Drivers of China’s Regional Infrastructure Diplomacy: The Case of the Sino-Thai Railway Project
TL;DR: The land-based Silk Road Economic Belt, as a part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, has become central for the country's economic diplomacy since 2013 as discussed by the authors, and as part of these initiatives, Chinese auth...
Abstract: The land-based Silk Road Economic Belt, as a part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, has become central for the country’s economic diplomacy since 2013. As part of these initiatives, Chinese auth...
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TL;DR: The authors reviewed Chinese infrastructure investment and showed that rather than a monolithic strategy aimed at world domination, the BRI is driven by a range of Chinese stakeholders situated at different scales whose motives vary from achieving strategic geopolitical advantage to profit-maximization.
43 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the socioeconomic and geopolitical outcomes associated with infrastructure development across multiple scales are examined starting from the premise that planetary socio-technical transfor..., where the authors examine the socio-economic and geospatial outcomes of infrastructure development.
Abstract: This paper examines the socio-economic and geopolitical outcomes associated with infrastructure development across multiple scales. Starting from the premise that planetary socio-technical transfor...
12 citations
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: In this article, several critical issues related to Chinese high-speed rails (CHSR) are analyzed, investigated and discussed, including development background, reasons for high ticket fare, some typical factors that influence the environmental life-cycle assessment, time and cost comparison of typical door-to-door travel routes between different transport modes and complementary strategies among different transportation modes.
Abstract: In this paper, several critical issues related to Chinese high-speed rails (CHSR) are analyzed, investigated and discussed, including development background, reasons for high ticket fare, some typical factors that influence the environmental life-cycle assessment, time and cost comparison of typical door-to-door travel routes between different transport modes and complementary strategies among different transport modes. First, the results show that the expanding high-speed rail network increased the pressure on the country's roads in the 2010 spring festival rush period due to the high ticket fare of CHSR. Second, due to lower than expected ridership because of the high ticket price and limited demand in less developed areas, some Chinese CHSR projects have become economically unsustainable. Third, without sufficient ridership and service life, the utilization of HSR was unable to show any advantages in the environmental impact compared with the other transport modes. In addition, the impact of shock from CHSR on Chinese domestic civil airlines is evident when the travel distance is below 1050 km. The key objective of the investigation is to enhance our understanding of the development and operation of Chinese high-speed rail. One of the key contributions of the current paper is the presented suggestions for complementary strategies between different transport modes to make full use of Chinese transportation resources to promote low carbon economy.
7 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , the authors explore how and to what extent state capitalism has shaped the political economy of a rising China in Indonesia and identify three characteristics of an emerging transnational state capitalism in Southeast Asia: state-centric in its overall direction and operation; simultaneous pursuit of economic-cum-geopolitical interests; and an inability to stem structural weaknesses associated with statist economic directives.
Abstract: Extending the growing literature within international political economy, this article puts forth the notion of transnational state capitalism, taking into account the anaemic growth gripping the global economy since the 2008 economic crisis and China’s massive efforts to export infrastructure following the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013. Focussing on the agencies, practices and outcomes of the Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Rail, one of the largest infrastructure undertakings in Southeast Asia since the BRI’s inception, this article explores how and to what extent state capitalism has shaped the political economy of a rising China in Indonesia. We identify three characteristics of an emerging transnational state capitalism in Southeast Asia: state-centric in its overall direction and operation; simultaneous pursuit of economic-cum-geopolitical interests; and an inability to stem structural weaknesses associated with statist economic directives (which have been further complicated by its intertwining with host state dynamics). Our central argument is that although this project was initially conceived as a business-to-business arrangement, it has increased the appeal of state intervention in a transnational context. The driving forces include Indonesia’s political economy and the Chinese state-owned enterprises’ dual agenda of seeking profits and advancing geopolitical goals. We also argue that the project’s statist nature has brought about some side-effects such as inefficient resource allocation and incumbency bias, thus raising concerns about the vulnerability of state capitalist models. Our findings highlight the importance of conceptualizing the transnational state against the backdrop of a globalizing China, going beyond parochial understandings of this increasingly salient phenomenon.
6 citations
TL;DR: This paper examined the role of transnational education as a component of the soft infrastructure of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Asia and argued that students' narratives/practices reinforce but also present alternatives to the imaginaries, affinities and subjectivities that Chinese Transnational education institutes such as XMU and XMUM seek to produce through the vehicle of BRI.
Abstract: Drawing upon qualitative research conducted at Xiamen University (XMU) and its overseas campus, Xiamen University Malaysia (XMUM), this article provides an analysis of transnational education as a component of the soft infrastructure of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). We examine XMUM within wider geopolitical and cultural diplomacy in Asia and as a transnational site in/through which new regional imaginaries, affinities and subjectivities are produced and contested. We highlight the role of historical and cultural affinity—as well as its omission/disruption—in giving shape to XMUM, the limited extent to which mainland Chinese students perform their role as cultural ambassadors, and the multiple imaginative post-study geographies of international and local students that simultaneously centre and decentre China. In doing so, we contend that students' narratives/practices reinforce but also present alternatives to the imaginaries, affinities and subjectivities that Chinese transnational education institutes such as XMU and XMUM seek to produce through the vehicle of the BRI.
