Financing the Belt and Road Initiative: Can Singapore Help in Securitizing It?

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-223
Author(s):  
Hans Tjio
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Aggregate Demand ◽  
Project Finance ◽  
Marshall Plan ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Real Economy ◽  
The West ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Government

Abstract China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is perhaps the modern equivalent of the Marshall Plan and will hopefully provide the aggregate demand lost due to the global financial crisis. At the moment, much of the financing has come from the government and financial institutions. If more private sector financing is needed for the BRI, this could involve, perhaps, having established ways of project finance that we have seen with the large infrastructural projects of the past as well as modern methods of asset securitization. Lawyers and financiers would be needed, and the West has traditionally held a comparative advantage in these entities, whereas China’s advantage is in building and making things. Singapore, perhaps, is now well placed to offer its services in a way that brings the East and the West together and that would hopefully provide a balanced approach that distributes benefits to all involved in the BRI. Its experiences are far from perfect, but it has learned painful lessons to position itself as a financial centre supporting the real economy that can now hopefully begin to rival New York, London, and Hong Kong. The areas examined in this article include Singapore’s development of property and infrastructural trusts, its bond and derivatives markets, its restructuring regime, and its legal expertise in project finance.

scholarly journals The New Silk Road as the Pendulum Axis of History: China’s “Journey to the West” Opens a Range of Opportunities to Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Georgina Higueras
Keyword(s):  
Silk Road ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
The West ◽  
Marco Polo ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Government ◽  
Global Economic Growth ◽  
The Times ◽  
The Belt And Road ◽  
The Silk Road

The pendulum of History leaves the West to return to the East, as in the times of Marco Polo. China has found in the resurrection of the Silk Road the instrument for a more inclusive global economic growth and that is also in line with the multipolar world that the government proposes. In just five years, The Belt and Road Initiative, as it is formally referred to, has made great strides in its revolutionary global connection plan and added new followers, despite of the swiftness of the Chinese’s ascent is scaring many countries, especially its neighbors. The purpose of this article is to analyze the misgivings of Europe and the range of opportunities that Beijing is<br />offering to create together a model of sustainable<br />development and address the major challenges<br />that affect both: inequality, climate change and<br />protectionist drift. The New Silk Road is a unique<br />opportunity to bring closer the two extremes of<br />Eurasia, which today, more than ever, need to<br />understand each other.

scholarly journals China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Will it Make or Mar Development in the Central and West Africa Subregions?

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 19
Author(s):  
William G. Dzekashu ◽  
Julius N. Anyu
Keyword(s):  
Growth Dynamics ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Agricultural Products ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
The West ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Domestic Products

The West, chiefly Europe, left political footmarks in Africa from the Colonial Era, along with varying economic footprints and surviving engagements in the immediate Post-colonial Era. However, the relationships between Africa and her former colonial masters have hardly yielded much to the former following the wave of independence, leading to the perception of failed relationships. This perception of failure to deliver on their undertakings has left Africa with only one option—China. The latter has been addressing some of Africa’s urgent infrastructure needs in return for natural resources and agricultural products. These engagements on the surface appear to be good business, but on further examination seem questionable notably as it relates to debt distress on vulnerable economies. To increase her footprint within the continent, China extended her Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to most African nations who have signed a memorandum of understanding for future development projects. Though the commitments usually are unspecified, China’s investments have seen rapid growth since the early 2000s, largely owing to the implementation of the BRI. The memoranda have had the potential to strengthen ties with partner nations. The expansion to include Africa in its economic participation in the BRI has left the West questioning China’s motives while reinforcing suspicions about possible future US-China conflict. The impact of BRI on the African continent is quite visible in all the subregions, especially in their improved gross domestic products. A burning question has been whether these partnerships represent win-win relationships for sustainable growth or debt-growth dynamics.

scholarly journals American, Indian and Chinese Media on “Belt and Road Initiative”

