Feature Articles
Author: Andrew M. McGreevy
Keywords: China, China and Inner Asia, Economics, International Relations, Political Science
How to Cite: M. McGreevy, A. (2018) “Will China Lead the World by Land and Sea? The Belt and Road Initiative”, Education About Asia. 23(3). doi: https://doi.org/10.65959/eaa.1538
To know about Asia, we must be prepared for the question of world leadership by the People’s Republic of China. President Xi Jinping has been identified as the world’s most powerful man, and the US and Chinese economies have the world’s largest GDPs.1 China is first in world shipbuilding, and troubling military questions about the ability of China to challenge the United States Navy in the Pacific Ocean are present. In several business, industrial, communications,scientific, technical, computing, transportation, and educational fields, China is known as a leading or rising nation. Artificial intelligence,hyperloop transportation, and hypersonic missiles are included in recent developments. Xi is using history to explain celebrations to mark the progress of China toward regional, international, and global leadership. Also, because of the Belt and Road Initiative, the question of the future role of China should be seen as involving thousands of miles of new transportation routes, billions of people, much of global trade, and many of the world’s nations. There is no doubt that the question of world leadership by China is now before us. The Belt and Road Initiative: Land and Sea The Belt and Road Initiative: Land and Sea In 2013, Xi announced the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Twenty-First Century Maritime Silk Road projects, popularly known as the New Silk Roads or One Belt, One Road Initiative and now translated in official Chinese sources as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).2 The term “Silk Road(s)” invoked the ancient past of Chinese trade and travels to the west by land and sea. As explained in the Chinese government’s March 2015 BRI Action Plan:More than two millennia ago, the diligent and courageous people of Eurasia explored and opened up several routes of trade and cultural exchanges that linked the major civilizations of Asia, Europe, and Africa, collectively called the Silk Road by later generations.3Silk and other valuable goods were traded from China to Europe, and the Chinese certainly sailed to the east coast of Africa and the Middle East. Thus, again, Xi is teaching a history lesson. However, given the enormous geographical magnitude of the BRI, consider the new roads, highways, railroad lines, pipelines, and cities that will potentially be required for the development of infrastructure on land in the future for these massive projects. Via the seas, commerce will be advanced with improved ports, harbors, and infrastructure for more shipping that increases the use of sea routes. Thus, on land and sea, economic growth of untold billions of dollars is the goal for China and nations along the routes. New airline routes are to be added. China stands ready to finance these projects and offers its expertise in construction work to participating nations. A Digital Information Silk Road is to be built. China also envisions many types of people-to-people programs, such as educational and cultural centers already started in Egypt, Jordan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Turkey.
While the scope of the project may appear to be a fantasy, the BRI already involves many nations globally with functioning railroad lines and sea routes.
The serious issues related to global health are addressed with concepts such as information exchanges on epidemics, health technologies, and the training of healthcare professionals. Emergency medical aid is promised. For all these issues, the use of related science and technologies is featured. Similarly, the internet is mentioned as a tool to be used to deal with problems in education and healthcare, and in areas such as fighting poverty and protecting ecological resources. China is stressing the use of technology in dealing with all areas of human concerns. Thus, China is offering assistance and education to participating nations in Asia, Europe, and Africa, with a lot of attention to Southeast Asia. The Action Plan also contains an interesting feature titled “Contact the Premier,” currently Li Kegiang, who administers the many departments and offices of the government of China. This feature invites questions by email to the Premier of China and the English-language website of the government. The Premier of China is not expected to personally answer all these messages, but the messages are to be answered by representatives of the various departments. This could be a very creative learning tool for teachers and students. For example, this feature presents answers to questions relating to student internships, driver’s licenses, marriages to foreigners, working in China, and medications. The Action Plan and other online resources give us information on how China wants to be seen in announcing the creation of the Belt and Road Initiative. The Vision for the Maritime Silk Road In 2015, China went further to explain the concepts of expansion with The Vision and Actions on Jointly Building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Twenty-First Century Maritime Silk Road.6 This document is known as The Vision and is organized in five parts focused on the seas: “Background,” “Principles”; “Framework”; “Cooperative Priorities—Green Development, Ocean-Based Prosperity, Maritime Security, Innovative Growth, Collaborative Governance”; and “China in Action.” The Vision came forth under the aegis of the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Oceanic Administration. The Vision takes us into an interesting and unique vocabulary, and plans for specific maritime and geographic regions include the far north—the Arctic. With The Vision, China is offering a bold plan to go to sea. Using terms such as “Blue Partnership” and “Blue Economic Passage,” The Vision invokes “blue” to describe a vast new system of economic and cultural ties based on the use of ships and the seas. To support this effort, China has become the world leader in shipbuilding. The idea of a Blue Partnership was tied to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development along sea coasts. The Vision describes a system starting with the coast of China that will eventually become a China–Indian Ocean–Africa– Mediterranean Sea Blue Economic Passage. This system will include the China–Indo China Peninsula Economic Corridor. It will also extend to the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean to link with the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor and to the Bangladesh–China–India– Myanmar Economic Corridor. The final stage will include Oceania and the South Pacific, the Pacific Ocean, and eventually Europe from the Arctic Ocean. These plans are detailed; they start with China and go out to the Pacific Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Europe will be reached from two directions. Describing the seas as a huge ecosystem, The Vision also includes a section titled “Green Development,” which is devoted to ocean ecological preservation. Looking into the future, “Green Development” is described in terms of saving marine ecology and providing a wide variety of marine ecological safeguards. Ecosystems and biodiversity are to be combined with the saving of endangered life forms through ecological corridors involving islands and coastal regions. There is no mention of the Chinese military or military forces of other nations present because of the controversy over ownership of islands in the South China Sea. The Vision document only indicates that international cooperation will function under the existing China–ASEAN Environment Cooperation Strategy and a projected Plan of Green Silk Road Envoys. Climate change is specifically addressed, with ideas to deal with carbon reduction through a Twenty-First-Century Maritime Silk Road Blue Carbon Program. Maritime economic development is detailed in a section titled “Ocean- Based Prosperity,” which begins with the goal of ending poverty along the ocean routes. Tourism is included in the economic theme, but the emphasis is upon the building of shipping services and international and regional shipping facilities, especially new ports. This important and ambitious subject is also linked to the addition of new information infrastructure networks. Thus, new and advanced technology is woven into all the BRI projects.The serious issues related to global health are addressed with concepts such as information exchanges on epidemics, health technologies, and the training of healthcare professionals.
