This essay contributes to the broader academic field aiming to understand China's foreign policy objectives. It highlights the BRI as a manifestation of certain Tianxia ideas and challenges existing assumptions in the IR field. It explores discourse on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) within global governance, focusing on the possible traceability of ideas of Tianxia in Chinese president Xi Jinping’s discourse to international audiences. Drawing on Zhao Tingyang's modernised version of Tianxia, the essay asks how the BRI is positioned and if ideas of Tianxia are traceable, if so, how? The questions are explored through qualitative content analysis of fourteen speeches from international forums and other public gatherings. Moving beyond mainstream IR theories, the essay departs from the small pool of research treating Tianxia as a framework to understand foreign policy. Findings suggest the BRI is positioned under the broad themes: Beneficial partnerships, Peaceful rise, Harmony, and Coexistence, and aligns with Zhao’s version of Tianxia. The essay argues that promotion of global institutions, mutual benefit, and inclusive governance in particular reflect Tianxia. The concept ‘true multilateralism’ emerges as a key phrase encapsulating modern Tianxia ideals in Xi’s discourse warranting more exploration in future BRI scholarship.

China has gone through a phase of rapid economic development in the last four decades. The country is the world’s biggest economy, measured in GDP purchasing power parity terms, and the largest trading nation in terms of the total sum of exports and imports of merchandise trade. With the launch of the century’s largest infrastructure project – the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – by Xi Jinping in 2013, China is planning to revive the Ancient Silk Roads in order to gain geopolitical power beyond Asia. Thus far, huge flows of FDI have already made their way from China to countries along the Belt and Road, especially the ones in need of additional infrastructure provision. In this paper, the effect of Chinese outward FDI on economic growth in the BRI economies through infrastructure development is examined, thereby conducting a cross-country analysis with panel data for 34 and 27 countries, respectively, over the period 2005–2017. The direct effect of Chinese FDI on economic growth in BRI countries is ambiguous, supporting previous literature on FDI and economic growth. When adding infrastructure indicators to the regressions and accounting for the endogeneity problem, the effect of Chinese FDI on economic growth changes but remains insignificant, nevertheless. This is most likely due to the reduced sample sizes, on the one hand, and the fact that Chinese construction contracts play a bigger role than actual FDI in the BRI.

一帶一路倡議是中國第五代領導人的政策之一，應該被視為整體戰略的一部分。為了評估一帶一路倡議的實際目的與風險，研究中國地緣政治與社會經濟局勢、前幾代中國領導人的政策（如西部大開發）、現任第五代領導人的政策（如中國夢與四個全面）。雖然並非與其它相關的分析相互排斥，結論指出一帶一路與第五代領導人其它政策具有協同效應、同時面對相對的急迫性，是中國第五代領導人經濟改革、輸出國營企業生產能力過剩、減輕資產泡沫破裂風險的工具之一。 / The Belt and Road Initiative is one corner of the Chinese fifth-generation leadership’s policymaking under the Xi Jinping administration, and should be understood as part of a cohesive whole. This study assesses the BRI, its actual goals, and its risks when analyzed alongside China’s geostrategic and socioeconomic positions, similar policies from previous generations of Chinese leadership such as the Western Development Strategy, and existing concurrent policies from the fifth-generation Chinese leadership such as the Chinese Dream and the Four Comprehensives. While not mutually exclusive with other explanations proposed for the BRI, this study suggests that due to its synergy with existing policies and its exceptional urgency, the fifth-generation leadership primarily uses the BRI as one tool amongst many to accommodate its economic reform, to export the production overcapacity of state-owned enterprises, and to mitigate any risks of an asset bubble collapse.

一帶一路倡議是中國最近的經濟發展策略，其目的是透過基礎設施發展和貿易，將中國與歐亞大陸的其他國家連結在一起。儘管並非單純為了能源所規劃的策略，但是倡議的組成部分對中國提供日增的能源需求扮演了一個角色。 本論文透過與1990 年代末中國走出去策略之比較，在中國能源需求的大架構下，檢驗一帶一路倡議。為評估一帶一路倡議對中國能源安全的影響，本論文首先界定中國對能源安全的見解，然後分析一帶一路計畫如何應對中國對能源安全的關切。 本論文發現一帶一路倡議可視為走出去策略的後續策略。此外，本論文也發現中國主要是透過供應的角度來觀察能源的安全，且一帶一路計畫（如，石油和天然氣管道的構築）確保了能源運輸的可靠性。 / The Belt and Road Initiative is China’s latest economic development strategy, which seeks to connect China to the rest of Eurasia through infrastructure development and trade. While not a dedicated energy strategy, components of the initiative will play a role in meeting China’s growing energy needs. This paper examines the Belt and Road Initiative in the greater context of China’s energy policy by comparing it to China’s “going-out” strategy of the late 1990s. It assesses the impact that Belt and Road projects will have on China’s energy security by first defining how China views its energy security and then analyzing how Belt and Road projects address China’s energy security concerns. This paper finds that the Belt and Road Initiative can be considered a successor to the“going-out” strategy. It also finds that China views energy security primarily through the lens of supply, and that Belt and Road projects such as port and pipeline construction contribute by ensuring reliability of transport.

