scholarly journals A road to island sovereignty and empowerment? Fiji’s aims within the Belt and Road Initiative

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrien Rodd
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Contested Space ◽  
Island States ◽  
Global Engagement ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Sphere Of Influence ◽  
The Belt And Road

Though peripheral to China’s policies of global engagement, the small island developing states (SIDS) of the Pacific are becoming an annex to Beijing’s project for a 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Traditionally part of the West’s exclusive sphere of influence, the Pacific Islands have become a contested space, seeking to benefit from the rivalries between the major powers. Among the foremost of these small island states is Fiji, whose Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has enhanced Fiji’s engagement with China. His government has sought to raise Fiji’s profile on the international stage, seeking to be a regional power among the small states of the Pacific, and to carry the latter’s voice and interests to global fora. Though on significantly different scales, both China and Fiji have embraced a form of ‘go global’ ambition. This paper examines the concrete and theoretical aspects of China’s involvement in Fiji within the BRI and what Beijing and Suva each hope to achieve from this partnership. It will consider potential long-term trends, and whether this initiative may be empowering for Fiji and will discuss whether a SIDS can repurpose to its own advantage a much more powerful state’s initiative, despite the latter’s relative lack of interest in remote small island countries.

scholarly journals Island climate change adaptation and global public goods within the Belt and Road Initiative

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-192
Author(s):  
Chunlin Li ◽  
Jianqing Chen ◽  
Adam Grydehøj
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Global Public Goods ◽  
Island States ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Belt And Road

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a project conceptualized and developed by the Chinese state, aims to enhance international cooperation, address issues of shared regional and global concern, and create opportunities for foreign direct investment in struggling economies. The BRI can be seen as a system for supplying global public goods, including sustainable development within which issues related to climate change sit. A great many small island states and territories are participating in the BRI, particularly in its constituent 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. However, the BRI has not yet placed sufficient focus on climate change adaptation or issues specific to small islands. Furthermore, the BRI’s conceptual basis in rhetoric of mutual dependence and a community of common destiny have not always been evident in the individual activities that have been carried out within the BRI. If the BRI’s goals are to be taken seriously, it must do more to focus on the needs and perspectives of island communities, particularly with regard to climate change adaptation. This paper presents a framework for action to strengthen the BRI’s approach to islands and climate change adaptation in terms of information sharing, scientific and technological cooperation, financial support, and capacity building within a global governance framework.

scholarly journals Pacific Regionalism: Historical Anachronism, or Pathway to Future Development?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elspeth Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Pacific People ◽  
Island States ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Regional Organisations

<p>This study looks at the relevance of regional organisations in the Pacific Island region. It analyses the history of the key regional organisations: the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS). Since their establishment, there has been extensive criticism of the work of these organisations. This study tests and analyses the issue of legitimacy within supra-national organisations, and questions whether regionalism in the Pacific is an anachronism of the past.  In the Pacific, regionalism puts out a compelling argument for its existence. Throughout the region, small island developing states are spread across the world’s largest ocean. Pacific Island states face many challenges, including: small economies, geographical disadvantages, vulnerability to climate change, varying availability to resources and a diverse range of cultures and languages. Regionalism provides a chance for these island states to influence world policy, build capacity in the region, promote good governance, maintain peaceful neighbourly relations, and create positive development outcomes.  The methodology uses qualitative research of document analysis and semi-structured interviews with key informants. The research claims a social constructivist epistemology and uses an inductive conceptual framework in order to find solutions to the complex challenges of Pacific regionalism.  It was found that regional organisations need to increase their transparency in order to enhance their legitimacy. They need provide a clearer evidence base, where all Pacific people can recognise and understand the benefit of regional organisations. The organisations need to work strategically to be nimble and reactive to upcoming critical junctures and issues. Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific (CROP) agencies need to coordinate better amongst themselves, open up communication with all stakeholders and create clearer mandates. In order to promote positive development, all stakeholders and Pacific people need to take ownership of these organisations, and support the Framework for Pacific Regionalism process. This study argues that there is great potential for regionalism in the Pacific, but this will only be possible if the region works collectively to enhance the legitimacy of these organisations.</p>

scholarly journals China in the Pacific Islands: Shaping a Community of Shared Future

2018 ◽  
Vol 04 (03) ◽  
pp. 419-437
Author(s):  
Jiarui Liang
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Pacific Island Countries ◽  
Political Economic

Separated by the vast Pacific Ocean, China and Pacific Island countries have been interlinked through vigorous ocean diplomacy which helps strengthen their political, economic and cultural relations. Based upon common perceptions and with new momentum generated under China’s “Belt and Road Initiative (BRI),” both sides can join hands in building a community of shared future for their mutual benefits. With regard to the cultural diversity, colonial history, group identity and various legitimate concerns of Pacific Island countries, China needs to adopt a more comprehensive and pragmatic approach in order to achieve win-win cooperation.