5 citations
References
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Book•
01 Sep 2013
TL;DR: The most remarkable contrast in the political map of modern Europe is that presented by the vast area of Russia occupying half the Continent and the group of smaller territories tenanted by the Western Powers as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The most remarkable contrast in the political map of modern Europe is that presented by the vast area of Russia occupying half the Continent and the group of smaller territories tenanted by the Western Powers. The one and continuous ocean enveloping the divided and insular lands is, of course, the geographical condition of ultimate unity in the command of the sea, and of the whole theory of modern naval strategy and policy as expounded by such writers as Captain Mahan and Mr. Spenser Wilkinson. Outside the pivot area, in a great inner crescent, are Germany, Austria, Turkey, India, and China, and in an outer crescent, Britain, South Africa, Australia, the United States, Canada, and Japan. The oversetting of the balance of power in favour of the pivot state, resulting in its expansion over the marginal lands of Euro-Asia, would permit of the use of vast continental resources for fleet-building, and the empire of the world would then be in sight.
888 citations
"Drivers of China’s Regional Infrast..." refers background in this paper
...Here one takes spatial characteristics of resources (such as oil) and other geographical conditions into account but still operates within a state-centric, realist perspective in which all states seek to maximise their relative power (see Mackinder 1904; Brzezinski 1997)....
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Book•
01 Jan 1997
TL;DR: In this article, a new type of superpower politics has been proposed: the emergence of a New Type of Superpower Politics (New Superpower) in the Eurasian chessboard and the Democratic Bridgehead.
Abstract: * Introduction: Superpower Politics * Hegemony of a New Type * The Eurasian Chessboard * The Democratic Bridgehead * The Black Hole * The Eurasian Balkans * The Far Eastern Anchor * Conclusion
749 citations
"Drivers of China’s Regional Infrast..." refers background in this paper
...Here one takes spatial characteristics of resources (such as oil) and other geographical conditions into account but still operates within a state-centric, realist perspective in which all states seek to maximise their relative power (see Mackinder 1904; Brzezinski 1997)....
[...]
TL;DR: In the early 2000s, a more differentiated typology of governance structures was introduced, which focused on new types of coordination in global value chains (GVCs).
Abstract: Contemporary globalization has been marked by significant shifts in the organization and governance of global industries. In the 1970s and 1980s, one such shift was characterized by the emergence of buyer-driven and producer-driven commodity chains. In the early 2000s, a more differentiated typology of governance structures was introduced, which focused on new types of coordination in global value chains (GVCs). Today the organization of the global economy is entering another phase, with transformations that are reshaping the governance structures of both GVCs and global capitalism at various levels: (1) the end of the Washington Consensus and the rise of contending centers of economic and political power; (2) a combination of geographic consolidation and value chain concentration in the global supply base, which, in some cases, is shifting bargaining power from lead firms in GVCs to large suppliers in developing economies; (3) new patterns of strategic coordination among value chain actors; (4) a...
682 citations
"Drivers of China’s Regional Infrast..." refers background in this paper
...Thus, global value chain scholars argue that there is an ongoing transformation of China from being a production hub in global buyer-driven chains to becoming an emergent end-market fuelling regional value chains (Gereffi 2014)....
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672 citations
TL;DR: For example, the one belt, one road (one-one-road) initiative as discussed by the authors aims to expand land and maritime transport links between China and Europe, and if successful, it will transform economic relations across large parts of Eurasia.
Abstract: China's domestic politics and foreign policy have evolved considerably under President Xi Jinping. Domestically the regime has actively promoted the idea of the ‘China dream’ to restore optimism and enthusiasm about its future, particularly among young people. Yet it has also sought to differentiate the socialist China dream from any resemblance to the American dream. Its main emphasis is on making China ‘strong and powerful’ again. In foreign policy, the leadership has become more active. While China has pursued a more robust policy in the South China Sea, it has also launched two extremely ambitious long-term projects to expand land and maritime transport links between China and Europe, termed the ‘one belt, one road’ initiative. They aim to promote development of western China, but if successful, they should also help to transform economic relations across large parts of Eurasia. In geopolitical terms, they will expand China's shadow over regions of the world where hitherto its presence has been relatively modest. They should strengthen links with Europe, as well as with other countries along the routes, to counterbalance potentially conflictual relations with the US. However, success will require active and enthusiastic cooperation from many neighbours. For that reason the risks are as great as the ambition.
391 citations
"Drivers of China’s Regional Infrast..." refers background in this paper
...Third, the BRI is a different template of regional order (Ferdinand 2016, 946–948)....
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