scholarly journals A Search for Coherence: The Belt and Road Initiative in the Pacific Islands

2021 ◽  
pp. 283-317
Author(s):  
Henryk Szadziewski
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Belt And Road

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 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 Pacific Alliance and the Belt and Road Initiative

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan-Felipe Toro-Fernandez ◽  
Jaime Tijmes-Ihl
Keyword(s):  
Latin American ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Bilateral Relations ◽  
American States ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Latin American Economic ◽  
The Belt And Road

PurposeThrough the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has built bilateral relations with Latin American states. The purpose of this article is to explore the potential for using the Pacific Alliance (PA) as a negotiating frame as regards the Belt and Road Initiative.Design/methodology/approachWe use a descriptive and analytical methodology to recapitulate and analyze the factual and normative background of Latin American economic integration during the last three decades, a process that so far has culminated in the Pacific Alliance (PA) and an emphasis on the Asia–Pacific region.FindingsWe contend that the PA has been a learning process in terms of economic cooperation. In addition, it is a Latin American economic integration project that emphasizes its focus on the Asia–Pacific region. Considering the nature of BRI projects, as well as Latin American states’ and China’s interests, we contend that it would be beneficial if Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru, the members of the PA, and China channeled their BRI relations through the PA. Thus, the PA should be China’s negotiating partner.Originality/valueSo far, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Latin America has been built upon bilateral relations. This article explores the possibility of developing the BRI through the Pacific Alliance (PA).

China will expand its reach in the Pacific Islands

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
South Asian ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
The United States ◽  
Pacific Region ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Strategic Competition ◽  
Asian Populations ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Belt And Road

Subject Strategic competition in the Pacific Islands. Significance The United States has extended its concept of an ‘Indo-Pacific region’ to include the Pacific Islands, while Beijing includes them in the Belt and Road Initiative. Strategic competition has arrived in a region long overlooked. Impacts Regional states will use China-Taiwan and China-US competition to their own advantage. New Zealand and Australia are trying to reinvent their role through assistance to combat natural disasters related to climate change. Japan will play a role in disaster relief too, and is the most likely alternative to China on infrastructure projects. India has less presence in the region but may have influence with some Pacific Islands with ethnic South Asian populations.

The Belt and Road Initiative: Motivations, financing, expansion and challenges of Xi’s ever-expanding strategy

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex He
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
Investment Model ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Efficiency Measures ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
International Economic Cooperation ◽  
Investment And Financing ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Belt And Road

The paper examines the motivations, financing, expansion and challenges of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI was initially designed to address China’s overcapacity and promote economic growth in both China and in countries along the “Belt” and “Road” through infrastructure investment and industrial capacity cooperation. It took into account China’s strategic transition in its opening-up policy and foreign policy to pay more attention to the neighboring countries in Southeast Asia and Central and West Asia when facing greater strategic pressure from the United States in East Asia and the Pacific region. More themes have been added to the initiative’s original framework since its inception in 2013, including the vision of the BRI as China’s major solution to improve international economic cooperation and practice to build a “community of shared future for mankind”, and the idea of the Green Silk Road and the Digital Silk Road. Chinese state-owned enterprises and policy and commercial banks have dominated investment and financing for BRI projects, which explains the root of the problems and risks facing the initiative, such as unsustainable debt, non-transparency, corruption and low economic efficiency. Measures taken by China to tackle these problems, for example, mitigating the debt distress and improving debt sustainability, are unlikely to make a big difference anytime soon due to the tenacity of China’s long-held state-driven investment model.

The Belt and Road Initiative and Sino-Russian economic cooperation: Is there one more chance for us?

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-71
Author(s):  
Petr M. Mozias
Keyword(s):  
Regional Integration ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Flexible Framework ◽  
The One ◽  
International Transactions ◽  
The Belt And Road ◽  
Current Stage

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.

Belt and Road Initiative: Analysis of Possible Effects on Nigeria’s Economy

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (06) ◽  
pp. 20475-20182
Author(s):  
Ige Ayokunle O ◽  
Akingbesote A.O
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
International Economic ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Economic Cooperation ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
International Economic Cooperation ◽  
R Project ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Belt And Road

The Belt and Road initiative is an important attempt by China to sustain its economic growth, by exploring new forms of international economic cooperation with new partners. Even though the B&R project is not the first attempt at international cooperation, it is considered as the best as it is open in nature and does not exclude interested countries. This review raised and answered three questions of how the B&R project will affect Nigeria’s economy?  How will it affect the relationship between Nigeria and China? What could go wrong?, The review concluded that Nigeria can only benefit positively from the project.

The Belt and Road Initiative: Goals and Challenges

2020 ◽  
pp. 167
Author(s):  
Adnan Khalaf i Hammed Al-Badrani ◽  
Hind Ziyad Nafeih
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Power Lines ◽  
Belt And Road Initiative ◽  
Belt And Road ◽  
Ancient Silk Road ◽  
Main Engine ◽  
The Belt And Road

The Belt and Road Initiative is an initiative to revive the ancient Silk Road, through networks of land and sea roads, oil and gas pipelines, electric power lines, the Internet and airports, to create a model of regional and international cooperation.       It is essentially a long-term development strategy, launched by the Chinese president in 2013 to become the main engine of Chinese domestic policy and foreign diplomacy and within the framework of the soft power strategy, to enhance its position and influence in the world as a peaceful and responsible country.   The study includes identifying the initiative and setting goals for China, as well as the challenges and difficulties that hinder the initiative.

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