scholarly journals Perceiving the Silk Road Archipelago: Archipelagic relations within the ancient and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-72
Author(s):  
Baoxia Xie ◽  
Xianlong Zhu ◽  
Adam Grydehøj

This paper analyses the ancient Maritime Silk Road through a relational island studies approach. Island ports and island cities represented key sites of water-facilitated transport and exchange in the ancient Indian Ocean and South China Sea. Building our analysis upon a historical overview of the ancient Maritime Silk Road from the perspective of China’s Guangdong Province and the city of Guangzhou, we envision a millennia-long ‘Silk Road Archipelago’ encompassing island cities and island territories stretching across East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and East Africa. Bearing in mind the complex movements of peoples, places, and processes involved, we conceptualise the ancient Maritime Silk Road as an uncentred network of archipelagic relation. This conceptualisation of the ancient Maritime Silk Road as a vast archipelago can have relevance for our understanding of China’s present-day promotion of a 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. We ultimately argue against forcing the Maritime Silk Road concept within a binary perspective of essentialised East-West conflict or hierarchical relations and instead argue for the value of a nuanced understanding of relationality.

2018 ◽  
Vol 04 (03) ◽  
pp. 401-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Sabil Farooq ◽  
Tongkai Yuan ◽  
Jiangang Zhu ◽  
Nazia Feroze

China remains Africa’s largest financier of infrastructure, and the Belt and Road Forum held in May 2017 estimated pledge of funds of about US$40 billion. Reportedly, projects worth much more than the pledged funds are in the planning or have been underway, making the “Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)” the biggest development initiative in history. China and Africa need each other in development, and the Asian giant continues to make inroads into Africa, home to minerals, oil, and other resources that help feed China’s phenomenal economic growth. This article intends to discuss the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR)” under the BRI and its socioeconomic and cultural impact on China-Africa relations, with an emphasis on China’s relationship with Kenya, a founding member of the East Africa community (EAC) that has enjoyed lasting friendship with China. It is concluded that despite the generally positive impact of Chinese economic presence in Africa over the past decades, both China and African countries have much to do to consolidate their mutually beneficial relationship and to achieve the MSR’s target of common prosperity in the long run.


2021 ◽  
pp. 295-307
Author(s):  
Hans-Dietrich Haasis ◽  
Jianhui Du ◽  
Xuejun Sun

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 01 (03) ◽  
pp. 1850015
Author(s):  
Zheng Yongnian ◽  
Zhang Chi

On March 28, 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping detailed his vision for the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (hereinafter referred to as the Belt and Road) when attending the Boao Forum for Asia. After this, China’s National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the “Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road”, a sign that the Belt and Road Initiative promoted by China as a foreign cooperation platform entered its first year of implementation. This vision covers over half of the global population and involves more than 60 countries along the routes, the economic aggregates of which account for about one-third of the world. During 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang paid frequent visits to all continents in an effort to promote the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative. At present, the Belt and Road Initiative has received positive responses from the countries along the routes, and a number of cooperation projects have been underway smoothly. With the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, China is forming a grand diplomatic landscape with “double legs” (a new type of major power relations and the Belt and Road Initiative) and a “single circle” (peripheral diplomacy). The Belt and Road Initiative highlights the spirit of the age, characterized by “peace, mutual respect, openness, and inclusiveness”, and has major international significance in helping China break through the security dilemma among nations, shoulder the responsibilities of a great power, and build China’s soft power in the international arena.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 170-181
Author(s):  
Boris MANOV

The research is carried out through the prism of geopolitics and reveals the "logic" and the essence of „The Belt and Road Initiative“. It outlines its basic ideas and goals. The study justifies and proves the (hypo)thesis that despite the apparent "leadership" of the economic events, the political and geopolitical aspects (vectors) of the project are linked to the economy. The economy does not function on its own way, but is formulated, supported by policy and used for political purposes, i.e., the project in its deep essence is political. The political nature of „The Belt and Road Initiative“ is expressed in the following: it is an attempt to find in internal policy a mechanism to preserve the political power of the Communist Party and to continue the existence of the dominant political system - the totalitarian (one-party) political system in the PRC. The geopolitical task is to find the „place“ of modern China in the global world. The goal is to restore the central ("middle") location of China in the 21st century world. „The Silk Road“ is one of the directions for its realization and the means for its achievement are complex - the „most obvious“ are the actions in the economic sphere, but equally important are the military, diplomatic, cultural factors and impacts. In conclusion, it is argued that „The Belt and Road Initiative“ will be realized as an optimal, reasonable balancebetween the „desired“ and the „possible“ and will be specified in the adoption of the formula „Great Eurasia“, i.e., in the transformation of China into a regional (regional-global, global-regional) center, the „middle empire“ of the Eurasian super-continent, the largest and most powerful geopolitical and geo-economic power center in the future „multipolar“ or more likely „bipolar“ („West-Sea“ - „East-Еarth“) world from the middle and the end of the 21st century.


