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- Convenors:
-
Farwa Sial
(University of Manchester)
Juvaria Jafri (City University of London)
Send message to Convenors
- Formats:
- Papers
- Stream:
- Transnational political economies of development
- Location:
- Pentz, Room 101
- Sessions:
- Friday 21 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
The China-led Belt Road Initiative (BRI) envisions an ambitious infrastructure corridor spanning continents through road and maritime routes. Covering over 60 countries, the BRI remains an open platform for new countries to join. This panel invites inter-disciplinary approaches to analysis of BRI.
Long Abstract:
The Chinese BRI is currently a portfolio of investments emphasising a new economic consensus which focuses on investment and socio-economic growth through new infrastructure and enhanced connectivity.
This panel aims to feature an array of perspectives to understand and conceptualise the BRI, emphasising an interdisciplinary approach that will note the entanglement of the BRI with themes that include but are not limited to capitalist accumulation, industrial policy, critical economic geography, the political economy of development, and challenges to the current world order. Considering that BRI is still in its infancy we welcome a broad range of abstracts:
• Discussions can focus on issues such as China's own development history and the implications of internationalising Chinese capital based on its own experience.
• The BRI connects countries with different socio-economic contexts. The aim of regionalisation and the current interplay of trade wars produces very different implications for these countries.Discussions can be based on the potential transformations which emerging Chinese IFIs such as the AIIB and the Silk Road Fund could potentiate.
• The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is considered the lynchpin of the BRI and projects associated with CPEC are in more advance stages than other countries. The geoeconomics of CPEC can potentially be different in comparison to investments in other countries.
• Since Chinese investments in Africa preceded the BRI, the analysis of debt and the question of imperialism in context to Chinese aid and investment in Africa and potential lessons for the BRI is another avenue of discussion.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 21 June, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
We study the nature of Chinese investment in Pakistan by drawing upon critical scholarship on (1) aid and investment packages, and (2) the role of money capital through new modalities of investment such as the use of Asian Infrastructure Bank (AIIB).
Paper long abstract:
Pakistan has a turbulent history of socio-economic growth. The inability to structure a domestic economy without recourse to foreign loans, bailouts and aid packages, specific to its historical and geopolitical context has been a cyclical theme especially in relation to traditional investors and donors including the US. In the last few years, Chinese investment in Pakistan under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has realigned Pakistan's relations with traditional investors and donors. Pakistan's geostrategic position in the Belt Road Initiative (BRI) initiative means Chinese investment in Pakistan may serve as an exemplar of investment patterns in other OBOR countries.As investment and projects under CPEC materialise, the shifting hierarchies and struggle for control by traditional investors (US, Germany, Japan), traditional IFIs (World Bank, the IMF, Asian Development Bank) and aid organisations (USAID, DFID and GIZ) accelerates and creates new dynamics of competition with Chinese capital. The unfolding of CPEC is accompanied by trade wars and uncertainty in the global monetary system. We explore the nature of Chinese investment in Pakistan by enquiring if the Chinese investment model challenges the contemporary geographies of power by comparing Chinese investment with traditional investment. We focus on two avenues: (1) Aid and investment packages, their terms and conditions, and the progress made so far, and (2) the role of money capital through new modalities of investment such as the use of Asian Infrastructure Bank (AIIB). As such, we aim to enquire if Chinese investment transcends or complements the operations of traditional investors.
Paper short abstract:
In 2013, China's President Xi Jinping announced infrastructure development project, referred as the Belt and Road Initiative. In this study we examine effects of BRI on social welfare, environment, trade and investment in the participating countries.
Paper long abstract:
In 2013, Xi Jinping, China's President announced the very ambitious infrastructure development project, referred to as the 'Belt and Road Initiative' (BRI) (also translated as 'One Belt One Road', OBOR). This consists of two strands: The Silk Road Economic Belt - 'Belt'; The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road - 'Road' (BRI hereafter). BRI, a development initiative aims at fostering "orderly and free flow of economic factors, highly efficient allocation of resources and deep integration of markets by enhancing connectivity of Asian, European and African continents and their adjacent seas" (State Council of the PRC, 2015). Within this initiative, China provides loans to partner country and builds infrastructure (rail, road and ports) which in turn will contribute to increased trade and economic growth. Pathway to sustainable infrastructure development arising from BRI is however, likely to be complex and multi-dimensional. While economic activities are expected to increase leading to growth, employment generation and general welfare including health improvements however, at the same time BRI is likely to lead to a large number of political social, institutional and environmental conflict prone issues. This study aims to examine overall impact of BRI on social welfare and the environment; effects of BRI on costs of trade, policy decisions regarding trade and investment regulations and levels of investment, especially keeping in view implications of these effects for countries faced with risk of conflict and also pro-poor development.
Paper short abstract:
A comparative analysis of the economic, social and environmental impacts on Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America of China's re-emergence as a global economic power.
Paper long abstract:
China's rise has seen a significant growth in its relations with Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) since the start of the twenty-first century. At one level the economic relations of China with the two regions seem remarkably similar. They provide China with primary products and import Chinese manufactures. China has become an increasingly significant source of foreign direct investment (FDI) and loans. Chinese companies are involved in building infrastructure including roads, railways and power generation.
The paper considers the similarities and differences between China's involvement in Latin America and SSA, in terms of both its key features and economic, social and environmental impacts. It provides a comparison of the scale and composition of bilateral trade, Chinese FDI, construction activities, and bank lending in the two regions. It argues that although Chinese interests in economic engagement in Latin America and SSA are broadly similar, there are significant economic, political and institutional differences between the two regions which lead to important differences in the impact that the increased presence of China has had. However it is also important not to lose sight of the heterogeneity that exists within each region.
Paper short abstract:
This paper offers a study of Chinese investments (official and private capital) under the Belt and Road Initiative's (BRI) framework in two countries of Central Asia - Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and argues that the Chinese investment strategy varies across its BRI partners.
Paper long abstract:
China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has attracted heightened international attention and inspired polarizing interpretations. Critics believe that the initiative could be a 'debt trap' and has a capacity to extract geo-strategic concessions from its debtors. Whereas admirers contend that China, drawing from its own experience, could help countries of the Global South tackle their structural bottlenecks and eventually enable them to repeat the trajectory of China's rapid economic growth. This paper offers a framework of analysis of the Chinese investments (official and private capital) under the Belt and Road Initiative's (BRI) framework in two countries of Central Asia - Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan and argues that the Chinese investment strategy varies across its BRI partners. To carry out this analysis, relevant primary documents, secondary literature, and statistical datasets of relevant national agencies were analysed. Furthermore, during my fieldwork at Peking University in China and KIMEP University in Kazakhstan from February till October 2018, I conducted semi-structured interviews with more than 60 experts and practitioners of different academic and institutional backgrounds.