Belt and Road Initiative at the historic turn of the 21st century

Authors

  • Thanayod Lopattananont Institute of Asian Studies Chulalongkorn University

Keywords:

BRI, globalization, China

Abstract

China announced the Belt and Road Initiative project in 2013 as an attempt to build a new Silk Road.  The project is intended to assist China in achieving longstanding cooperation with other nations via trade and investment.  It is planned to cover Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia and has now progressed to the point where trade and infrastructure have taken shape in the targeted zones. 

However, to understand that the Belt and Road Initiative or, in short, BRI, is a vibrant option for the world economy may not be sufficient.  The conditions of the global system have changed significantly.  The concept of nationalism has arisen to run counter to globalization and the free market economy while tensions between the superpowers intensify unceasingly.  With reference to these conditions, BRI is considered in this article as containing the implication to encourage a new politico-economic network to address the idea of being nationalist.  It resets the globalization of the world economy and can be deemed to be a long-term defense against the U.S., by tightening relationships with the strategic nations – especially, the close allies of the U.S., in Europe and Southeast Asia.  The project, therefore, has the intention and potential to be a way to security and peace amidst all the uncertainty. 

This article is written in a non-research format to broaden comprehension of BRI.  A large body of information was collected in support of the discussion and suggestions are included at very end to provide information on more matters for future debate.

References

Aissa, E. H. 2012. The Arab Spring: Causes, Consequences, and Implications. Philadelphia: United States Army War College.

Aljazeera. 2016. Obama Adviser: China Is More of a Threat than Russia. Doha: Al Jazeera Media Network.

Aris, Stephen. 2013. “Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Mapping Multilateralism in Transition No. 2.” International Peace Institute.

Auboin, Marc. 2007. “Fulfilling the Marrakesh Mandate on Coherence: Ten Years of Cooperation between the WTO.” IMF and World Bank. Discussion Paper, No. 13. Geneva: World Trade Organization.

Baker, Peter. 2017. “Trump Abandons Trans-Pacific Partnership, Obama’s Signature Trade Deal.” The New York Times, January 23. https://www.nytimes.com /2017/01/23/us/politics/tpp-trump-trade-nafta.html ?_r=0.

Balanche, Fabrice. 2016. “The Worst of the Syrian Refugee Crisis Is Coming for Europe.” BusinessInsider, February 16. http://www.businessinsider.com/the-worst-of-the-syrian-refugee-crisis-is-coming-for-europe-2016-2.

Barua, A., et al. 2015. Asia Pacific Economic Outlook. Deloitte University Press.

BBC. 2016. “Why Is the South China Sea Contentious?” July 12, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific- 13748349.

Beeson, Mark. 2009. Institutions of the Asia Pacific: ASEAN, APEC and beyond. Oxon: Routledge.

Bloomberg. 2017. “Macron Leads the Pack Following First French Debate.” 2017. Bloomberg, March 21. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2017-03-21/macron-leads-the-pack-following-first-french- debate-video.

Brunnstrom, David and Praveen Menon. 2015. “Kerry Says U.S. Will Not Accept Restrictions in South China Sea.” Reuters, August 6. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-asean-malaysia-idUSKCN0QB0DO20150806

China Daily, 2016. “Workshop Held in Vietnam to Boost Economic Ties with China.” December 28. www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2016-12/28/content_27796810.htm.

Datablog. 2016. “China GDP: How It Has Changed since 1980.” The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/mar/23/ china-gdp-since-1980#data

European Commission. Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs. 2009. Economic Crisis in Europe: Causes, Consequences and Responses. European Economy, 7/2009. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

Fraser, R. 2017. Brexit in Context: Myth, Modernism and Identity. Bangkok: Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University.

Friedman, George. 2016. “3 Reasons Brits Voted For Brexit.” Forbes, July 5. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnmauldin/2016/07/05/3-reasons-brits-voted-for-brexit/#73fe0c431f9d

Glaser, Bonnie S. 2015. Conflict in the South China Sea. New York: The Council on Foreign Relations.

Godement, François. 2015. “Introduction.” In China Analysis: Special Issue Explaining China’s Foreign Policy Reset, European Council of Foreign Relations.

Humphreys, Macartan. 2003. Economics and Violent Conflict. Massachusetts: Macartan Humphreys and the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Independent Group of Communists. 1999. Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution.

Lim, Benjamin Kang. 2016. “Philippines' Duterte Says South China Sea Arbitration Case to Take 'Back Seat'.” Reuters, October 19. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-philippines-idUSKCN12J10S.

Lingga, Vincent. 2018. “Bumps of Belt and Road Initiative in the Rear-View Mirror.” The Nation, July 6. http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/opinion/30349420.

