The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: A Qualified Success for Beijing's Economic Statecraft

In 2013, China's growing economic capacities motivated Beijing to launch a multilateral bank to advance its diplomatic agenda. Scholars are still debating precisely what Beijing seeks to accomplish through the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). This article surveys the key literature on the AIIB, identifying twenty scholarly interpretations of Beijing's strategic goals. The purpose of this research is to understand Beijing's initial design for this bank and evaluate whether this new multilateral development bank can function as an effective instrument for Beijing's economic statecraft. Over its first five years, as an economic tool for Beijing, the AIIB has performed quite remarkably well. The bank not only operates smoothly, generating a reasonable amount in net income for its shareholders, but also serves Beijing's strategic purposes in expanding China's regional influence, enhancing its international status, and ascending toward global leadership.

Evaluation of Coordination and Coupling Degree of Cross-Regional Influence of the Construction Industry Based on Regional Economic Factors: A Case Study of Beijing, Capital of China

Taking Beijing as the core, this study takes the data related to the construction industry from 2011 to 2018 as the basis. By constructing a cross-regional influence model and collaborative coupling evaluation model of China’s construction industry considering economic, social, and ecological development, this study comprehensively investigates the current situation of the cross-regional development of China’s capital construction industry. Results show that the external contribution of Beijing’s construction industry is manifested in three situations. A general trend of rising first and then falling is also observed. The contribution of Beijing’s construction enterprises to northwest China has long been low, whereas its contribution rate to Tianjin, Hebei, and Guangdong Provinces is high. The regional difference is significant, showing a “catch-up effect.” The contribution degree and the development level of China’s construction industry are usually at a low coupling and antagonistic level. The verification of the influencing factors indicates that the external influence of the construction industry in Beijing has a significant positive effect on the supporting environment of the industry and the development level of the construction industry.

Iran and Saudi Arabia’s Strategic Rivalry and the Middle Eastern Security: An Assessment

The strategic rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran has been worsened for the last two decades. This historical sectarian divisions led by Saudi Arabia and Iran has now morphed into a struggle for regional influence between Shia political power led by Iran and Sunni political power led by Saudi Arabia. Against this backdrop, the study examines the contours of the Middle Eastern security in the context of Saudi and Iran strategic rivalry in various conflicts such as crisis in Syria, Yemen, and situation in Iraq including proxy wars and Iran’s nuclear program. The study finds out that the security situation of the Middle East would have been much better if Saudi and Iran would have cooperated on various issues such as Yemen and Syrian crisis. In addition, the internal vulnerabilities of the Middle East with Iran and Saudi strategic antagonism provided opportunities to the external power intervention that further has intensified the conflicts in the region. The study concludes that the solution of the Middle Eastern problem would lie in building cooperation between Iran and Saudi Arabia relations and in this respect the current rapprochement between the two states is a positive development for Middle Eastern security.

The Central African Federation

The late 1940s and early 1950s saw British government policy align, albeit briefly, with European settler desire in Southern and Northern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe and Zambia) for a closer association of their territories. Widespread African opposition was overlooked, and on September 1, 1953, the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (more commonly known as the Central African Federation) came into existence. Nyasaland was included at the insistence of the British government. The federation was a bold experiment in political power during the late stage of British colonialism and constituted one of the most intricate episodes in its retreat from empire. Explanations for the creation of the federation center on attempts to stymie the regional influence of apartheid South Africa and the perceived economic advantages of a closer association of Britain’s Central African colonies. African opposition to the formation of the federation was widespread. Although this protest dissipated in the early years of the federation, the early promises in racial “partnership” soon proved to be insincere, and this reinvigorated African protest as the 1960 federal constitutional review drew close. The end of the Central African Federation is best explained by several intertwined pressures, including African nationalist protest, economic weakness, and hardening settler intransigence. By the end of 1962, there was large-scale African opposition to federation in both Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and the Rhodesian Front had come to power on a platform of independence free from the federation. The final death knell for the federation rang with the British government’s decision that no territory should be kept in the federation against its will.

PHONG TRÀO THƠ MỚI VIỆT NAM – NHÌN TỪ BỐI CẢNH HIỆN ĐẠI HÓA THƠ CA ĐÔNG Á

Vietnamese New Poetry is one of the outstanding achievements of the modernization of Vietnamese literature in the first half of the twentieth century. Moreover, the New Poetry movement has contributed to bringing Vietnamese literature out of regional influence and to catching up with world literature trends. This paper mainly discusses and analyzes the characteristics and nature of the Vietnamese New Poetry movement in the context of modernizing East Asian poetry.

Pakistan-US relations are on a downward trajectory

Significance Separately, Pakistan is drawing closer to its ‘all-weather’ partner China, a key US rival. Washington’s strategy in the Indo-Pacific increasingly revolves around pushing back on Beijing’s regional influence. Impacts The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will continue to be a source of tension in Islamabad-Washington relations. A downturn in ties could prompt US suspension of Pakistan’s participation in the International Military Education and Training programme. Worsening instability in Afghanistan will inhibit the completion of US-backed regional infrastructure projects that involve Pakistan.

National Liberation Movements and Their Vocation for Party Politics in Southern Africa. The Case of the African National Congress and Zimbabwe African National Union

"The paper aims to shed light on the particularities of two national liberation movements - turned political parties and how they embraced their new role after the liberation struggle had ended and majority rule had been obtained. South Africa’s ANC and Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF are analyzed in an attempt to ultimately underline why democracy was approached distinctively by the too. We also bring some arguments as to why South Africa failed to stop ZANU-PF’s descent into autocracy, amidst internal and international pressures to intervene. After a short historical background of the two NLMs, we discuss the links between them, the particular political and social conditions which shaped their behaviours and the commonalities and differences in said behaviours. We argue that, as long as the democratic principles identified with ZANU-PF’s struggle for the empowerment of a new elite, the former were pursued; when the two no longer overlapped, stronghold politics and policies took primacy. We also argue that faced with similar contestation as ZANU-PF, the ANC might chose to sacrifice democracy for the sake of regime survival. Keywords: party-politics, international relations, regional influence, democracy, colonialism, discourse "

The Belt and Road and the Path to Chinese Greatness

This chapter looks at the Belt and Road Initiative as a case study of China’s claim to exceptionalism in global affairs. I argue that, as a form of economic statecraft, the BRI is conceived with the primary goal of generating Chinese political influence abroad. Through a study of the existing scholarship, I argue that three key themes frame Chinese IR scholars’ discussion of the BRI: (I) the rules of the international system; (II) the competition for regional influence; and (III) China’s own domestic affairs and responsibility to its own people. Taken together, these themes provide important clues about how the BRI is conceptualized to promote a sense of Chinese exceptionalism.