scholarly journals THE SINO-WESTERN BALKANS RELATIONS WITHIN "BELT AND ROAD" INITIATIVE AMIDST THE WORLD’S GRAPPLING WITH THE RISE OF CHINA

TEME ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 145
Author(s):  
Sanja Arezina

The Sino-Western Balkans cooperation has advanced significantly since the Great Recession and the Eurozone crisis. Relations were developed at the bilateral and multilateral levels, within the "One Belt, One Road" Initiative (Belt and Road Initiative – BRI) which was promoted in 2013 and which included the previously established Mechanism of Cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern European Countries ("17+1" Mechanism). Although the Chinese President Xi Jinping called BRI a "project of the century" in 2017, new international circumstances caused by the intensified the Sino-US rivalry and the COVID-19 pandemic made the Chinese leadership reconsider activities and funding abroad, and adjust the new 14th Five-Year Plan with changes that have taken place in the past five years. They decided that China will focus on "dual circulation" in the coming period, i.e. to reduce the numerous activities and investments (and loans) within the BRI, and to redirect funds to investing in domestic capacities. In this article, the author discusses the China-Western Balkans relations from 1949 until 2013 when the BRI implementation started, the factors influencing China’s cooperation with the Western Balkans and analyzes the progress of cooperation after the start of the BRI implementation compared to the previous period. In order to prove the basic hypothesis, that Sino-Western Balkan cooperation within the "Belt and Road" Initiative will continue to develop in a positive direction, despite the influence of negative factors, and above all due to the good results achieved within the "Belt and Road" Initiative in 2013, the author uses the structural-functional analysis, comparative analysis, induction and deduction.

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-71
Author(s):  
Petr M. Mozias

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.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (3) ◽  
pp. 138-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serhii Korablin

The article considers financial aspects of the implementation of the People's Republic of China's international initiative of "One Belt, One Way". China's impressive economic success over the last 30 years has shown how it grew into a major global exporter and investor, gaining the second-country status in terms of national GDP and imports. These changes took place against the backdrop of rapid economic growth and deep structural reforms, which were accompanied by increased output and exports of high value-added products. Under these conditions, the country naturally prefers to reorient the global economic system in such a way that it is more conducive to China's economic, financial and political interests. A key practical tool for implementing such a plan is the One Belt, One Way initiative, which is to ensure simultaneous access to (a) Western technologies, (b) global raw materials markets, (c) infrastructure capacities that should maximize the deliveries of Chinese produce to all corners of the world economy. However, such an ambitious plan requires an extraordinary amount of financial resources. Despite China's considerable international reserves (over $3 trillion), its volume is still insufficient to cope with such a task. Moreover, the country itself needs further assimilation of foreign investment and technology due to the relatively low level of capital intensity of its workforce. China will be able to solve this dilemma if it manages to create a system of "counter investment", that is, attraction and absorption of foreign investments from more technologically developed countries, which are denominated in the main reserve currencies, and simultaneously realize their own foreign investments in Yuan, offering their users deliveries of own products of slightly lower technological complexity than those received from foreign investors. This publication was prepared based on the presentation of "The Belt and Road Initiative - A New Shape of Globalization?" presented at the Institute of World Economics and Policy (IWEP) of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in May 2019 as part of the International Economic and Economic Conference on "Economic and Trade Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative: Retrospect and Prospect".


Author(s):  
Victoria Batmanova ◽  
Ellada Tikhonovich ◽  
Tatyana Chigareva ◽  
Yuan Lyudai

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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (78) ◽  
pp. 57-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marsela Musabelliu

Abstract The Belt and Road Initiative proclaimed by President Xi in 2013, a strategy developed by the Chinese government, is very important to China but is not confined to China. In order for the initiative to be successful it needs to be embraced by the countries on the terrestrial and maritime route indicated in the plan. In the late 1980s Deng Xiaoping proposed to integrate Socialism with Chinese Characteristics (Zhongguo Tese Shehui Zhuyi, ) into global capitalism and in the 1990s the Jiang Zemin leadership initiated the Going out policy (Zouchuqu Zhanlue, ) – the current Belt and Road Initiative is China’s continuation in implementing those policies into actual deeds. China’s accession to WTO in 2001 marked China’s full integration into the global economy and since then the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has become the largest trading partner for more than 180 countries. The Xi-Li administration has been extremely proactive since it was established in 2012; from that year on, Chinese behavior in international affairs has gained an ever-growing role as a forger of economic and diplomatic ties between countries. The primary example of this behavior is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). As every serious foreign policy plan, the BRI is an accumulation of various other initiatives. For example, the cooperation mechanism “16+1”, with which the PRC has approached Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC), can be integrated under the BRI. This paper analizes the “16+1” China-CEEC cooperation mechanism in the context of the bigger BRI initiative, and tries to comprehend the economic and political factors intertwined with its implementation.


