The Silk Road: Traveled, Imagined, Transformed

2020 ◽  
Vol 03 (03) ◽  
pp. 2050012
Author(s):  
Dennis M. Kratz
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Western Imagination ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
The Silk Road

Western artists, philosophers and politicians have inevitably viewed China and its actions through a distorting lens – often seeking to confirm assumptions rather than to gain new understanding. This paper examines Western and specifically American responses to three manifestations of the Silk Road: the historical Silk Road that enabled the transport of goods, people and ideas from China through Central Asia as far as Europe; the “Silk Road of the Western Imagination;” and the modern transformation of the Silk Road into China’s Belt and Road Initiative. It explores reasons for the American idealized fascination for the first two and hostility toward the BRI. The tendency to interpret history and China from a “heroic” perspective serves as an obstacle to fostering a modern era of cultural exchange and cooperation that both Americans and Chinese believe the Silk Road symbolizes.

scholarly journals New Silk Road Implications of Economic Development in Central Asia

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ahmed Qadri , Sundus Qureshi
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Xi Jinping ◽  
Transportation Corridor ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Important Position ◽  
The Silk Road

The New Silk Road (NSR), one of China's most ambitious economic plans, was unveiled by President Xi Jinping in 2013 and is intended to act as the Central Asian component of the Eurasian Belt and Road Initiative (Belt Road) (BRI). By enhancing and expanding China's security arc westward, as well as developing them as a transportation corridor connecting China to Europe, Beijing is able to consolidate its current economic investments while also launching new projects in Central Asia and South Asia, as well as attracting new investment from other countries. The NSR, touted by China as simply a development project, is loaded with wide-ranging security implications. China's infrastructure security and investment concerns in Central Asia are examined in this research, which examines the interplay between these two issues. China's non-state retaliation (NSR) in Central Asia is investigated in three ways: With its securitization push, the Silk Road Initiative not only consolidates the power of the Central Asian regimes; it also grants China an important position managing safeguards; and it allows the ultra-rich to move between the lure of Chinese investments and the appeasement of popular fears about China's growing influence. According to this report, NSR aid and investment from China has received an overall favourable reaction in the area, with some countries concerned about the consequences of the project on their sovereignty and security, as well as the promise of connection and prosperity (a "win-win" situation). A look at China's growing security and economic commitment in Central Asia and the tight Sino-Russian friendship, as well as the areas of collaboration and complementarity between the two countries, is included in the article's concluding paragraphs.

Prospects for Belt and Road in Central Asia in 2018-22

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Chinese Investment ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Silk Road Economic Belt ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Silk Road

Subject Prospects Belt and Road in Central Asia. Significance The Central Asian states are the focus of investment associated with the Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB), the westward overland part of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The SREB offers them a unique chance to become central transport hubs rather than peripheral, landlocked territories but they are also seeking to build productive and export capacity through Chinese investment.

scholarly journals The New Silk Road and Sino-Russian relations through the lens of Liberalism, Realism and Neocolonialism

2021 ◽  
Vol 190 (5-6(2)) ◽  
pp. 4-11
Author(s):  
Ioan Alexandru Gherasim ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
Terms Of Trade ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Status ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Belt And Road ◽  
The Silk Road

The rebirth of the Silk Road presents itself as a possible change in the status quo in Central Asia. China’s presents and influence in the region has been increasing in the past decade in the detriment of Russian influence. This paper analyzes the New Silk Road and Sino-Russian relations through the lens of liberalism, realism and neocolonialism. The Belt and Road Initiative presents itself as a revolutionary project however the changes it produces in terms of trade are minimal. Strategic aspects trump the trade related ones. The paper demonstrates that China needs Russia to participate in order to make the project successful while Russia should participate in order to limit China from taking control over the region, thus realism is they school of thought together with neocolonialism.

scholarly journals The Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union: Exploring the “Greater Eurasian Partnership”

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-57
Author(s):  
Gaziza Shakhanova ◽  
Jeremy Garlick
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Local Elites ◽  
Eurasian Economic Union ◽  
Economic Commission ◽  
Silk Road Economic Belt ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Economic Union ◽  
The Belt And Road ◽  
The Silk Road

The Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) is a key partner in China’s Belt, and Road Initiative (BRI), since it comprises the majority of territories which the BRI’s overland route, the Silk Road Economic Belt, needs to traverse as it crosses Central Asia on the way to Europe. The goal of this article is to explore the BRI in the context of BRI–EAEU coordination. The first part of the analysis focusses on the ways the Eurasian Economic Commission delineates the “Greater Eurasian Partnership” and counterposes it against China and the BRI. Then, the article compares two sets of interpretations of the BRI and “Greater Eurasian Partnership” obtained from interviews with elites in Kazakhstan and Russia. The interviews indicate that the BRI has had a much more forceful impact on local elites than Russia’s idea of “Greater Eurasian Partnership.”