Marshall, John. 2009. The Financial Crisis in the U.S.: Key Events, Causes and Responses. London: House of Commons Library.

McKinsey Global Institute. 2015. “How Asia Can Boost Productivity and Economic Growth.” Accessed March 23, 2017. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/how- asia-can-boost-productivity-and-economic-growth

Mises, Ludwig Von. 2004. “The Economic Causes of War.” The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty : 1-15.

Mislan, David Bell. 2017. “Elites, Domestic Constraints, and America's Pivot to Asia.” Paper presented at the The ISA International Conference, June 15. 2017. Hong Kong, SAR.

Mix, Derek E. 2015. The United States and Europe: Current Issues. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service.

Monan, Z. 2017. “Promoting Cooperation for the ‘BRI Initiative’.” China-US Focus, May 19. https://www. chinausfocus.com/finance-economy/promoting-cooperation-for-the-belt-and-road-initiative.

Morrison, Wayne M. 2015. China’s Economic Rise: History, Trends, Challenges, and Implications for the United States. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service.

News Desk. 2017. “BRI Initiative: OBOR Index.” Business Weekly, March 14. http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/export/asia/one-belt-one-road-initiative-obor-index.

Nikolskaya, Polina and Ingrid Melander. 2017. “France's Le Pen, on Russia Visit, Heads to Kremlin for exhibition.” Reuters, March 24. https://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCAKBN16V12E-OCATP.

Nye, Joseph S., Kurt Biedenkopf, and Motoo Shiina. 1991. Global Cooperation after the Cold War: A Reassessment of Trilateralism. New York: The Trilateral Commission.

Okano-Heijmans, M. 2014. Trade Diplomacy in EU–Asia Relations: Time for a Rethink. The Hague: Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael.

Phillips, T. 2017. “China Hits Back at US over South China Sea 'Takeover' Claims Global development.” The Guardian, January 24. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/24/trump-white-house-beijing-takeover-south-china-sea

PressTV. “Rise of Nationalism in Europe.” 2017. PressTV, March 12. https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/03/12/514070/rise-of-nationalism-in-Europe

PTI. 2015. “BRICS Bank, AIIB to Break IMF, World Bank Monopoly: China Think Tank.” The Economic Times, July 14. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com /news/international/business/brics-bank-aiib-to-break-imf-world-bank-monopoly-china-think-tank/articleshow/48053695.cms.

PWC (Price Water House Coopers Consultants). 2016. “Opportunities in Emerging Market China: Belt & Road’ PPP.”

PWC's Growth Markets Centre. 2016. “China’s New Silk Route: The Long and Winding Road.”
https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/growth-markets-center/assets/pdf/china-new-silk-route.pdf.

Railway Gazette. 2013. “Zhengzhou to Hamburg Freight Train Arrives.” August 2. www.railwaygazette.com/news/freight/single-view/view/zhengzhou-to-hamburg-freight-tran-arrives.html.

RT News. 2016. “We Are at War with Russia’: EU Parliament Approves Resolution to Counter Russian Media ‘Propaganda.’” Youtube video, November 23. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7LMRGD9FG4.

Schipper, Youdi, and Piet Rietveld. (n.d.). Economic and Environmental Effects of Airline Deregulation. Faculty of Economics. Free University Amsterdam. Amsterdam.

Schweickart, David. 2015. Economic Democracy: An Ethically Desirable Socialism That Is Economically Viable. The Next System Project.

Storm, Servaas and C. W. M. Naastepad. 2015. “Myths, Mix-ups and Mishandlings: What Caused the Eurozone Crisis?” Paper presented at the Liberté, April 11. Égalité, Fragilité, Paris, France.

Teather, David. 2010. “China Overtakes Japan as World's Second-Largest Economy.” The Guardian, August 16. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/aug/16 /china-overtakes-japan-second-largest-economy1.

World Bank. 2017. “China: Overview.” March 20. ttp://www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/overview

World Trade Organization. 2016. World Trade Statistical Review.

Xuequan, Mu, ed. 2018. “Xi gives new impetus to Belt and Road Initiative.” Xinhua, August 28. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-08/28/c_137423414.htm.

Yan, ed. 2018. “Ukraine Establishes Center to Promote BRI Trade, Investment.” Xinhua, July 6. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-07/06/c_137304440.htm.

Zhao, Suisheng. 2010. Chinese Nationalism and Approaches toward East Asian Regional Cooperation. New York: Council on Foreign Relations.

Downloads

Published

2018-12-27

How to Cite

Lopattananont, Thanayod. 2018. “Belt and Road Initiative at the Historic Turn of the 21st Century”. ASIAN REVIEW 31 (2):6-25. https://so01.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/arv/article/view/224657.

Issue

Section

Research Articles