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| 1 |
ID:
171036
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article sheds light on the factors shaping China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI) in small states through a study of Djibouti and the MSRI. It also analyses the establishment of China’s first overseas military base and thus evaluates the military-security implications of Chinese MSRI ports. Among other things, it shows that we need to conceive the locational value of MSRI participants more richly, that the existence of an authoritarian partner has advantages for China, but does not necessarily drive MSRI activities, and that small MSRI states have agency vis-à-vis China. It suggests, too, there is a template of Chinese port development and that it should not be assumed that China is intentionally wielding the ‘debt trap’ to gain equity.
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| 2 |
ID:
139594
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| Summary/Abstract |
In recent years, the Chinese leadership has increasingly turned its attention towards the maritime domain. This article discusses Beijing's latest attempts to secure China's maritime energy supply chain across the Indian Ocean region and the South China Sea through which the majority of its seaborne energy imports transit. As China increasingly relies on the seaborne energy trade, Beijing has come to attach more importance to the security of the sea lines of communication (SLOCs) and has a growing strategic interest in ensuring unimpeded access in these two areas. In this paper, the author discusses Beijing's efforts in the context of China's maritime power aspirations, particularly the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative which is promoted by the current Chinese President, Xi Jinping. The author argues that Beijing's latest maritime agenda will be hampered by the strategic distrust and political risks China faces in the Asian region.
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| 3 |
ID:
171035
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China’s involvement with the Gulf monarchies has been built upon an economic foundation. With the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI) this has expanded, as the Gulf monarchies see cooperation with China through MSRI projects as a means of advancing economic development programs necessary to move beyond single-resource rentier economies and relationships with external powers as a means of ensuring their security in an unstable region. This has important implications for the shape of the MSRI as a whole, and how it fits together with the larger BRI. China’s BRI/MSRI success with participating states will be a matter of matching their specific domestic needs and strategic considerations with Chinese perceptions of the relative importance of those states.
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| 4 |
ID:
153515
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| Summary/Abstract |
China’s “One Belt, One Road” project is comprised of two components: the Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI) and the Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB)—that were announced separately in 2013. Each component has the potential to transform the global geopolitical landscape through the construction of interrelated infrastructure projects including ports, highways, railways and pipelines. Such hard infrastructure requires the complementary construction of soft infrastructure, such as free trade and investment agreements, and other accords. We introduce a special section focusing specifically on the geopolitics of the MSRI that stems from a workshop hosted in November 2015 in Shanghai. The origins, scope and content of the MSRI are described, along with a summary of the current literature discussing the project, and dominant geopolitical representations. The MSRI is a geopolitical project that involves a number of actors (governments, private companies and Chinese state-owned enterprises) at a number of geographic scales (cities, provinces, states and continents). Arrghi’s twin logics of territorial and economic power help frame and connect the papers of the special section to illustrate the complexity and dynamism of the geopolitics of the MSRI. The articles provide insights into the geopolitics of a large connectivity project.
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| 5 |
ID:
189941
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The Bagamoyo Port Project (BPP) was meant to have set in motion the development of East Africa’s largest port. Yet, with the advent of former President John P. Magufuli to power in October 2015, the BPP has led a chequered existence. This article explores the dynamics behind the stalled talks over the BPP by emphasising Magufuli’s penchant for developmentalism, nationalism and authoritarianism ultimately as a political strategy designed to mask his vulnerable electoral standing within the party and with the electorate. The renegotiations over the BPP served as an ideal opportunity in this regard to shore up his base.
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| 6 |
ID:
158655
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article argues that the origins and theoretical underpinnings of Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative can actually be traced back to the mid-1980s, that is, almost three decades before the official media unveiled the Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI). It examines the changing role of Myanmar in China’s grand strategy in general and in MSRI in particular by undertaking an investigation of trade and investment relations. This analysis of the geo-economic and geo-strategic implications of MSRI is undertaken in order to offer a prognosis of benefits and costs for Myanmar. Both the extent and the limits of MSRI are illustrated in Myanmar. It ends with a discussion of possible roadblocks, detours, cracks and fault lines along the Maritime Silk Road.
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| 7 |
ID:
171034
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The raging debate about China’s mega Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI) falls into two extreme camps, those that forecast earthshattering effects and those, focused on the MSRI’s numerous contemporary challenges, that see China’s scheme as stagnating or failing. This study plunges into the debate by conducting a macro- and micro-level analysis of the MSRI. The macro-level analysis indicates that the MSRI is not having transformative economic effects. Neither does it show that the MSRI is significantly stalling or collapsing. The microlevel analysis, which focuses on Africa and the Middle East, demonstrates that the MSRI is being embraced and realized in different degrees and highlights reasons for this variation. The article further summarizes and distills various insights flowing from the other pieces in this special issue.
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| 8 |
ID:
171037
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| Summary/Abstract |
The diverse geographical areas involved in the Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI) possess different economic, political and social systems that create major challenges for Chinese companies. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) offers one potential risk mitigation strategy to sustain the MSRI’s expansion, and relatedly Chinese investment, in places like Africa. As the research shows, though, CSR, as embraced by Chinese firms, has been specifically adapted to fit the Chinese context. Thus, they not only face obstacles in implementing CSR, but localizing Chinese CSR. Their success in surmounting such hurdles will impact the developmental outcomes of Chinese MSRI projects and subsequently African acceptance of these projects. This article concludes CSR remains an effective mechanism for empowering positive change and improving the livelihood and security of affected stakeholders.
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