China Economic Relations with Mauritania in the Age of the Belt and Road Initiative

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-86
Author(s):  
Mordechai Chaziza

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania have maintained steady bilateral relations since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1965. This study examines China’s economic relations with the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in the Belt and Road Initiative era. Over the past years, the PRC has been increasing its presence and engagement with Mauritania’s economy and presenting itself as a reliable financial and investor partner. The main argument is that the PRC’s relationship with Mauritania is based on shared or mutual commercial interests, especially Mauritania’s economic development, industrialization, and social development through integration in the BRI framework. China has collaborated with Mauritania both bilaterally and multilaterally, mainly through the BRI framework, and is also expanding its political power and influence in the country at the expense of Western hegemony.

Author(s):  
Haipeng Zhao ◽  
K. Bliumska-Danko ◽  
Xu Lu

Purpose: Ukraine is located in Eastern Europe, has a good geographical location, and has good bilateral relations and traditional economic exchanges with China, especially agriculture, high-tech, and existing and ongoing cooperation projects with China. "There are also difficulties in construction: Ukraine's economy has been in a difficult period since independence, its economic structure is very uneven, and its economic relations with Eastern European and CIS countries, as well as Russian economic relations, need to be improved. Ukraine needs to restore its national strength. China's "Belt and Road" initiative and the diplomatic concept of building a community of shared future for mankind have determined that the Chinese government is willing to help Ukraine restore its strength and restore normal political, economic, and diplomatic relations with neighboring countries. It will benefit the people through the improvement of the national economy This article aims to analyze how the two sides can use the "Belt and Road" platform to develop economic relations and strengthen cooperation to achieve mutual benefit results. Methodology: This article uses the literature research method, the combination of analysis and synthesis methods, observation method, investigation method. Originality: Since the Soviet Union, Ukraine has started friendly exchanges with China. After the founding of New China in 1949, Ukraine, as a part of the Soviet Union, made a greater contribution to China establishment of its national steel, machinery, agriculture and other basic industries. After Ukraine's independence, China-Ukraine relations have entered a new stage. China was the first country to recognize Ukraine's independence and established diplomatic relations with it on January 4, 1992. In the past 30 years of Ukraine's independence, the two countries have not had any conflicts of interest and no serious political and economic contradictions. The "Belt and Road" initiative proposed by Xi Jinping in 2013 provided a new platform for bilateral relations and created unprecedented opportunities for the development of bilateral relations. In the "Belt and Road" construction, Ukraine should play a greater role. Practical value: Participating in the "Belt and Road" construction is also a very important opportunity for Ukraine, helping the Chinese people to have a more comprehensive and clearer understanding of Ukraine, and more importantly, it is conducive to the trade between the two countries to bring more Ukrainian enterprises Trade exchanges to drive the economic development of Ukraine. Politically, Ukraine and China have good bilateral relations;On June 20, 2011, the two sides signed the "China-Ukraine Joint Partnership on the Establishment and Development of Strategic Partnerships. Economically, Ukraine and China have complementary economies. Economic exchanges have been established since the Soviet Union. In recent years, the existing and ongoing cooperation between Ukraine and China has continued to develop in high-tech fields such as agriculture, machine manufacturing, and aviation. More and more Ukrainian experts have pointed out that developing relations between Ukraine and China should become a priority direction of Ukraine's current foreign policy. Ukraine has a strong advantage in agriculture, military industry, and manufacturing, especially the engine manufacturing industry, and can develop machine manufacturing; Ukraine can provide transportation for China “Belt and Road” Convenient conditions.


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.


Author(s):  
Matt McGregor

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s brand for economic infrastructure development and investment. The BRI offers significant strategic advantages to the PRC and many benefits to partner countries, and is intended to situate China at the centre of international trade. At the same time, unintended consequences of investment will impact local populations in key areas, including population displacement, environmental degradation, corruption, political upheaval, exploitation and violent conflict. While the BRI offers significant opportunities to both China and its partner countries in the initiative, relative Chinese military weakness, the limits of economic activity, underdeveloped soft power authority, energy dependency, terrorism and domestic politics will all either inhibit the BRI or remain vulnerable aspects of the Chinese national interest as projects move forward. The BRI has the potential to reshape the economic relations of the world, however the strategic limitations of the project do not indicate a short or mid-term upheaval of the international system in favor of China or an end to China’s political challenges at home and abroad. This essay views the realist and constructivist schools of international relations theory as the most useful way to understand the motivations and consequences of the BRI. The long term effects on the global balance of power will also be examined, especially in the context of Xi’s vision for China in 2050.


