Author: Mingjiang Li
Affiliation: Nanyang Technological University
Organization/Publisher: International Affairs
Date/Place: January 01 2020, U.S.
Type of Literature: Article
Number of Pages: 19
Link:https://academic.oup.com/ia/article/96/1/169/5697484
Keywords: Belt and Road Initiative, Geopolitical, Geo-economic, China, United States.
Brief:
The article identifies the potential impact of the BRI on the security ties between China and other major players in the Indo-Pacific; it also explores new analytical pathways through which geo-economics generates geopolitical rivalries. The author points out that the impact of the BRI is expected to be more salient in the domain of geopolitics than in the domain of global development governance. The current geo-political struggle and US initiative to promote the free and open Indo-Pacific strategy (FOIP) to counter the BRI is a serious threat to regional security. The contestation could be mitigated if the BRI were to include other major powers and become a truly multilateral policy platform. The author is optimistic for three reasons: 1) According to Chinese leadership, BRI is an inclusive economic initiative, and accordingly it continues to encourage major powers and other countries to take part in this massive program; 2) China realizes that it lacks the resources to carry out this large-scale infrastructure-investment-cum-connectivity initiative on its own; 3) Collaboration is growing between China and other major powers within the BRI framework. The author concludes that the only way to reduce the geopolitical rivalry between China and other major powers is to transform the BRI from a China-dominated initiative into a multilateral platform and encourage greater participation by other major players in regional and cross-regional economic cooperation.
By: Razia Wadood, CIGA Senior Research Associate
