Research Handbook on the Belt and Road Initiative

‘The book offers a timely series of studies on the BRI edited by three Singapore-based political scientists. The collection presents a solid read for students, scholars, policymakers, and other professionals interested in recent developments concerning the BRI. Practically, the editors aim to raise the Chinese government’s attention to the significance of adapting to multilateralism, which China has claimed it supports. Theoretically, through the lens of the BRI, the book explores the implications of a rising China on global governance across diverse fields. Finally, and specifically for geographers, the book should inspire greater exploration into the spatiality of BRI projects.’
– Xiaofeng Liu, Eurasian Geography and Economics

‘In this Research Handbook, the researchers shed an analytical light on both the thematic and functional aspects of the BRI through exhaustive interdisciplinary quantitative and qualitative analysis. Meanwhile, the diverse nationalities represented among the contributors also enable the book to look at the BRI from the perspective of both China and host countries, highlighting the strong repercussions in policymaking among the states along the route as well as the impact on both domestic and international spheres.’
– Huiyao Wang, Founder and President of the Center for China and Globalization (CCG)

Contributors: Ana Cristina D. Alves, Alessandro Arduino, Chulanee Attanayake, Jens Bastian, Linda Calabrese, Alvin Camba, Clayton T. Cheney, Vannarith Chheang, Jerik Cruz, Bhavna Dave, James M. Dorsey, Gabriele Giovannini, Baogang He, Pheakdey Heng, Khuram Iqbal, Alica Kizeková, Ekaterina Koldunova, Tuan Yuen Kong, Marc Lanteigne, Mingjiang Li, Guanie Lim, Hong Liu, Joseph Chinyong Liow, Dylan M.H. Loh, Janica Magat, Jing Men, John N. Miksic, Galen Murton, Chow-Bing Ngeow, Jagannath Panda, Patrycja Pendrakowska, Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit, Nadine Plachta, Orrasa Rattana-amornpirom, Yuanzhe Ren, Zhimin Tang, Farkhod Tolipov, Sarah Y. Tong, Angela Tritto, Yau Tsz Yan, Shang-su Wu, Gong Xue, Lixia Yao, Denghua Zhang, Hongzhou Zhang

Contents:

Preface and acknowledgements xix
Introduction to the Research Handbook on the Belt and Road Initiative xx
Joseph Chinyong Liow, Hong Liu and Gong Xue

PART I CONCEPTUAL AND THEMATIC ISSUES
1 China and the Maritime Silk Road: from passive to active participant 2
John N. Miksic
2 The domestic politics of the Belt and Road Initiative and its implications 14
Baogang He
3 China’s railway diplomacy under the Belt and Road Initiative 28
Shang-su Wu
4 The Belt and Road Initiative’s evolving security dimension 43
Alessandro Arduino
5 Looking into energy security through the lens of the Belt and Road
Initiative: can China achieve a more secure energy future? 54
Lixia Yao
6 China’s global quest for food and the Belt and Road Initiative 65
Hongzhou Zhang
7 BRI and global development praxis: is a paradigm shift eminent? 76
Ana Cristina D. Alves
8 The Digital Silk Road: understanding China’s technological rise and the
implications for global governance 88
Clayton T. Cheney
9 The strategic rationale of China’s Belt and Road Initiative 102
Joseph Chinyong Liow
10 The Belt and Road Initiative as a diplomatic discourse 114
Dylan M.H. Loh

PART II THE MARITIME DOMAIN
11 Soaring Garuda meets rising dragon: the political economy of the Belt
and Road Initiative in Indonesia 123
Guanie Lim and Hong Liu
12 Explaining the Belt and Road in the Philippines: elite consolidation,
construction contracts, and online gambling capital 137
Alvin Camba, Jerik Cruz, Janica Magat and Angela Tritto
13 Malaysia and the Belt and Road Initiative: maritime, rail, and digital
connectivity 150
Chow-Bing Ngeow
14 China’s first cross-border high-speed railway project and Laos’s
relational power 161
Gabriele Giovannini
15 Cambodian perspective on the Belt and Road Initiative 175
Vannarith Chheang and Pheakdey Heng
16 Belt and Road Initiative in Myanmar: adapting to the slippery road 190
Gong Xue
17 The BRI in the new normal of COVID-19: the case of Thailand 202
Zhimin Tang and Orrasa Rattana-amornpirom
18 Singapore in China’s Belt and Road Initiative 214
Sarah Y. Tong and Tuan Yuen Kong
19 Pakistan and the BRI: is there a shift from euphoria to pragmatism? 227
Khuram Iqbal
20 China, Sri Lanka and the BRI 239
Chulanee Attanayake and Yuanzhe Ren

PART III THE OVERLAND BELT
21 China’s Belt and Road in the Pacific: implementation, motives and prospects 253
Denghua Zhang
22 Russia and the overland Belt and Road 264
Ekaterina Koldunova
23 Poland’s relation to the Belt and Road Initiative: political, economic,
infrastructural, and socio-cultural dimensions 274
Patrycja Pendrakowska
24 BRI in Kazakhstan: pursuing economic partnership amidst rising concerns 286
Bhavna Dave
25 Uzbekistan and Central Asia in space–time coordinates of the modern
Silk Road 299
Farkhod Tolipov
26 Tajikistan: China’s security gatekeeper in Central Asia 311
Yau Tsz Yan
27 China’s engagements with Central and Eastern Europe: costs and
benefits in the era of the Belt and Road Initiative 322
Alica Kizeková
28 China in Nepal: on the politics of the Belt and Road Initiative
development in South Asia 331
Galen Murton and Nadine Plachta
29 Southeast Europe in current Chinese foreign economic policy 341
Jens Bastian

PART IV THE OVERLAND BELT
30 The BRI in Africa: change or continuity in China–Africa relations? 353
Linda Calabrese
31 China and the Middle East: venturing into the maelstrom 368
James M. Dorsey
32 Western Europe in the BRI 378
Jing Men
33 The Indo-Pacific as pushback against the BRI 390
Kaewkamol Pitakdumrongkit
34 ‘Not being absent’: China’s Polar Silk Road and the politics of identity 402
Marc Lanteigne
35 The BRI: fuelling strategic rivalry between China and the United States 414
Mingjiang Li
36 India, BRI and the emerging post-Galwan China outlook 424
Jagannath Panda
37 Conclusion: BRI, COVID-19 and the future 437
Joseph Chinyong Liow, Hong Liu and Gong Xue

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