The Belt and Road Initiative in China's Emerging Grand Strategy of Connective Leadership

China’s grand strategy is evolving towards greater activism under Xi Jinping – from ‘keeping a low profile’ to ‘striving for achievement’. New initiatives such as forging ‘a new type of international relations’, ‘a community with a shared future for mankind’, and the Belt and Road Initiative have become marked features of the ‘Xi-change’ in China’s grand strategy. From an economic statecraft perspective, this article hypothesises that the Xi-change led to a power centralisation in the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Railroad Economic Belt. To support its geopolitical and geoeconomic objectives, the Chinese state has replicated the domestic state-industrial complex. In the context of the Jakarta–Bandung High-speed Rail Corridor, the domestic roles of the National Development and Reform Commission and the China Railway Corporation have been internationalised to ensure the globalisation of China’s high-speed rail industry could be conducted in a concerted and choreographed fashion.

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Offensive for defensive: the belt and road initiative and China's new grand strategy

The Pacific Review ◽

10.1080/09512748.2016.1154690 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 455-463 ◽

Cited By ~ 102

Author(s):

Yong Wang

Keyword(s):

Grand Strategy ◽

Belt And Road Initiative ◽

Belt And Road ◽

The Belt And Road

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The Belt and Road Initiative’s Central Asian Contradictions

Current History ◽

10.1525/curh.2020.119.819.264 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 119 (819) ◽

pp. 264-269

Author(s):

Catherine Owen

Keyword(s):

Central Asia ◽

Grand Strategy ◽

Political Elites ◽

Belt And Road Initiative ◽

Central Asian ◽

Belt And Road ◽

The Belt And Road

This essay considers the nature of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Central Asia. Rather than a “grand strategy” coordinated by Beijing, it is better seen as a decentered, contradictory network of transnational clientelist relationships and semiautonomous profit-seeking institutions. While building much-needed infrastructure, these projects serve to enrich local political elites while fueling resentment and suspicion among their populations. Evidence for this argument is presented from three spheres: the principal implementers of the BRI, the main projects that have been enacted under its auspices in Central Asia, and examples of how these projects have been marred by elite corruption and local protest.

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The Belt and Road Initiative and Sino-Russian economic cooperation: Is there one more chance for us?

Voprosy Ekonomiki ◽

10.32609/0042-8736-2019-12-47-71 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 47-71

Author(s):

Petr M. Mozias

Keyword(s):

Regional Integration ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Belt And Road Initiative ◽

Stage Of Development ◽

Belt And Road ◽

Flexible Framework ◽

The One ◽

International Transactions ◽

The Belt And Road ◽

Current Stage

China’s Belt and Road Initiative could be treated ambiguously. On the one hand, it is intended to transform the newly acquired economic potential of that country into its higher status in the world. China invites a lot of nations to build up gigantic transit corridors by joint efforts, and doing so it applies productively its capital and technologies. International transactions in RMB are also being expanded. But, on the other hand, the Belt and Road Initiative is also a necessity for China to cope with some evident problems of its current stage of development, such as industrial overcapacity, overdependence on imports of raw materials from a narrow circle of countries, and a subordinate status in global value chains. For Russia participation in the Belt and Road Initiative may be fruitful, since the very character of that project provides us with a space to manoeuvre. By now, Russian exports to China consist primarily of fuels and other commodities. More active industrial policy is needed to correct this situation . A flexible framework of the Belt and Road Initiative is more suitable for this objective to be achieved, rather than traditional forms of regional integration, such as a free trade zone.

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Belt and Road Initiative: Analysis of Possible Effects on Nigeria’s Economy

International Journal of Contemporary Research and Review ◽

10.15520/ijcrr/2018/9/06/536 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 9 (06) ◽

pp. 20475-20182

Author(s):

Ige Ayokunle O ◽

Akingbesote A.O

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

International Economic ◽

International Cooperation ◽

Economic Cooperation ◽

Belt And Road Initiative ◽

International Economic Cooperation ◽

R Project ◽

Belt And Road ◽

The Relationship ◽

The Belt And Road

The Belt and Road initiative is an important attempt by China to sustain its economic growth, by exploring new forms of international economic cooperation with new partners. Even though the B&R project is not the first attempt at international cooperation, it is considered as the best as it is open in nature and does not exclude interested countries. This review raised and answered three questions of how the B&R project will affect Nigeria’s economy? How will it affect the relationship between Nigeria and China? What could go wrong?, The review concluded that Nigeria can only benefit positively from the project.

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