Akademika ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 79-91
Author(s):  
Ku Boon Dar ◽  
◽  
Tan Chee Seng ◽  

ABSTRACT In recent years, China has expanded its relations with other nations through the Belt and Road Initiative. This initiative was formally introduced after it was launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping. It comprises two components, namely, the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative, both of which aim to stimulate the acceleration of economic growth in Asia, Africa and Europe. This research attempts to provide a detailed review of the execution of this initiative through empirical studies based on qualitative analysis, which are closely related to BRI implementation in Malaysia. The focus of this research, however, is not limited to studying the viewpoints of leaders and scholars on the initiative; rather, it will also attempt to discuss theBRI’s progress and the obstacles encountered to date from the political aspects of both China and Malaysia. By identifying the potential challenges to come, this research will prove to be significant, as it proposes some comprehensive measures to address and forestall any setbacks that may arise, which may affect the implementation of the BRI between the two nations. Keywords: Belt and Road Initiative (BRI); Malaysia–China relations; Silk Road; China–ASEAN relations; Maritime Silk Road A


Author(s):  
Xiaobing Yu ◽  
Hong Chen ◽  
Chenliang Li

The Belt and Road Initiative involves many countries and areas. As the introducer, China plays a key role in the initiative. However, the coastal areas in China have frequently been hit by typhoons that lead to huge casualties and economic losses. In order to reduce damages caused by natural disasters, this paper selected the coastal regions of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road as the study areas, specifically Shanghai, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Fujian, and Hainan, to estimate the vulnerability to typhoon disasters based on the historical data about typhoon disasters and the super-efficiency data envelopment analysis (DEA) evaluation model. Although Shanghai is a low-vulnerable region, it needs to pay close attention to the risk of typhoon disasters due to the outstanding economic influence. In addition, it was found that the vulnerability to typhoons in Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Hainan showed a dramatic fluctuation from 2011 to 2016, and Zhejiang’s vulnerability in 2013 was extremely high compared to other years. Meanwhile, Guangdong and Hainan are highly vulnerable areas, suffering from typhoon disasters heavily. Moreover, the vulnerability to typhoons for Fujian is relatively low.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-26
Author(s):  
Ji Shaoyou

As it is known, China is a country with a long history, and in this Internet Age, changes are taking place in China at high speed. The new leadership of China is faced with a series of complex challenges. In September 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed a Silk Road Economic Belt and in October a 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road; together now referred to as the Belt and Road Initiative. The Initiative aims at building a community of shared interests, responsibility and destiny with mutual political trust, economic integration and cultural inclusiveness. Investments and trade cooperations are major tasks in building the Belt and Road. As a member of higher education community, how could we be of any assistance in solving the employment problem for the government, upgrade the traditional foreign trade for the enterprises and train innovative students for the society? Consequently, I select the theme Disruptive Innovation: Shifting the way of learning. And the title of my sharing is “New Learning, New Teaching, New Entrepreneurship & New Eco-sphere”.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaiqiang Xiao ◽  
Liang Chen

Abstract: in 2013, President Xi put forward the strategic ideas of "Silk Road Economic Belt" and "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" during his visit to central Asia and South Asia, which gained extensive attention from the international community. To promote the implementation of the "The Belt and Road" initiative, it is necessary to not only build good infrastructure to promote economic and trade exchanges between countries, but also create a good public opinion environment to enhance exchanges and mutual trust between countries. New media, as one of the main channels of information communication in the current era, plays an important role in spreading the culture of "The Belt and Road" initiative and promoting economic cooperation among countries with its characteristics of flexibility, interactivity and high efficiency. Exploring the role of new media in promoting the political, cultural and economic aspects of the "The Belt and Road" initiative will be of great significance to mastering the power of discourse of the Silk Road and strengthening the exchanges and cooperation among countries along the route.


Author(s):  
Mirosław Antonowicz ◽  
Zbigniew Tracichleb

<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>


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