has evaluated TRIPP primarily through the lens of risk management, given that the route traverses border regions historically vulnerable to conflict and border tensions and lies at the intersection of regional rivalries. This helps explain why Beijing has avoided any public endorsement, opting instead for rhetorical neutrality and a wait-and-see approach — signalling that economic connectivity must be inclusive, territorial integrity respected, trade depoliticized and cooperation insulated from zero-sum geopolitical competition. READ MORE

• February 18, 2026

By Vasif HUSEYNOV, PhD, Head of Department, AIR Center, Adjunct Lecturer, ADA and Khazar Universities, Baku

The South Caucasus is entering a new phase of regional energy reconfiguration as Azerbaijan moves forward with plans to transmit electricity to its Nakhichevan exclave through southern Armenia, along the Zangezur corridor. What was once understood mainly as a transport initiative is now, under the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), evolving into an energy corridor with significant regional and geopolitical consequences. The launch of construction on the Zangezur high-voltage transmission line and parallel political signals from Baku, Yerevan, and Ankara suggest that trans-regional energy connectivity may become the most immediate and transformative dimension of post-conflict normalization. On January 29, it was reported that Azerbaijan had begun construction of the Zangezur high-voltage power transmission line, a technically complex project designed to integrate the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic into the country’s unified electricity system and to form a critical segment of an emerging Azerbaijan–Türkiye–Europe electricity corridor. READ MORE

• February 18, 2026

A Russian official says Western powers that seize sanctioned vessels carrying Moscow’s oil are committing ‘piracy-like attacks’.

• February 18, 2026

Top diplomat says Iran and US reached an understanding on ‘guiding principles’ in nuclear talks as tensions persist.

• February 18, 2026

Officials from Russia and Ukraine are in Geneva for the second day of United States-mediated talks, with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff saying both sides have agreed to continue negotiations.

• February 18, 2026

Hun Manet calls for border demarcation and says US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace could ‘play a role’.

• February 18, 2026

The shortage has led to blackouts across the Caribbean nation.

• February 6, 2026

US president says that he wants to negotiate a replacement for strategic nuclear deployment treaty that recently expired.

• February 6, 2026