China’s Belt and Road Initiative

Since the introduction of the One Belt, One Road initiative (OBOR), first proposed in late 2013, international scholars have begun to study this new policy and its implications in the global age. While OBOR provides new opportunities for China in terms of regional cooperation and global development, many also raise concerns about China's intentions of using economic means to achieve strategic and foreign policy objectives. Hailing from the West and the East, the authors reflect on the wide-ranging impacts of OBOR on specific countries, regions, economic policies, and geopolitical considerations. Including both theoretical research and empirical studies that explore opportunities and challenges related to OBOR, this edited volume will allow readers to gain a more comprehensive understanding of this ambitious undertaking and its long-term impact on the rest of the world.

1. Introduction; Ilan Alon, Wenxian Zhang and Christoph Lattemann.- Part I. Contextual Overview of the Belt & Road Initiative.- 2.   China and the 21st Century Silk Roads: A New Era of Global Economic Leadership?; Francis Schortgen.- 3. The Global Strategic Environment of BRI: Deep Interdependence and Structural Power; Thomas D. Lairson.- 4.   One Belt, One Road, One World: Where Is the US Business Connectivity?; Xiaohua Yang, Don Lewis, Steve Roddy, and Diana Moise.- Part II. Regional and Geopolitical Perspectives.- 5. Free-Trade Agreements as the BRI Steppingstone for Multilateralism: Is the Sino-Swiss FTA the Gold Standard?; Tomas Casas Klett and Serrano Oswald.- 6.   Belt, Road, and Circle: The Arctic and Northern Europe in China’s Belt and Road Initiative; Camilla T. N. Sørensen.- 7. China’s Strategy toward Central and Eastern Europe within the Framework of the Group 16+1: The Case of Poland; Jędrzej Górski.- 8. The Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on Central Asia: Building New Relations in a Reshaped Geopolitical Scenario; Fabio Indeo.- 9. Live and Let Live: Africa’s Response Options to China’s BRI; Emmanuel Kodzi.- 10.  Small State, Smart Influence: China’s Belt and Road extended to New Zealand; Jake Lin.- Part III. International Trade, Foreign Direct Investment and BRI.- 11.  Teh Overall Development of the Belt and Road Countries: Measurement, Ranking and Assessment; Biliang Hu, Qingzhong Pan and Shuyu Wu.- 12. Effects of the Trade Facilitation Measures on Trade between China and Countries along the Belt and Road Initiative; Juan Zhang and Wuzhou Hong.- 13.   How the Belt and Road Initiative Affects China’s Outward FDI: Comparing Chinese Independent Firms and Business Group Affiliates; Ping Lv, Chenxi Guo and Xuchang Chen.- 14. Competitive Advantages of China’s Agricultural Exports inTerms of the Outward-Looking Belt & Road Initiative; Vasilii Erokhin and Gao Tianming.- Part IV. Financial, Legal and Cultural Perspectives of BRI.- 15.     The Role of China’s Sovereign Wealth Funds in President Xi Jinping’s Ambitious Belt and Road Initiative; Stephen Thomas and Ji Chen.- 16.    The Changing Rules of International Dispute Resolution in China’s Belt and Road Initiative; Jingzhou Tao and Mariana Zhong.- 17.   Globalization 5.0 Led by China: Powered by Positive Frames for BRI; May Hongmei Gao.- 18. Final Reflections; Christoph Lattemann, Ilan Alon and Wenxian Zhang.