2018 ◽  
Vol III (IV) ◽  
pp. 31-48
Author(s):  
Inamullah Jan ◽  
Tariq Mehmood ◽  
Shabir Hussain
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
New York Times ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Chinese Media ◽  
Foreign Policies ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Future Status ◽  
India And China ◽  
China Daily

This research treats contents of newspapers from America, China and India reporting on "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI) with respect to US, India and China's foreign policies. The study investigates if unlike China, American and Indian press relatively report more 'risk' than 'opportunity' frames on BRI. Detailed literature on risks and opportunity frames is produced through media lenses, underpins regional and global significance and future status of BRI. Comparing framing techniques of The New York Times, Times of India and China Daily, contents of total 60 news articles are quantitatively analyzed. Finally, comparative research paradigm found both Indian and American press framing more risks than opportunities in news, therefore highlighting respective concerns of staying away from the signatory summit of BRI held in Beijing in May 2017.

Civilizational Perspectives of the Belt and Road Initiative: A Critical Testing of Huntington’s Thesis of the Clash of Civilizations in the BRI Context

2021 ◽  
Vol 04 (02) ◽  
pp. 2150010
Author(s):  
Baogang He
Keyword(s):  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Clash Of Civilizations ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
The West ◽  
Rigorous Approach ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Fault Lines ◽  
The Belt And Road

In recent years, a civilizational perspective as a part of geopolitical analysis is deployed to fuel geopolitical concern. China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been viewed as a case of the clash of civilizations between the West and China. This paper scrutinizes the civilization-based geopolitical approach and analysis. It tests the “civilizational-clash” thesis beyond the Sinic–West relations through the cases of the Sinic–Islamic and Sinic–Hindu relations. An examination and comparison of different civilizational responses to the BRI helps us to develop a critical perspective to investigate the problems in the BRI, in particular the potential civilizational fault-lines along the BRI route. The paper rejects the simplistic version of civilization-based geopolitical analysis as insufficient, problematic, and even misleading. It has sought to refine and nurture a more sophisticated and rigorous approach to the complex connection between the BRI and civilization.

“Dear Friends”: From People’s Cultural Exchange to People’s Cultural Production

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 33-59
Author(s):  
T Tu Huynh
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Production ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
The West ◽  
Cultural Productions ◽  
Shared Beliefs ◽  
Cultural Exchanges ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Cultural Subjectivity

Abstract The article explores how the politics of South-South cooperation, namely between Africa and China, play out at the level of cultural subjectivity, implicating modes of affect and identities that are not captured by the more commonly employed binary framework of “friend” or “enemy.” It asks whether it is possible for the Africans and Chinese to imagine each other without the West as its geocultural dominance diminishes; and if so, how is this being made possible? As modes of transmitting and learning, cultural initiatives under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and “Belt and Road Initiative” provide a window into both people’s understandings of one another. While necessary for building people-to-people relations, the article, relying on an analysis of data collected from Chinese websites, argues that the state-sponsored cultural exchanges largely reify existing racialized ideas of “the African” and Orientalist views of “the Chinese.” However, building on Simbao’s (2019) point about artists’ works that “push back” against dominant discourse, the article further argues and demonstrates through the journey and works of three artists (Chinese, Kenyan, and Ghanaian) that radical imaginaries reflecting the inner states of acting subjects of China-Africa engagements are available in local cultural productions, uncompromising in communicating shared beliefs and posing challenges to power relations on multiple scales.

