scholarly journals Croatia and the Chinese “17+1” Cooperation Framework

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (86) ◽  
pp. 130-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zvonimir Stopić

Since the Pelješac bridge construction project was awarded to the Chinese company China Road and Bridge Cooperation (CRBC) in January 2018, the Sino-Croatian relations reached a new high point. Since then, and contrary to Croatia’s past activity and interest, Croatia not only opted to more actively participate in the “17+1” cooperation framework, but even stepped forward by hosting the latest “17+1” summit, held in April 2019. The rekindled relations have since been, on the surface, bursting with possibilities regarding investment, exchanges of personnel, and cooperation on various levels. However, years of neglect, especially on the Croatian side, had created a situation in which Croatia is critically falling behind in experts, Chinese-speaking talents, and various aspects of knowledge needed to support this level of cooperation. Furthermore, judging by the press releases and the lack of clarifications from the Croatian government regarding the short-term decisions and the long-term direction the renewed Sino-Croatian friendship is taking, general understanding of how concepts such as the “17+1” or the Belt and Road Initiative actually reflect on Croatia with regards to their influence on the wider regional and global circumstances is also lacking. This paper analyses the width of the uneven approach China and Croatia are taking in the development of their relations and will attempt to address the issues and challenges that could arise from this unevenness.

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-142
Author(s):  
Yuxiang LIN

2013 China put forward the BRI – Belt and Road Initiative, part of its focus was to intensify investment in the countries along the Belt and Road including Bulgaria. Meanwhile Bulgaria was seeking for new foreign investment. The China’s initiative did not receive any reflection in Bulgarian media during the first four years. In 2017, the first Belt and Road forum was held in Beijing. Then during the period 2017-2018, reports on the BRI started to emerge in Bulgarian media and its coverage was polarised. The papers used techniques from framing theories to present how the initiative was presented differently in selected media reports from the online newspapers Trud, Ataka, Capital and Club ’Z’. Furthermore, the research explored the reasons behind the difference from the perspectives of nationalism and Europeanism. The paper argues that the pro-European media tend to see China’s initiative as a risk, while the nationalist media tend to see the BRI as an opportunity. The opportunity lies in the economic benefit from the short-term effect, while the risk is inferred from the political influence from the long-term run. From the viewpoint of political psychology, there was lack of familiarity and intensive engagement with China, which made the BRI perceived as a risk. Overall, the paper analyses bias in the Bulgarian media through the example of China’s BRI.


Author(s):  
Adnan Khalaf i Hammed Al-Badrani ◽  
Hind Ziyad Nafeih

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.


Author(s):  
Natalia G. Rogozhina ◽  

The article analyzes the consequences of Laos' participation in the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. The benefits acquired and possible losses are assessed. The construction of a railway in Laos, linking it to China, is the most successful Belt and Road project in Southeast Asia, which has a special place in China's strategic plans. The railway construction project is of great economic importance for Laos and in the future can stimulate its economic growth. At the same time, there is a risk of falling into debt dependence on China. The ability of Laos to meet its debt obligations will depend on the profitability of the project, which, however, raises many questions, since the project is more focused on the short-term interests of China than on the long-term interests of Laos. Whether Laos will be able to economically benefit from the construction of the railway remains questionable. But there is no doubt that China will benefit. China will not only strengthen economic presence in this country, relying on the support of the local elite, but also use Laos as a springboard to move deeper into Southeast Asia.


Author(s):  
Paula Tomaszewska

Chinese Belt and Road initiative (BRI) is not only an economic or political project, but also has the potential to transform the international system. The initiative‘s impact is large – from stimulating the financing of infrastructure investments in various countries around the world to the development of new global supply chains. The scientific goal of the article is to analyze the consequences of implementing the initiative. The research problem is included in the following question: does the Belt and Road Initiative contribute to increasing Chinese influence in the world and carries the risk of driving poorer countries into the ―debt trap‖? The conclusion from the article is that China should create an improved version of the BRI initiative based on a better risk assessment of the current projects. Infrastructure investments, if not carefully implemented and controlled, may lead to consequences, such as increasing the debt of some countries in the long term.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
SHI JIN ◽  
HU XIAOHUI ◽  
LI YUNXIONG ◽  
FENG TAO

In recent years, China has been increasingly witnessed as a major global outward investor, especially since the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013. The question of whether and if yes how the BRI reshapes firm outward investment motives remains under-researched. Using a project-level database of China’s Outward Direct Investment from the Ministry of Commerce from 2010 to 2015, this paper investigates the changing investment motives of state-owned and private-owned enterprises (SOEs and POEs) before and after the implementation of the BRI in two periods, namely 2010–2013 and 2014–2015. Our conditional logit models show that (1) market-seeking is one of the key motives for both POEs and SOEs; (2) POEs pursued natural resources in ASEAN based on geographical and relational proximity in the pre-BRI period while SOEs are directed to exploit natural resources in ASEAN besides remoter destinations after the launch of the BRI; (3) POEs are risk-taking in both periods, which runs counter to conventional expectations. This can be explained by the long-term investment tradition of POEs in ASEAN in which POEs are attracted predominantly by socio-economic factors and often less sensitive to variegated host institutions among ASEAN countries and (4) the BRI promotes Chinese OFDI in ASEAN through increased senior leader visits and enhanced diplomatic relations.