China’s motives, influence and prospects in Pacific Island countries: views of Chinese scholars

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denghua Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Island ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Foreseeable Future ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Pacific Studies ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Chinese Scholars ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Belt And Road

Abstract China’s rise in the Pacific has brought the region into the limelight, but research into the views of Chinese scholars of Pacific Studies is limited. Building on a survey and interviews of 39 Chinese scholars, this article analyses China’s motives, influence, and prospects in the Pacific. It finds out that Chinese scholars list China’s diplomatic strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative, and economic interests as the three main causes of China’s Pacific diplomacy. The majority of these scholars rate the performance of China’s Pacific diplomacy as pass/average. Most Chinese scholars are cautiously optimistic about the Belt and Road Initiative in the Pacific, and they expect China to both compete and cooperate with traditional powers in the Pacific in the foreseeable future. Some of these scholars’ views on issues like the China–Taiwan diplomatic competition and the impact of Chinese aid on local corruption contradict the official Chinese line strikingly.

The Challenge of Implementing the Belt and Road Initiative in the Middle East: Connectivity Projects under Conditions of Limited Political Engagement

2019 ◽  
Vol 237 ◽  
pp. 196-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoram Evron
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
China’S Foreign Policy ◽  
Regional Engagement ◽  
Sphere Of Influence ◽  
The Belt And Road

AbstractSceptics query China's economic and political ability to realize its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Less attention has been paid to BRI's implications for one of the defining features of China's foreign policy: low engagement in areas beyond its traditional sphere of influence. The Middle East is such a case. Addressing this issue, the article explores the mutual impact of China's low political involvement in the Middle East and BRI's realization. Distinguishing cross-border connectivity projects from other BRI-associated activities, the article examines the challenges to executing BRI-related projects in Israel. It finds that realizing connectivity projects – the essence of the BRI vision – will require China to increase its regional engagement, a shift that it has so far avoided.

scholarly journals Pacific Regionalism: Historical Anachronism, or Pathway to Future Development?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Elspeth Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Positive Development ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Pacific Island ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Pacific People ◽  
Island States ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Regional Organisations

<p>This study looks at the relevance of regional organisations in the Pacific Island region. It analyses the history of the key regional organisations: the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS). Since their establishment, there has been extensive criticism of the work of these organisations. This study tests and analyses the issue of legitimacy within supra-national organisations, and questions whether regionalism in the Pacific is an anachronism of the past.  In the Pacific, regionalism puts out a compelling argument for its existence. Throughout the region, small island developing states are spread across the world’s largest ocean. Pacific Island states face many challenges, including: small economies, geographical disadvantages, vulnerability to climate change, varying availability to resources and a diverse range of cultures and languages. Regionalism provides a chance for these island states to influence world policy, build capacity in the region, promote good governance, maintain peaceful neighbourly relations, and create positive development outcomes.  The methodology uses qualitative research of document analysis and semi-structured interviews with key informants. The research claims a social constructivist epistemology and uses an inductive conceptual framework in order to find solutions to the complex challenges of Pacific regionalism.  It was found that regional organisations need to increase their transparency in order to enhance their legitimacy. They need provide a clearer evidence base, where all Pacific people can recognise and understand the benefit of regional organisations. The organisations need to work strategically to be nimble and reactive to upcoming critical junctures and issues. Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific (CROP) agencies need to coordinate better amongst themselves, open up communication with all stakeholders and create clearer mandates. In order to promote positive development, all stakeholders and Pacific people need to take ownership of these organisations, and support the Framework for Pacific Regionalism process. This study argues that there is great potential for regionalism in the Pacific, but this will only be possible if the region works collectively to enhance the legitimacy of these organisations.</p>

scholarly journals Pacific Islands Development Forum – Emergence of the New Participant in the Pacific Regionalism

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Joanna Siekiera
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Regional Cooperation ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Intergovernmental Organization ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
Island States ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Regional Organisations ◽  
Small Island States

<p>Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) was formally established through signing of an agreement in 2015. The two previous gatherings were informal and did not bring any legally binding documents. The 3<sup>rd</sup> summit, entitled “Building Climate Resilient Green Blue Pacific Economies” introduced not only the constituting agreement, being an international treaty, what in turn made PIDF an intergovernmental organization having its own legal personality, but also created the pivot for the new wave of the Pacific regionalism. The regional cooperation among the small island states is being made ineffectively and economically inefficiently due to many reasons. The most relevant of which are the over fragmentation of the existing regional organisations and constant creation of ad hoc institutions which have no personality, powers or sanctions for non-fulfilment of the jointly adapted agreements.</p>

scholarly journals Silk Road archipelagos: Islands of the Belt and Road Initiative

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 3-12
Author(s):  
Adam Grydehøj ◽  
Sasha Davis ◽  
Rui Guo ◽  
Huan Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Mediterranean Islands ◽  
Island States ◽  
Island Communities ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Belt And Road

The concept behind the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI; formerly ‘One Belt, One Road’) began to take shape in 2013. Since then, this Chinese-led project has become a major plank in China’s foreign relations. The BRI has grown from its basis as a vision of interregional connectivity into a truly global system, encompassing places—including many island states, territories, and cities—from the South Pacific to the Arctic, from East Africa to the Caribbean, from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean. Islands and archipelagos are particularly prominent in the BRI’s constituent 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) and Polar Silk Road or Ice Silk Road projects, but little scholarly attention has been paid to how the BRI relates to islands per se. This special section of Island Studies Journal includes nine papers on islands and the BRI, concerning such diverse topics as geopolitics, international law and territorial disputes, sustainability and climate change adaptation, international relations of autonomous island territories, development of outer island communities, tourism and trade, and relational understandings of archipelagic networks. Taken together, these papers present both opportunities and risks, challenges and ways forward for the BRI and how this project may impact both China and island and archipelago states and territories.

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