scholarly journals Logistics Challenges Along the New Silk Roads

2021 ◽  
pp. 295-307
Author(s):  
Hans-Dietrich Haasis ◽  
Jianhui Du ◽  
Xuejun Sun
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Freight Transport ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Maritime Silk Road ◽  
Silk Road Economic Belt ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Communication And Coordination ◽  
The Belt And Road ◽  
The Silk Road

AbstractIn 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping advised to establish the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road,” also referred as the Belt and Road Initiative or the New Silk Roads Policy. The intention is to promote international and regional trade as well as cooperation in and between Asia and Europe. Consequently, international maritime and terrestrial freight transport corridors are either established or strengthened and operated. The purpose of this paper is to reflect the Belt and Road Initiative from the perspective of logistics. The aim is to identify and formulate circumstances, expectations, opportunities, and peculiarities of logistics along the New Silk Roads. For this purpose, four corresponding challenges will be considered and outlined after an introduction to the Belt and Road Initiative. The four logistics challenges concern the awareness of new freight transport corridors and the assessment of possibilities for opening new transport relations and new markets, the implementation of new and the adaptation of existing supply chains to increase strategic logistics flexibility, the availability and use of digital infrastructure and connectivity for improved communication and coordination of logistical processes, and the willingness to consider regional and cultural differences in the preparation and realization of supply chain decisions.

scholarly journals The Role of the Broad-Gauge Metallurgy Line PKP Linia Hutnicza Szerokotorowa Sp. z o.o. and the Belt and Road Initiative: Transportation in the Development of the Lublin Province

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Mirosław Antonowicz ◽  
Zbigniew Tracichleb
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
Border Crossings ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Belt And Road ◽  
The Silk Road

<p>The article presents the railway entity PKP LHS Sp. z o.o. and its role in the development of the New Silk Road. In consequence, the increase in traffic on the Silk Road with the participation of Polish companies translates into the economic development of the Lublin Province and the development of border crossings in that province. The importance of transport corridors and the participation of PKP LHS in the development of those corridors have been highlighted. Investment assumptions have been presented, the effects of which will be visible in a few years, strengthening the potential and economic capabilities of the province.</p>

scholarly journals Russian-Chinese cooperation in Central Asia in the context of ‘Belt and Road Initiative:’ Historical retrospective and economic prospects

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 845-864
Author(s):  
Stanislav E. Martynenko ◽  
Nickolay P. Parkhitko
Keyword(s):  
Silk Road ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Economic Stability ◽  
Chinese Investment ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
History Of ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Silk Road

This article examines Russo-Chinese investment cooperation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (originally the Silk Road Economic Belt). At the same time, it also studies bilateral agreements, as well as investment and mechanisms. Another focus is the impact of the BRI in Central Asian countries on Russian interests in the region. Research is based on an analysis of the history of joint Russian and Chinese initiatives for economic development to determine the feasibility of cooperation in the BRI. Meanwhile, the authors discuss the BRI’s impact on the economic and foreign policy of the two partners, as well as the risks and opportunities for Russia. The article is based on content and statistical analysis combined with a historical approach. It concludes that Russia and China are actively developing investment cooperation in the framework of the BRI, including the Silk Road Fund. The principal elements of the partnership involve the economy and processing and transporting energy resources. Its objective is to attain both regional economic stability as well as maximizing economic and political independence.

Introduction: Research agendas raised by the Belt and Road Initiative

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 795-802
Author(s):  
James D Sidaway ◽  
Simon C Rowedder ◽  
Chih Yuan Woon ◽  
Weiqiang Lin ◽  
Vatthana Pholsena
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Conditions Of Possibility ◽  
Research Agendas ◽  
The Belt And Road ◽  
The Silk Road

We introduce this symposium on the politics and spaces of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, locating the papers as concept explorations resting on case studies that contextualize and historicize Belt and Road Initiative. In the case of the first paper that follows, this includes an exploration of the historiography of one of Belt and Road Initiative’s conditions of possibility, the Silk Road idea. We chart a burgeoning field of debate about Belt and Road Initiative, most often operating at broad levels of geopolitical abstraction. The papers here encourage further investigations of Belt and Road Initiative’s dynamics. Such work holds promise for wider theorizing of the interfaces between culture, economy, place, space, politics and infrastructure. Our closing remarks sketch key research agendas in these domains in the light of Belt and Road Initiative.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document