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 International Relations with Chinese Characteristics

2019 ◽  
Vol 01 (02) ◽  
pp. 1950006
Author(s):  
Ralph Pettman
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
The State ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Chinese Characteristics ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
China’S Foreign Policy ◽  
The Belt And Road

International relations, as currently construed, are multi-dimensional. They are also Euro-American, which means modern-day China had no hand in making them. It was obliged to adapt to the state-centered, marketeering, nationalistic realities with which it was confronted when it became independent. And adapt it did. It also, however, revised these realities by adopting its own approach. Its leaders first repudiated China’s traditional experiences, while reworking its world ones to promote their own ends. Later, however, they began to express admiration for the values and vision of their own culture and civilization. They began to articulate policies, like the Belt and Road Initiative, that were not only representative of Euro-American principles, such as international cooperation and free trade, but also representative of non-Euro-American principles, such as the so-called “tribute system”. The latter characterized China’s foreign policy approach for millennia. It still arguably demonstrates China’s willingness not only to accept — while reforming — those Euro-American practices imposed upon it, but also to repudiate — by revolutionizing — those very same practices.

scholarly journals A Legal Conquest of the Arctic? China, the European Nordic Countries and Multilateralism

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Selina Morell
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Arctic Region ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Chinese Foreign Policy ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Master's Thesis ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
China’S Foreign Policy ◽  
The Belt And Road

China published its first White Paper on the Arctic region in 2018, announcing its vision of integrating it as a Polar Silk Road under its Belt and Road Initiative framework. This marked the beginning of an increasingly assertive Chinese presence in the Arctic and indicated that the region has gained strategic significance in Beijing’s foreign policy agenda. This master’s thesis examined whether the inclusion of the Arctic in the framework of China’s Belt and Road Initiative has influenced the Chinese foreign policy approach towards the Arctic countries. If the inclusion of the Arctic did indeed have an impact, this could help to assess the overall influence of the Belt and Road Initiative on China’s foreign policy and gain a better understanding of how China operates in its context.

scholarly journals Quo Vadis Cooperation Between China and Eastern Europe in the Era of COVID-19?

World Affairs ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 184 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-56
Author(s):  
Emilian Kavalski
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
The Social ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
China’S Foreign Policy ◽  
Quo Vadis ◽  
The Belt And Road

The countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) used to be quite buoyant about benefiting from China’s economic largesse. A little over a year ago, China’s cooperation with the region was brandished as a real feather in China’s foreign policy cap. Today, however, the China-CEE cooperation appears to be done with. This development has led many to question whether the China-CEE cooperation has become a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic. The answer provided here is: no, not at all! Most CEE states have been mulling a freeze in their participation for quite some time. In this respect, the pandemic has only accelerated the social distancing of CEE countries from China. The study suggests that the unrequited romance of China with the CEE region has important implications both for the country’s public diplomacy and the post-pandemic trajectories of the Belt and Road Initiative.

scholarly journals The Mask Diplomacy of China in Southeast Asia

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1(50)) ◽  
pp. 73-81
Author(s):  
Natalia G. Rogozhina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
The United States ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Territorial Conflict ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
China’S Foreign Policy ◽  
The Belt And Road ◽  
Southeast Asian Countries

The article notes that China's mask diplomacy in Southeast Asia is an integral part of its foreign policy aimed at strengthening its positions in the region by increasing the level of confidence. By providing assistance to Southeast Asian countries in the fight against COVID-19, China hopes to improve its image of a “benevolent” neighbor in the region. At the same time, the priority was given to those countries of Southeast Asia with which the closest relations have developed and which are participating in the Belt and Road Initiative. In the development of the achieved success in mask diplomacy, China is moving to the implementation of the so-called vaccine diplomacy in Southeast Asia. However, despite the currently pronounced humanitarian orientation of China's foreign policy in Southeast Asia, the continuing territorial conflict in the South China Sea plays against its positive image in the region as “generous sponsor”. Time will tell whether mask diplomacy will help China gain an edge in the competition for influence in the region. But one thing is clear – China is acting decisively and does not miss a single chance to provide support for the countries of Southeast Asia in the competition with the United States.

China's Belt and Road Initiative

2019 ◽  
pp. 117-142
Author(s):  
Muhammad Khalil Khan ◽  
Cornelius B. Pratt
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Development Model ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Financial Investment ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
China’S Foreign Policy

China's multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a common fixture on the radar of policymakers and researchers because of the massive financial investment it involves and the economic opportunities it provides disadvantaged Eurasian states. BRI promises fast-track infrastructural development, transnational connectivity, and unimpeded trade. It predicates economic growth in developing countries on the shared development model. However, BRI has also engendered sensitive economic and security challenges. The Islamic world embraces BRI even as China's engagement there poses critical challenges to its foreign policy. This chapter highlights key markers on the landscape of BRI projects in the Islamic world and presents their implications for China's foreign policy. It also provides useful policy guidelines for a more effective implementation of BRI-related projects, thereby protecting China from possible conflict with regional and global powers.

Representation of the “Belt and Road Initiative” in Turkish mainstream newspapers

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 291-304
Author(s):  
Gökçe Özsu ◽  
Ferruh Mutlu Binark
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Xi Jinping ◽  
Full Membership ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
Turkish Foreign Policy ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
General Secretary ◽  
The Belt And Road

Turkey and China are the countries that established their relations in the shadow of their ideological affiliation. Turkey constructed its multi-partied democratic regime as an implementation of Western-based democracy. However, this has not granted EU full-membership to the country, and Turkey has initiated alternative allies since mid 2000s. This shift of axis has turned into more enthusiasm after the failed coup d’état of 15 July 2016. The purpose of this study is to reveal how Turkish mainstream newspapers represent the Chinese alternative globalization project, “The Belt and Road Initiative” which was introduced in 2013 by General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Xi Jinping. In order to frame the background information, we will first introduce the aims of the Belt and Road Initiative, and then summarize Turkey’s relation to China from two aspects: political and economic concerns. Following the overview of Turko-Sino relationship, we will focus on the Justice and Development Party’s foreign policy to grasp its pragmatic concern in relation to the Belt and Road Initiative. Based on the contextualization of Turko-Sino relations, we will conduct thematic content analysis of the news on the Belt and Road Initiative from May to July 2017 in mainstream Turkish newspapers. Our analysis brings into question how Turkish press relocates the Belt and Road Initiative with respect to Turkey’s political and economic concerns about China’s alternative globalism, Turkish foreign policy seeking for new allies as alternatives for the Western counterparts, and thus we will examine President Erdoğan’s influence on Turkish foreign policy. Based on our findings, we will discuss the reasons for insufficient coverage of the Belt and Road Initiative in Turkish mainstream newspapers.

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