China Report ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 464-483
Author(s):  
Rubiat Saimum

The purpose of this article is to examine the prospect of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from the perspective of Bangladesh. The article investigates fundamental aspects of China’s economic involvement in Bangladesh to understand the geo-economic basis of the initiative. In this respect, the objective and motivation behind Chinese involvement in Bangladesh’s economy are studied, and the political and economic challenges emanating from the participation of the latter country in the initiative are outlined. Methodologically, this research adopts a qualitative approach and relies on primary sources to collect data. It concludes with an observation that Chinese investments through BRI could, in the long term, be advantageous for Bangladesh’s economy as long as the regional and economic issues associated with the initiative are appropriately dealt with. Besides, it suggests that the success of the initiative in South Asia, as well as in Bangladesh, requires a collaborative effort from all the states of the region on functional issue areas such as trade and connectivity.


2020 ◽  
pp. 002190962094635
Author(s):  
Skylar Biyang Sun ◽  
Xinzhi Xu ◽  
Xiaohang Zhao

Since the 1990s, China has formalized its short-term foreign aid training for foreign officials and technological personnel. This type of training often lasts for 21 days and participants from invited countries arrive in China for a period of condensed study, with all fees covered by the Chinese government. By the end of 2009, China had organized more than 4000 short-term training programs for over 120,000 personnel from more than 50 countries. Along with the establishment of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan and the constructional needs of the Belt and Road Initiative, China has gradually increased the export of its cultural products in foreign aid training. Surprisingly, such national-scale training is largely omitted from current scholarly research. Employing the “fragmented authoritarianism” model, we look at the administrative structure of China’s foreign aid training and provide rudimentary research into the field.


2021 ◽  
pp. 030913252110336
Author(s):  
Kathryn Furlong

For 25 years, China has staked its development on domestic and global infrastructure expansion. This third progress report on geographies of infrastructure explores what China’s far-reaching infrastructure venture means for critical infrastructure studies. Reviewing China’s infrastructure-driven urban growth, the Belt and Road Initiative and their links, three recommendations are advanced: (1) a reengagement with the state that takes its geographical and temporal diversity seriously, (2) an approach to infrastructure as part of a complex network of state projects with long-term ends, and (3) a concern with infrastructures of repression and confinement in wider processes of making things ‘flow’.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Jui-Lung Chen ◽  
Hsiung-Shen Jung

The Belt and Road Initiative advocated by China is expecting to assist in the infrastructure and financing of participating countries and promote free trade through cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road. China hopes to lead the regional economic integration process through investment-driven trade. Out of geopolitical considerations, Russia and India initially held a relatively negative or cautious attitude towards the Belt and Road Initiative. Therefore, Russia proposed the concept of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) in 2011 in order to unite the other independent ASEAN countries based on the customs alliance consisting of Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, and thus create a supranational consortium, which in turn have the ability to compete and cooperate with the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China. In 2014, India launched the Indian version of the Belt and Road Initiative, named Project Mausam, expecting to promote the integration of economic and trade exchanges around the Indian Ocean with India as the center. However, after recent strikes by the trade war, China actively seeks assistance from India and Russia in order to break through the US trade blockade. During the G20 summit held in Japan in June 2019, China, India, and Russia held a three-party talk. After the talk, the three countries issued a joint statement claiming that “they shall undertake more global responsibilities to protect the fundamental and long-term interests of the three countries themselves and the world”, which seems to have opened up opportunities for future cooperation among the three countries. Therefore, this paper explores the competitive and cooperative relationship among China, India, and Russia under the Belt and Road Initiative.


Author(s):  
João Paulo Nicolini Gabriel ◽  
Desirée Almeida Pires ◽  
Carlos Eduardo Carvalho

The paper aims to understand Brazilian position in relation to Asia and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), based on a review of the bibliography and journalistic articles on Brazil-Asia subject and an observance of official data of the Brazilian economy. Since Dilma Rousseff until Michel Temer’s government, Brazil has facing a troubled political and economic scenario, which negatively impacts on its diplomacy. Although Brazil reaffirmed its commitment with global strategic partnership with China in terms of trade flows, the lack of Brazilian participation on issues of global political nature directly impacts on the way in which Brasilia moved its attention to the BRI and to the Asian affairs. The ambitious proportions and objectives of the BRI summed to the rise of a nationalist economic policy of the United States indicate a deepening of several movements that have been changing the international balance of power, which can offer opportunities for Brazil, by means of a cohesive long-term policy for Asia and in a multifaceted way beyond trade. 


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