RSA Policy Expo 2018: China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Better Policies for Alleviating Risks and Enhancing Opportunities
Regional Studies Policy Impact Books, Volume 2, Issue 2 (2020)
Organisers:
- Xiangming Chen, Trinity College, USA
- Xue Li, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Julie Tian Miao, University of Melbourne, Australia
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), launched by China in 2013, carries and projects powerful regional dimensions and transformations, with short- and long-term global, national and local consequences. The BRI’s regional significance lies in its designation and creation of several cross-border corridors that originate from inside China and extend out into its neighbouring countries, and those farther afield in Asia, Africa and Europe. Through driving and facilitating new trade and infrastructure connections along and beyond these corridors, the BRI has begun to reshape the master processes of globalisation, urbanisation and development by affecting the economic, social and spatial fortunes of many countries and cities.
This book serves two purposes. First, through a new framework and three case studies, it examines the BRI’s impacts on globalisation, urbanisation and development via the China-Europe Freight Train, the paired construction of a new city and railway across the China-Laos borderland and the port-park-city development corridor between Djibouti and Ethiopia. Second, the comparative analysis and evidence guide the book to advance policy recommendations for targeted stakeholders that can potentially turn the BRI into a global public good with greater benefits and fewer risks.
About the book The Belt and Road Initiative as epochal regionalisation –
“The global pandemic of COVID-19 has triggered such significant questions as ‘where globalisation is headed and who will lead the next stage of globalisation’. Through skilfully executed case studies of China’s growing nexuses with Europe, Asia and Africa, The Belt and Road Initiative as epochal regionalisation offers a timely look into how the BRI is reshaping globalisation, urbanisation and development via new cross-regional logistics connectivity, infrastructure-led city-building and special zone-induced industrialisation from China’s borderlands to far-flung places. The comparative analysis guides the book to propose policy recommendations for all stakeholders interested in promoting more inclusive globalisation, balanced urbanisation and sustainable development.” – Zhigao Liu, Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences
“This book provides important fresh insights into the implications of China’s Belt and Road Initiative for the master processes of globalisation, urbanisation and development amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The Initiative’s regional impact is illustrated by critical case studies of the China-Europe Freight Train, the new town development in Borten on the China-Laotian border and port-rail developments in Ethiopia-Djibouti. Then significant lessons pertaining to connectivity, infrastructure and sustainability are drawn from these case studies to gauge the full effects of China’s policy-making.” – Emeritus Professor Peter J. Rimmer AM, School of Culture, History and Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacifi c, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
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View the webinar recording featuring the RSA-sponsored Policy Expo book The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as Epochal Regionalisation:
- Speaker: Xiangming Chen, Trinity College, USA
- Discussant: Vanessa T. Tang, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- Chair: Tyanai Masiya, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Read the Open Access article here – Julie T. Miao (2021) Understanding the soft power of China’s Belt and Road Initiative through a discourse analysis in Europe, Regional Studies, Regional Science, 8:1, 162-177.
Read about this research in our e-Zine Regions: https://regions.regionalstudies.org/ezine/article/china-led-globalization-understanding-and-making-policy-for-risk-in-chinas-belt-and-road-initiative/