Ken Moriyasu is a senior fellow at the US-based Hudson Institute think tank. He categorizes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan as the rising middle powers of Eurasia.

For example: "China has been really focusing on Hungary as a gateway to the European Union. It has been investing heavily there, because Hungary kind of has, because of its political leaders, had problems having a friendly relationship with the rest of the EU. China's taken advantage of that," he says.

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