China’s Belt and Road Vision: Geoeconomics and Geopolitics

Acknowledgements
Structure and Organisation
	References
Contents
Abbreviations
1 Introduction
	1.1 Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative
	1.2 The Initiative Triggers a Polarising Discourse
	1.3 A Schizophrenic Response to China’s ‘National Rejuvenation’
	References
2 Fear Factor: Strategists Versus Bankers
	2.1 Xi Jinping’s ‘New Silk Road’
	2.2 Belt and Road Initiative’s Basic Design
	2.3 Conflicting Perspectives
		2.3.1 China-Rooted Angst
		2.3.2 A Darkening Landscape
		2.3.3 Warriors to the Fore
		2.3.4 The Butter Versus Guns Argument
	2.4 The Bankers’ View
		2.4.1 The Asian Development Bank Perspective
		2.4.2 The United Nations Vision
	2.5 Belt and Road Initiative’s Adversarial Strategic Backdrop
		2.5.1 Beltway–Zhongnanhai Dialectics
		2.5.2 Polarisation Cemented
		2.5.3 Belt and Road Initiative’s Hostile Landscape
	References
3 China’s Belt and Road: An Evolving Network
	3.1 A ‘New Silk Road’ Emerges
	3.2 The Silk Road Economic Belt’s Accretive Evolution
	3.3 Eurasia’s Post-Soviet Coalescence
	3.4 The ‘Shanghai Spirit’ Paradigm
	3.5 Beijing’s Regional Developmental Drivers
	3.6 In the Great Recession’s Wake
	3.7 Xi Jinping’s ‘New Era’ of Reform and Opening-up
	3.8 The Silk Road Economic Belt’s Longitudinal Spurs
		3.8.1 The Lancang–Mekong Economic Corridor
		3.8.2 The Bangladesh–China–India–Myanmar Economic Corridor
		3.8.3 The Balkan Silk Road
	References
4 East Meets West: BRI’s Eclectic Origins
	4.1 The New Silk Road’s United Nations-Driven Germination
	4.2 US Visionaries Imagine a New Silk Road
	4.3 Brussels Builds a Trans-Eurasian ‘Land-bridge’
	4.4 Multinationals Revive the Silk Road
	4.5 The World Bank Pushes China’s Global Integration
	4.6 Japan and the US Proclaim New Silk Road Visions
		4.6.1 Tokyo Thinks up the New Silk Road
		4.6.2 Washington’s New Silk Road Proposal
		4.6.3 The US’ Lower Mekong Initiative
	References
5 Case Study 1: The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor
	5.1 China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a Belt and Road ‘Flagship’
	5.2 China–Pakistan Economic Corridor Deepens Threat Perceptions
		5.2.1 India’s Critique of the Corridor
		5.2.2 Western Anxiety
	5.3 China–Pakistan Economic Corridor’s ‘Long-Term Plan’
		5.3.1 Connectivity
		5.3.2 Energy
		5.3.3 Trade and Industry
		5.3.4 Agricultural Development and Poverty Alleviation
		5.3.5 Tourism
		5.3.6 People’s Livelihood and Non-governmental Exchanges
		5.3.7 Financial Cooperation
	5.4 The Corridor’s Investment and Financing Mechanisms
	5.5 The Corridor’s Projects in Pakistan
		5.5.1 Energy Projects
		5.5.2 Major Infrastructure Projects
		5.5.3 Mass-Transit Rail Projects
		5.5.4 Special Economic Zones
		5.5.5 Social Sector Development Projects
		5.5.6 Other Major Projects
	5.6 The Corridor’s Early Harvest Projects
		5.6.1 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province
		5.6.2 Punjab Province
		5.6.3 Sindh Province
		5.6.4 Balochistan Province
		5.6.5 Additional ‘New Projects’
	5.7 The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s Terminal Challenges
		5.7.1 The Corridor’s Karakoram Highway-Rooted Beginnings
		5.7.2 Gwadar’s Evolutionary Emergence
		5.7.3 Gwadar’s Chinese-Funded Projects
	5.8 The USA’s Corridor Critique
	5.9 China-Pakistan Economic Corridor’s Geopolitical Ecology
		5.9.1 The Corridor’s Multi-layered Implications
		5.9.2 Preliminary Questions
		5.9.3 First-Order Analytical Issues
		5.9.4 Second-Order Analytical Issues
		5.9.5 Third-Order Analytical Issues
		5.9.6 Fourth-Order Analytical Issues
	5.10 The Corridor’s Insecurity Challenges
	References
6 Case Study 2: The Twenty-First Century Maritime Silk Road
	6.1 Maritime Silk Road Deepens Anxiety
	6.2 Naval Dynamics
		6.2.1 Djibouti Base Jitters
		6.2.2 Commercial Rationales and Strategic Mistrust
		6.2.3 Duqm Dramatics
	6.3 Clashing Perspectives, Purposes and Narratives
		6.3.1 The Chinese Framework
		6.3.2 Maritime History as a Mirror
		6.3.3 Hambantota Histrionics
		6.3.4 Maldives Malarkey
		6.3.5 Maritime Silk Road’s Malaysian Misadventure
	6.4 The Quad’s ‘Free and Open’ Countermoves
		6.4.1 Geoeconomics Reinforce Geopolitics
		6.4.2 A Quadrilateral Maritime Focus
		6.4.3 Quad-China Competition in Bangladesh
		6.4.4 The Indian Ocean Region’s Big Guns
	6.5 Maritime Silk Road’s Insecure Origins
	References
7 Conclusion
	7.1 The Belt and Road Initiative’s Volatile Strategic Backdrop
		7.1.1 Economic Outcomes
		7.1.2 The Geopolitics of Geoeconomics
		7.1.3 Dialogue de Sourds
	7.2 Empiricism’s Rational Sobriety
		7.2.1 The Continuity and Disruptions Marking Xi’s China
		7.2.2 Beijing’s Insecurity Angst
		7.2.3 Belt-and-Road’s Dialectic Dynamics
	7.3 Concluding Observations
		7.3.1 Displacement Anxiety and Terminal Fears
		7.3.2 The Belt and Road Initiative in the Systemic Context
		7.3.3 The Outlook
	References
Index