• Acta Via Serica
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.73-90
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• 2018

The Silk Road tied the globe together for the first time by producing an early globalization phenomenon. Some consider that the ancient Silk Road disintegrated around the $18^{th}$ century CE due to the fall of the Muslim empires and the kingdoms between Asia and Europe. However, the maritime trade among East Asia and the Spanish dominion on the American continent reactivated the ancient Silk Road on some levels, and maintained trade dynamics until the $19^{th}$ century. This was possible because of Mexican silver and trade spots. Notwithstanding its historical background, Mexico seems so far away from the new Silk Road, or the Belt and Road Initiative in the $21^{st}$ century. Thus, this paper analyzes Mexico's historic and current role concerning the Silk Road. First, I conceptualize and compare the ancient Silk Road and Belt and Road Initiative through the lens of complex interdependence theory. I propose that, unlike the ancient Silk Road, the Belt and Road Initiative is a case of an induced complex interdependence. Second, I study the Manila Galleons' dynamics in order to trace the ancient ties with the Silk Road. I emphasize Mexican silver's contribution to East Asian economies and the importance of Mexico's role in the East Asia-Spanish trade. Consequently, I analyze Mexico's position in the Belt and Road Initiative. Finally, I present some concluding remarks about Mexico's role in the Silk Road.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.1-24
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• 2021

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is designed to intensify bilateral trade between China and the BRI countries through the improvement of transportation connections. However, little research has empirically investigated the impacts of this policies on the trade patterns. This paper attempts to evaluate the impacts of BRI on the trade patterns of Tanzania. Our study extends the original gravity model of bilateral trade by adding GDP per capita, population and proximity as the explanatory variables. According to our research, we observed that the BRI significantly impacted the Tanzania's trade patterns, as it led to the increase of bilateral trade flow between Tanzania and China more importantly between Tanzania and its adjacent countries. It indicates that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has boosted Tanzania's trade exclusively, hence the Tanzania's export sector earns greater trading potential with the adjacent countries.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.151-158
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• 2022

The study aims to investigate Lebanese-Chinese relations within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. Lebanon formally joined the effort in 2017; this paper emphasizes Lebanon's geostrategic importance. The paper presents an assessment of the investment risks in Lebanon, which is considered an economically unstable country with a volatile security situation, with many internal and external political hurdles. The paper refers to the obstacles and challenges that the Chinese investor may face in Lebanese society. The study employs qualitative descriptive analysis to address the status of Chinese investment in Lebanon and the consequences of this partnership; the paper examines previous research related to the Belt and Road Initiative and the Lebanese political, security, and economic situation literature. Due to the deteriorating security situation, external intervention, and the economic crisis, the results reveal that Lebanon is not a top investment priority for China, which is a big impediment to China entering into economic cooperation with Lebanon. The findings of this study suggest that the Lebanese government should adopt an anti-corruption policy to build confidence for the Chinese investor, reduce unnecessary public spending, and hold a national dialogue to build confidence among the Lebanese parties.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.285-299
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• 2019

The 'One Belt One Road (OBOR)' initiative, which was promulgated as part of the enlargement policy along with the advent of Xi Jinping in 2013, is a policy to expand China's political and economic power externally through linkages with neighboring countries. China's overseas port investment plays an important role in the promotion of the 'OBOR' policy from the coast of China through maritime transportation routes from S.E Asia to Mediterranean and Europe. Since China's overseas port investment has been made from several factors such as political, economic, and military motives, it differs in purpose and character from investments made by private companies, such as Global Port Operators(GTO) which consider profitability first. This study aims to address future prospects and implications by analyzing the geopolitics of China's overseas port investment under the 'One Belt One Road' initiative. According to the results, China's overseas port investment is dominated by state-owned enterprises and political and security factors are more important than profitability. China's overseas port investment has been on a large scale in a short period of time, and China has faced with various problems both domestically and internationally. such as debt default, environmental problems, subordination problems from recipient countries and political and military confrontation with great countries such as United States, Japan and India etc.

• Korea Trade Review
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.307-333
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• 2022

In recent years, the outward foreign direct investment (oFDI) in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by Chinese companies has significantly increased in size and changed in content. However, changes in the oFDI patterns between the pre- and post-BRI periods have not received sufficient attention from academia despite their theoretical and strategic significance. This paper reviewed existing research to establish seven hypotheses on changes in the oFDI patterns of Chinese companies investing in BRI countries and conducted empirical analyses to test the hypotheses using secondary data. The results showed that after the BRI agreement, Chinese oFDI in BRI countries was more active in less economically and less institutionally developed countries, that the oFDI by privately-owned enterprises (POEs) increased more than that of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and that SOEs were more active in the social overhead capital (SOC) area while POEs were more active in the non-SOC area. The paper concludes with a summary, implications, and future research directions.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.59-83
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• 2019

