The Road and Belt Initiative in Malaysia: Challenges and Recommendations

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

Indian Ocean Listening Stations: Governmental Ears, Surveillance Acoustemologies, and the Maritime Silk Road

In this article, I examine the discourse surrounding “listening stations” (surveillance outposts) that the Indian government has built to counter Chinese infrastructural projects in the Indian Ocean. As surveillance technologies are placed on out-of-the-way islands and deep underwater, the ocean is discursively situated in the press and diplomatic circles as a site where the geopolitical and sonic ‘noise’ of the metropole is evaded in virtue of the seeming fidelity of the sea, thus garnering potential for the listening stations to reveal China’s true geopolitical intentions. Drawing on classic securitization theory, as well as writings in the anthropology of security and sound studies, I argue that the positioning of listening stations as sites defined by listening and protection from Chinese encroachment obfuscates how they function as geopolitical speech and an expansion of Indian power. I coin the term “surveillance acoustemology” to refer to the ways that India’s listening stations spatialize India’s projected influence and its ability to hear its Chinese rival across the Indian Ocean.

Book review: Blanchard, J.-M.F. (Eds.). (2021). China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative, Africa, and the Middle East. Feats, Freezes, and Failures. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan, 291 p.

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Demographic model and biological adaptation inferred from the genome-wide SNP data reveal tripartite origins of southernmost Chinese Huis

The culturally unique Sanya Hui (SYH) people are regarded as the descendants of ancient Cham people in Central Vietnam (CV) and exhibit a scenario of complex migration and admixture history, who were likely to first migrate from Central and South Asia (CSA) to CV and then to South Hainan and finally assimilated with indigenous populations and resided in the tropical island environments since then. A long-standing hypothesis posits that SYH derives from different genetic and cultural origins, which hypothesizes that SYH people are different from the genetically attested admixture history of northern Hui people possessing major Han-related ancestry and minor western Eurasian ancestry. However, the effect of the cultural admixture from CSA and East Asia (EA) on the genetic admixture of SYH people remains unclear. Here, we reported the first batch of genome-wide SNP data from 94 SYH people from Hainan and comprehensively characterized their genetic structure, origin, and admixture history. Our results found that SYH people were genetically different from the northern Chinese Hui people and harbored a close genomic affinity with indigenous Vietnamese but a distinct relationship with Cham, which confirmed the hypothesis of documented recent historical migration from CV and assimilation with Hainan indigenous people. The fitted admixture models and reconstructed demographic frameworks revealed an additional influx of CSA and EA ancestries during the historical period, consisting of the frequent cultural communication along the Southern Maritime Silk Road and extensive interaction with EA. Analyses focused on natural-selected signatures of SYH people revealed a similar pattern with mainland East Asians, which further confirmed the possibility of admixture-induced biological adaptation of island environments. Generally, three genetically attested ancestries from CV, EA, and CSA in modern SYH people supported their tripartite model of genomic origins.

Dynamic Evaluation and Optimization of Investment Environment in Node Cities on the Maritime Silk Road

Understanding and evaluating urban investment environment is essential for effectively improving the efficiency of resource allocation between cities and promoting overall development of the regional economy. This paper takes 15 node cities on maritime Silk Road covered by the “Belt and Road” as the research object, establishes a dynamic evaluation index system for investment environment, and uses projection pursuit cluster to analyze and evaluate the investment environment of the cities. It is found that the investment environment potential of a city is directly related to the level of social development, economic development, and the degree of opening to the outside world. It is recommended that node cities should seize the important opportunity of the construction of the Maritime Silk Road, introduce world-wide human, financial and material resources to promote regional resources allocation and flow, and continuously improve and upgrade the investment environment quality.

Dynamic Evaluation and Optimization of Investment Environment in Node Cities on the Maritime Silk Road

Understanding and evaluating urban investment environment is essential for effectively improving the efficiency of resource allocation between cities and promoting overall development of the regional economy. This paper takes 15 node cities on maritime Silk Road covered by the “Belt and Road” as the research object, establishes a dynamic evaluation index system for investment environment, and uses projection pursuit cluster to analyze and evaluate the investment environment of the cities. It is found that the investment environment potential of a city is directly related to the level of social development, economic development, and the degree of opening to the outside world. It is recommended that node cities should seize the important opportunity of the construction of the Maritime Silk Road, introduce world-wide human, financial and material resources to promote regional resources allocation and flow, and continuously improve and upgrade the investment environment quality.