Western pushback against China will increase

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
The West ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Positive View ◽  
Downward Spiral ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Public Views ◽  
The Belt And Road

Significance Senior US officials see Communist-led China as the foremost threat to the United States. The Trump administration’s campaign against it spans the spectrum of government actions: criticism; tariffs; sanctions; regulatory crackdowns; military intimidation; support for Taiwan; and restrictions on imports, exports, investment and visas. Impacts Beijing will have little success in driving a wedge between Washington and its major Western allies. The West is unlikely to produce a convincing alternative to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Negative public views of China incentivise China-bashing by politicians, which in turn feeds negative public opinion in a downward spiral. Beijing will persist in its efforts to encourage a more positive view of China among Western publics.

scholarly journals Belarus-China: Avoiding the “Debt Trap”

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiryl Rudy
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Foreign Debt ◽  
Soviet Economy ◽  
The Other ◽  
Industrial Park ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Industrial Projects ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Government

Since 2005 Belarus with its developing Post-Soviet economy has been attracting loans from China. By 2019 China became among top three international lenders for Belarus. On one hand Chinese loans financed infrastructure and industrial projects and supported economic growth in Belarus, and on the other hand they increased import from China and foreign debt of Belarus. In order to overcome the phobia of Chinese “debt trap” the Government of Belarus recently decreased the number and amount of Chinese loans tied to infrastructure projects, improved credit terms, increased FDI from China, and created joint industrial park ‘Great Stone’. As a result, the case of Belarus and China outlines how to avoid “debt trap” in ‘Belt and Road’ initiative by focusing on FDI from China.

scholarly journals Tendencies and Prospects of China’s Investments into Russian Regions

2019 ◽  
pp. 35-45
Author(s):  
Victoria Batmanova ◽  
Ellada Tikhonovich ◽  
Tatyana Chigareva ◽  
Yuan Lyudai
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investments ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Russian Regions ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
Investment Process ◽  
The Belt And Road

The article examines the growing role of China in global investments. During 15 years of economic development of the country, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) became the second country in the world acting as a recipient of investments and the second (third) investor sending its funds abroad. After the maximum volume of foreign direct investments (FDI) from the PRC in 2016, 2017 was marked by the drop of FDI. This is connected with China’s control over FDI withdrawal from the country, increasing protectionism from other countries and the aggravating situation for Chinese investors in foreign markets. The drop of investments is connected with a number of reasons. On the one hand, the government of China has strengthened the control over the capital drain from the country in the form of investments. Another reason is the growth of trade protectionism. The complicating external conditions for Chinese investors in connection with the policy of the USA are also worth paying attention to. The 19th National Congress of China mentioned “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) strategy as the main plan for organizing the investment process in the nearest future. Today the effort concentration process (investments into infrastructure, interaction with the countries along the new economic silk belt) is observed. Russia and its regions are included into the Northern corridor of the Belt and Road Initiative and can leverage the advantages of the cooperation with China. China has already invested funds into perspective projects in Russian regions and in the nearest future they are expected to grow within the Belt and Road Initiative.

GMS Economic Corridors Under the Belt and Road Initiative

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-206
Author(s):  
Masami Ishida
Keyword(s):  
High Speed ◽  
Yunnan Province ◽  
Lao Pdr ◽  
The Other ◽  
Transport Infrastructure ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Belt And Road

The government of China promotes the development of expressways and high-speed expressways in Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and tries to connect the major cities of the subregion and Kunming under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). First, this article reviews the development schemes in the subregion including GMS economic cooperation and the BRI. Next, it introduces the development of the transport infrastructure, including expressways and high-speed railways, connecting Kunming and Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam. Thereafter, it compares the total costs of the projects and how other GMS countries negotiate with China. Seeing the sections of the expressways and railways in Yunnan Province, the shares of some sections occupied by bridges and tunnels are higher than 20 per cent due to the mountainous land feature of Yunnan Province. On the other hand, the railway in Lao PDR passes through the mountainous areas, and they adopted higher specification as same as in Yunnan Province. Consequently, the debt-default risk of Lao PDR has increased. On the other hand, Thailand repeated tough negotiations with China and made efforts not to increase the total cost. The negotiations of Lao PDR and Thailand with China are illustrated in this article. JEL Codes: O18, R10, R41, R58

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