The Chinese Belt Road initiatives in the Southeast Asian countries marked a new chapter in the development of China political influence on this region. This article looks at the initiative from the cultural dimension and aims to place its narrative as the entry point to understand the use of identity politics in Asian countries that target the Chinese diaspora. This topic relates to the primordial sentiments of Southeast Asian nations amid massive Chinese investment in the region. The issue of Chinese investments under the Belt Road Initiative corridor has a relationship with the formation of anti-Chinese discourse and anti-communist in some Southeast Asian countries. We took the cases of Indonesian and Malaysian elections to observe the use of identity politics and anti-Chinese political discourse in Southeast Asia. In both cases, a common issue emerged, that of the strengthening both Islamic and indigenous sensibilities. The establishment of ASEAN during the Cold War may be seen then as an anti-thesis to emerging Chinese power. However, anti-Chinese and anti-communism sentiments were not enough to unite the forces of the nations of Southeast Asia. We have concluded that brotherhood, mutual prosperity, and anti-neo-colonialism are yet to be fostered completely to make a distinct ASEAN identity.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.189-200
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics of China's trade relationships with and dependency on the countries participating in the Belt and Road initiative and to present some implications. This study collected annual total imports, exports, and GDP data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 198 countries and the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS) on 221 countries from 1995 to 2015. China's imports and exports have expanded considerably from the mid-1990s to the present, and China's dependence on imports and exports with the US and Japan has declined, while its dependence on the Middle East, South Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia has increased. China has a very high level of dependence on imports from and exports to the countries participating in the Belt and Road initiative, and as the Belt and Road project progresses, the mutual trade dependency between China and the other participating countries is expected to strengthen and expand.

• Strategy21
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• s.37
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• pp.144-176
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• 2015

In September 2013, President Park Geun-hye announced her controversial "Look North" policy, of which the most salient aspect is the "Eurasia Initiative". This comprises various proposals designed to overcome existing constraints by developing new markets and creating new economic partners in continental areas from which South Korea has been alienated since the end of World War II, and this dovetails nicely with China's One Belt, One Road Initiative. The concepts of the "Silk Road Rail Express (SRX)" and the "East Sea Rim Maritime Community (ESRMC)" have also been discussed. SRX is at present a purely symbolic railroad project intended to encourage individual, cultural, trade and diplomatic exchanges. ESRMC is a model for establishing an ad hoc community to promote regional economic cooperation around the East Sea. President Park's Eurasia Initiative will provide South Korean investment for the Northeast to complement Russian plans, like the "Northern Energy Road" being built by Gazprom, and Chinese plans, like the Chang-Ji-Tu Development Plan for the North Korean port of Rajin. China's trade, as well as its energy and food supplies, pass through the Strait of Malacca and the Indian Ocean, and are thus vulnerable to interdiction by India or the US. China is therefore trying to reduce its exposure geopolitical risk by establishing a network of corridors between the Belt and the Road to provide alternative paths. The "China-Pakistan Economic Corridor" and the "China-Myanmar Economic Corridor" provide such connections, and South Korea hopes that SRX and ESRMC can become part of a "China-South Korea Economic Corridor". This concept could do much to revitalize the underdeveloped northern provinces of China and Russia's Far East, not to mention North Korea. By linking up the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Trans-China Railway, the Trans-Mongolian Railway and the Trans-Korean Railway all these Asian countries will be connected to one another, and ultimately to Europe. An interim connection between China and South Korea using a rail-ferry has also been proposed.

• Acta Via Serica
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.83-104
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• 2022

This article attempts to explain current social perceptions in Mexico about the Silk Road. Based on a critical geopolitics approach, the author analyzes how the idea of the Silk Road is socially constructed in Mexican popular geopolitics, focusing on studying digital mass media between 2013 and 2020. The main research questions are: how is the Silk Road notion constructed in Mexican popular geopolitics and what are the geopolitical implications for Mexico? The article discovers that in Mexico, the idea of the "Silk Road" is profoundly close to the idea of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) given China's geostrategic discourse that constructs the BRI as a "New Silk Road". The article also argues that Mexico's social-political agency to deal with China may be hindered by divergent social perceptions in favor and against the "Silk Road".

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.59-88
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• 2020

This study is to examine the influence of Asian countries on the economic field, and to explain the characteristics and purposes of China's Belt and Road Initiative using data analysis. The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze the influence and characteristics of China's One-to-One Road Initiative on the economic sector by examining trade and investment in Asian countries adjacent to China. In particular, the One-to-One Road initiative is proceeding in a way that connects China and neighboring countries. It is to understand the dependence of the Asian countries in China on the Chinese economy. In addition, it is intended to derive implications by grasping and evaluating what the level is based on data. This study also attempts to grasp the influence and ripple effects of the one-on-one strategy on the Chinese economy and the North Korean economy, where dependence is deepening. Recently, the strategy for Asian countries through a one-to-one initiative in China has been restructured in the framework of the construction of the "21st century Maritime Silk Road" and emphasizes the cooperation mechanism led by the country. In progress of the one Belt and One Road, Chinese ICT companies are remarkable. This study looked at the influence of China's digital one Belt and One Road on Asian countries.