2021 ◽  
pp. 186810262110478
Author(s):  
Rhys Jenkins

When China invited the Latin American countries to participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, it fuelled expectations of a much closer and more productive relationship with the region. In practice, however, there is little evidence that this was happening even before the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. The article shows that neither the policy statements by China nor the trends in economic relations indicate a substantive change in Sino–Latin American relations and that the Belt and Road Initiative represents a repackaging of existing relations and the continuation of trends that have been underway since the global financial crisis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 374-400
Author(s):  
Edward Ashbee

Abstract Whereas the Obama administration had equivocated, the Trump White House declared its vehement opposition to the Belt and Road Initiative (bri). This shift went together with the Trump administration’s designation of the People’s Republic of China (prc) as a strategic competitor and a broader deterioration in bilateral relations. However, as it began to posit alternatives to the bri, the Trump administration fell back on the policy thinking of the established foreign policy community. In doing this, it tacitly accepted the importance of soft power and the adoption of strategies requiring close cooperation with allies and partners so as to develop regional infrastructural “connectivity” projects. The White House thereby stepped back from the unilateralism, “principled realism,” and reliance upon hard power that had defined Donald J. Trump’s 2015–2016 presidential campaign. Nonetheless, U.S. efforts to develop policy alternatives to the bri were limited, unstable, and variegated. The Trump administration’s actions in other policy arenas often stymied efforts to counter the prc and initiatives such as the build Act and “Prosper Africa” received scant resources. On the basis of this policy pattern, the article argues that policy communities at times can “harness” other counter-positioned, political currents, but ongoing ideational stresses and abrasion will inevitably characterize the process.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-31
Author(s):  
Sigit Candrawiranatakusuma ◽  
Jefferson Winata Bachtiar

Despite an acrimonious history, being involved in the second and third Indochina War, in the past few years, Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) seems to have deepened its relations with China. The improvement of friendly bilateral ties between Beijing and Vientiane can be observed by the evidence of China as the largest foreign investor in the country. On one hand, Lao PDR’s struggle to improve its economic its landlocked geography and the need for infrastructure assistance naturally makes the country lean more towards China. On the other hand, Beijing needs Lao PDR’s geographical advantages to complete the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project. The objective of this paper is to analyze the evolving relationship between China and Lao PDR within the context of the BRI. This paper concludes that both parties have developed a complex interdependent relationship with China attempting to establish a solid geo-economics system while trying to assert its position in a structural power system. The act of assertion is supported by its foreign policy that is predicted to be utilized to cajole Southeast Asia countries to be part of a community of common destiny under the leadership of Beijing.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-21
Author(s):  
S. Linlin

As one of the nine border provinces in the country, Heilongjiang Province has 2,981 kilometres of RussianRussian border and 25 national first-class ports. In the past five years, Heilongjiang Province, based on the prominent geographical position in the core of Northeast Asia, has actively promoted the national strategy of the Belt and Road Initiative, deepened on open cooperation with countries in the Northeast Asia, and focused on developing economic cooperation and trade with Russia while building a new pattern of openness to the outside world. This paper in detail elaborates the progress of Heilongjiang Province’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in aspect of “five links” construction, namely, policy coordination, connectivity of infrastructure, unimpeded trade, financial integration and closer people-to-people ties, since the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, and further proposes feasible countermeasures.


Author(s):  
Корганашвили Л.

The belt and road initiative (BRI) put forward by the President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping in autumn 2013 is one of the priorities of it’s modern foreign policy. Within the framework of BRI China has concluded agreements on practical cooperation with many countries, including Georgia. For Georgia, BRI is an opportunity to become a land and sea transport hub between Europe and Asia. The overland route combines the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad with the Yavuz Sultan Selim bridge across the Bosporus Strait. The sea route serves as an gate to Europe through the ports in Batumi, Poti and Anaklia. The work shows the importance of BRI for the formation of Georgia as a transport hub and the benefits that both countries derive from cooperation under this initiative.


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.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document