expression

[Scoobyqueen]

I came across this expression:

In the context of two countries recently 频起波折. .

[leeyah]

I'm not sure it's a fixed expression, but you got 波折 right, it's synonymous to 曲折变化>> twists & turns, ups & downs, complications, so I guess it can be translated as turbulence in this context.

频 implies frequency and in this way is often used in a negative sense, translated as "repeated", "continuous", as in>>频仍，频数. There's also 频频 + verb used quite often to indicate that something is done repeatedly, happening again and again.

The phrase can be dissembled as: 频 (连续不断地) + 起 (发生) + 波折 (曲折变化), which is indicative enough.