For All Defence Aspirants china’s belt and road initiative revisited
CHINA’S BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE REVISITED
IN 2013,CHINESE PRESIDENT Xi JINPING ANNOUNCED HIS AMBITIONS New Silk Road Also Called: One Belt ,One Road”(OBOR) And Later “Belt And Road Initiative” (BRI).
This Vast, Fluid, And Growing Amalgam Of Projects Consists Of A Set Of Infrastructure And Related Investments, Linking China By Land And Sea With Asia, Africa And Europe ,Even Latin America And Building Other Infrastructure In The Partner States.
Since Then ,OBOR Has Firmly Established Itself As China’s Major Foreign Policy.
Institutional Changes
March 2018 Witnessed Significant Changes In The BRI Supervision And Diplomacy Management, Covering Three Entitles.
It Created A New Central Foreign Affairs Commission, Answerable To The Chinese Communist Party(CCP) ,Unifying Oversight On Foreign Affairs.
A China International Development Cooperation Agency Was Established ,Supervised By The State Council. This Was Clearly Aimed At Reducing Tussles Between The Foreign And The Commerce Ministries.
The Political Rank Of The Foreign Minister Wang Yi Was Elevated, With His Designation As A State Counsellor.
Problems With OBOR Chinese Officials Have Had Limited Experience With International Projects And That Has Contributed To The Inefficiencies.
Further ,No Competitive Bidding Means That The Project Cost Is Inevitably Higher Than Optimal.
Chinese Companies Have Driven Most Of The Projects, Evidently Willing To Cover The Rent Seeking Actions Of Foreign Leaders And Their Associates Which, Adds To The Project Cost, Further Eroding Viability.
Private Chinese Companies Have Used Foreign Investments For Illegal Capital Flight, And This Also Affects Some Of The BRI Projects.
Asian Reactions To The RBI
With The Change Of Government In Malaysia, Its Prime Minister Has Scrapped $ 23 Billion Worth Of BRI Projects ,Principally A Railway Line.
Singaporean Participants Feel That The Association Of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) Should Have Greater Centralised Control Over The BRI Projects.
However, While Visiting China At The End Of October 2018, Japanese Prime Minister Abe Declared That Japan Would Actively Participate In The BRI Projects.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Government Is Supposedly Seeking Price Reductions From China.
Conclusions
China’s BRI Infrastructure Investments Bear Some Resemblance To The Soviet Method Of Setting Up Their Own Capital Goods Mega-Projects ,In Effect Creating A Captive Market For Itself.
This Is Especially True Of The Railway Projects And Power Generation Investments With The Difference That Unlike Moscow’s Foreign Implantations Of Capital Goods Manufacture, China’s Technology Is More Current.
At Heart, Beijing Is Creating Long Term Customers For Its Spares And Services. One Might Say That Such Dependence Is Built Into All Project Imports, But When New Incoming Investments Are Dominated By A Single Partner, It Locks That Client To One Technology Source With Quasi-Permanent Dependence. This Aspect Needs To Be Seriously Considered.