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In 2013, China presented the idea of the infrastructure project One Belt One Road. The thesis aims to analyse the potential effects of the initiative, and how its attempt to improve transport infrastructure will impact EU-tourist flows to participating countries. A closer look to the effects on the tourism industry is justified because of the importance of the touristic sector for the global economy. For instance, the direct contribution of the touristic sector accounted for 2.3 trillion USD worldwide in 2016. A gravity model approach is used in the following paper to examine the significance of road, railway, air service as well as port infrastructure for tourists from the European Union. Afterwards, an OBOR simulation is carried out that forecasts a potential change for EU-tourist inflows. The results go in line with previous gravity model studies regarding the positive relationship of the GDP and the inverse influence of the distance on tourism flows. Furthermore, the findings suggest a significant impact of well-developed road, railway and air service networks. However, the quality of ports did not meet the expectations and is somewhat contra productive for the decision making of EU tourists. The simulation for the improvement of transport infrastructure implies that countries with an under-...

Announced in 2013, the One Belt One Road(OBOR) Initiative is considered the most important geopolitical development strategy of the 21st-century in the country. The Chinese government aims to promote trade and investment with more than 63 OBOR countries. In this paper, I analyze the impact of One Belt One Road Initiative on China’s foreign direct investment for a period of 2003-2015 with a country level panel data. Other determinants frequently used in the FDI literature such as market size, geographical distance, resources, trading effects and political risks are also considered in the model. The empirical results show that OBOR policy is positively associated with China’s outward FDI flow. I believe the research result indicates a policy related trend for Chinese firms’ overseas investments.

Research on geopolitics primarily focuses on nation-state actors and how geographical factors affect their policy towards other actors in international relations. The EU, as a non-state actor and a normative power, has been understudied through the lens of geopolitics as scholars believed that this Union was unlikely to apply geopolitical thinking in their foreign policy. This thesis aims to explore to what extent and under what circumstances an actor, notably a non- state actor, applies geopolitical theories in the foreign policy. The paper argues that geopolitics theories, both classical and critical ones, have been increasingly able to explain the external relations of the EU, particularly after 2013 when the Chinese government launched Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Furthermore, geopolitics theories also add more values to understand the complexity of the EU' foreign policy, given the fact that there is no single theory that can explain it comprehensively. As explanatory research, qualitative methods, including discourse analysis, content analysis, and process tracing, will be used to examine how the EU has responded to BRI. The thesis first reviews the scholarship on geopolitics and EU's foreign policy. Next, it investigates how China applies geoplitics in BRI. Last, it focuses on how the...

This study investigates China's international trade with North Africa from a small-sized tradersperspective, while referring to the Belt and Road Initiative’s (B&R) practical influence.Further, the research focuses on how the traders perceive the challenges related to trade withNorth African countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, etc. Moreover, the study explores thedifferent challenges related to international trade, international business, and at last, psychicand cultural distance with consideration to prior research. A qualitative approach was adoptedin order to answer the research question for this study. The approach consisted of a series of indepth interviews that were conducted with traders within different industries. The data collection process focused on gaining insights related to the trade challenges in an attempt to distinguish between their nature. The findings point out that the challenges perceived are four-fold: Trade Incentives, Business Development, Government Intervention and Culture’s Influence. Meanwhile, the impact of B&R is comprehended as a catalyst for bilateral economic development.

This thesis examines the Chinese investment programme; the Belt and Road Initiative, through a post-colonial lens, to categorise whether it fits the postcolonial draining of emerging economies. The purpose of this research is to broaden the way we see post-colonial relationships and contribute to the notion that all advanced economies can have a draining relationship with emerging ones. This is done by examining the geographical and economical aspects of the BRI-projects in two states; Kenya and Sri Lanka, to detect draining. The thesis comes to the conclusion that China, through the Belt and Road Initiative, fits the post-colonial description of draining the examined states. The results hopefully mean a humble contribution to the broadening of what is included in the post-colonial theory.