2021 ◽  
pp. 204382062110177
Author(s):  
Weidong Liu

There has been a wave of discourses about Chinese geopolitics along with the quick rise of China, particularly with the Belt and Road Initiative and recent rivalry between the US and China. An et al.’s (2021) ‘Towards a Confucian Geopolitics’ opens a new door to such discourses. While welcoming the notion of hybrid Confucian geopolitics proposed by their article, this commentary raises several critical questions. These questions concern whether everything about China should be interpreted through geopolitical reasoning, whether Confucianism is fundamental and deterministic in contemporary Chinese culture, what is really special to new Chinese geopolitics if anything, and whether China’s Belt and Road Initiative can be understood as a cultural project. Answers to these questions may help to consolidate a new Chinese geopolitics.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 11-36
Author(s):  
Monika Bąk

The 16+1 concept (including 16 Central and Eastern European countries and China) is complementary to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This article explores different aspects of cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC), focusing on the perception of cooperation through the prism of foreign direct investments (FDI) and individual Central and Eastern Europe-16 (CEE-16) countries (bilateral links between China and a given country against the background of CEE-16). This article is an attempt to present and interpret facts and issues related to cooperation as well as to explore rational applications in terms of future forms of cooperation. It is clear that there is a need to develop more effective mechanisms of cooperation, using the established secretariats and other institutions beyond them. The article also makes recommendations for bilateral cooperation between China and individual countries, including actions at the regional level. Moreover, the postulates resulting from this analysis indicate the need to harmonize and improve the availability of economic data relating to economic cooperation within the framework of the 16+1 initiative, especially in the context of the group of European countries outside the European Union (EU).


2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-182
Author(s):  
Enrique Martínez Galán ◽  
Francisco José Leandro

AbstractThe debate about the benefits and the risks brought both to People’s Republic of China and to the other participant countries by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been gaining momentum in the academic and in the political landscapes. We argue that the BRI is the main pillar of the new financial institutionalism proposed by China to redefine the current global financial architecture and that, consequently, the initiative needs to be considered in that context. This paper (i) reviews the timeline that led to this Chinese-led new financial institutionalism, (ii) proposes two theoretical frameworks to define the concept of multilateral financial statecraft and of new financial institutionalism led by China, and (iii) enumerates the main differences and similarities observed between this new financial institutionalism and the one dominated by the Bretton Woods-related institutions that gradually emerged after World War II, such as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Marshall Plan, and the Asian Development Bank.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald A. Brand

In June, 2017, the Wuhan Intermediate People’s Court became the first Chinese court to recognize a U.S. judgment in the case of Liu Li v. Tao Li & Tong Wu. The Liu case is a significant development in Chinese private international law, but represents more than a single decision in a single case. It is one piece of a developing puzzle in which the law on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in China is a part of a larger set of developments. These developments are inextricably tied to the “One Belt and One Road,” or “Belt and Road” Initiative first announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping on a visit to Kazakhstan in 2013. This article traces the development of the Liu case, from the first judgment in California to the decision to recognize and enforce that judgment in Wuhan, China. It then provides the context within which the decision on recognition and enforcement was made, and the way the decision fits within President Xi’s “Belt and Road” Initiative and the pronouncements of the Chinese People’s Supreme Court which have encouraged the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments as part of that Initiative.


Author(s):  
John R. Allen ◽  
F. Ben Hodges ◽  
Julian Lindley-French

What threat does China pose to Europe’s future defence? The US has long been a ‘European’ actor; China is fast becoming one. The impact of the irresistible rise of China on Europe’s future defence will be profound post-COVID-19. Most notably, China is imposing a form of ‘imperial overstretch’ on the US, forcing it to make choices of weakness. China is also a Jekyll and Hyde—both constructive and invasive. COVID-19 has revealed the extent to which China seeks to exploit globalization/Chinaization to impose its will. The Belt and Road Initiative and the indebtedness of many European states already enables China to exert its influence through those states on the EU, NATO, and the transatlantic relationship. As such, the rise of China is the biggest single geopolitical change factor to impact Europe’s defence since 1939. It also implies a nightmare in which China and Russia join forces to weaken the Americans by creating simultaneous chaos the world over, rendering European defence incapable at a time and place of Beijing and Moscow’s choosing.


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