ABSTRACT

Rising as a global power and regarding the existing world order unjust and unreasonable enough to meet the interests of both itself and other emerging powers, China has demanded reform to global governance, and taken new initiatives using its new quotient of wealth and influence to draw countries into its orbit. This comprehensive volume focuses on the two most important of these initiatives: the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched in 2013 to strengthen China’s connectivity with a large part of the world through infrastructure and economic development; and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), created in 2015, which represented China’s effort in the reconstruction of the international development rules. This book explores how these two initiatives are central to China’s emerging global strategy.

The authors examine China’s geopolitical and geo-economic motivations and domestic political dynamics in launching these two initiatives. They also investigate the responses from the major foreign partners involved in both initiatives. This book will be of great interest to students, academics and researchers of China’s emerging global strategy. It comprises articles originally published in the Journal of Contemporary China.

chapter |2 pages

Introduction – The BRI and AIIB as China's New Global Strategy

Motivations, Domestic Politics and International Responses

chapter 2|17 pages

The One Belt One Road and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Beijing's New Strategy of Geoeconomics and Geopolitics

chapter 3|15 pages

Beyond Balancing

China's approach towards the Belt and Road Initiative

chapter 5|16 pages

Strategic Reassurance in Institutional Contests

Explaining China's Creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

chapter 6|17 pages

China's Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative

Network and Influence Formation in Central Asia

chapter 10|16 pages

The Political Economy of a Rising China in Southeast Asia

Malaysia's Response to the Belt and Road Initiative

chapter 12|15 pages

Deconstructing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

Pipe Dreams Versus Geopolitical Realities