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The Belt and Road Initiative in Asia Melisa R The Belt and Road Initiative in Asia Melisa R. Serrano and Vera Eileen V. Pupos Mapping Trade Union Context and Possibilities to Organise BWI Building and Wood Workers’ International www.bwint.org BWI is the Global Union Federation grouping free and democratic unions with members in the Building, Building Materials, Wood, Forestry and Allied sectors. BWI brings together around 334 trade unions representing around 12 million members in 130 countries. The Headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland while the Regional Offices are in Panama, Malaysia, and South Africa. Our mission is to defend and advance workers’ rights, and to improve working and living conditions in our sectors. The BWI, above all, has a rights-based approach. We believe that trade union rights are human rights and are based on equality, solidarity and democracy, and that trade unions are indispensable to good governance. BWI goals include 1) to promote and defend human and trade union rights; 2) to increase trade union strength; 3) to promote a stable and high level of employment in our sectors; and 4) to influence policy and strengthen the capacity of institutions and tripartite structures in our sectors. ©2019 Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI). Parts of this publication may be excerpted or cited as long as the source is acknowledged. About the authors Dr. Melisa R. Serrano is Associate Professor and Vera Eileen V. Pupos is University Extension Specialist at the School of Labor and Industrial Relations, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. Dr. Serrano wrote this paper. V.E.V. Pupos prepared the database and a summary of the general findings and country-level findings from the Asia BRI database. The Belt and Road Initiative in Asia Contents Foreword iv Introduction 1 BRI progress: A reality check 3 The missing employment dimension of BRI 4 Political Economy Overview of the Region 5 The Belt and Road Initiative in Asia: “Debt-trap” diplomacy or developmental strategy for poorer countries? 8 Infrastructure investment gaps in Asia 9 BRI projects in Asia 10 Challenges and concerns facing BRI 11 Chinese workers in overseas BRI projects 12 Country Level Situation and Plans of BRI 13 A concentration of BRI projects in five countries 13 BRI projects in Pakistan 13 BRI projects in Cambodia 14 BRI projects in Bangladesh 14 BRI projects in Myanmar 15 From cautious diplomacy to outright critique: BRI in Viet Nam and India 15 Trade Union and Workers’ Rights Context 17 Ratification of ILO core conventions 17 Violations on freedom of association and collective bargaining rights 18 A difficult legal framework for unionization and collective bargaining 18 BWI Presence in the Region 20 Prospects of Unionization in BRI 20 Findings from the Database 21 List of Figures and Tables Figure 1: Belt and Road by numbers (2018) 1 Table 1: Key financing sources of BRI projects 2 Table 2: The funding mechanism of BRI 3 Figure 2: Democracy Index of Selected Asian Countries 5 Table 3: Estimated Infrastructure Investment Needs by Region, 45 Developing Member Countries, 2016–2030 9 Table 4: Estimated Infrastructure Investment Needs by Sector, 45 Developing Member Countries, 2016–2030 9 Figure 3: Selected BRI projects in Southeast Asia 10 Table 5: Ratification of ILO Core Conventions 17 Table 6: Labour Rights Indicators: Violations of freedom of association and collective bargaining in law and in practice 18 Table 7: Union density in the study countries based on available most recent data 19 Table 8: BWI affiliates in selected BRI countries 20 Table 9: Project cost of BRI projects in selected Asian countries 21 iii Building and Wood Workers’ International Foreword The Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) is pleased to present its multi-region study on one of the most ambitious and economically and geopolitically significant infrastructure projects in the next 5 years – the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of the People’s Republic of China. BRI, inspired by the ancient Silk Road, is a multi-country and multi-region cooperation project aimed at facilitating sustainable development within the frame of economic cooperation based on market rules and international norms, geared for mutual benefits and inclusivity and tolerance. BWI, as the global union for building-construction workers, sees its massive implications to its sectors, its affiliated unions, and to millions of workers in the covered regions and countries. As it spawns major infrastructure projects and create employment for our represented sectors in the supply chain of building industry, it is imperative that decent work governs this global undertaking. Trade unions have to be present in the work sites to represent workers as they exercise their freedom of association, negotiate fair wages, institutionally ensure safe working conditions, and influence policy regimes that will affect their societies. To perform the representation role of BWI as a global union and of its affiliates as national and work place representatives, we need the knowledge base that can help us locate the precisely related projects, assess the labour relations context and possibilities in the country, map the employment of workers and possible unions that can organise them, and to identify the current or future financial institutions and construction companies. With this backdrop, BWI has undertaken a research project to make a preliminary map of the whole chain of the BRI. While the elements mentioned above shall be covered in the study, the central aim of the undertaking is having an “internal organising map” to ensure decent work through trade unions are achieved within the big chain. Future case studies on how the projects are being implemented based on the criteria of ILO core labour standards are also foreseen in next phases of this long-term initiative. While decent work is the heart of the agenda of BWI, BRI has multi-dimensional impact as debates about developmental policies, trade relations, debt traps, geopolitical positioning, community displacements, labour laws reforms, guidelines of development funding by IFIs, and even cultural threats simmer around this mega-construction project. Trade unions as social actors will have to deal with the related issues eventually. The research project is part and parcel of BWI Solidarity Projects’ developmental objective which is to actively contribute to creating strong and autonomous, gender-fair and democratic trade unions that fight for both trade union and human rights as well as for decent employment and living conditions for all building, wood and forestry workers [BWI Strategic Goal]. This project aimed for the following: ྲ To map the Belt and Road Initiative in relation to the location of its affiliates and analyse the potentials and limitations of union organising and representation. ྲ To assist BWI in developing a comprehensive strategy document for BRI organising and engagement for decent work by mid-2020. The descriptive and analytical parts (the Regional Reports) of this project are publicly available while the organising map and projects database is for internal BWI use. We are cognizant that some needed information about the BRI projects may not be immediately available thus we view the database as a work in progress that will be updated as new data becomes available. We would like to thank the report writers Agnieszka Ghinararu (Summary Report and Pan-Europe Report), Melisa R. Serrano and Vera Eileen V. Pupos (Asia Report) and Davids Etyang (East Africa Report). We also express our gratitude for the continuing solidarity support of FNV Mondiaal of Netherlands and Friedrich- Ebert-Stiftung of Germany and our affiliates in both countries for the technical and financial contribution in making this study a reality. Ambet Yuson General Secretary Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) 30 November 2019 iv The Belt and Road Initiative in Asia Introduction Launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) represents China’s unprecedented ambition to improve the country’s connectivity with more than 65 countries across Asia, Europe, and Africa. The core components of BRI include physical infrastructure (roads, railways, pipelines, transmission networks), trade and investment financial flows, and people-to-people exchanges. As a revival of the iconic land and maritime Silk Road,1 BRI is widely seen as “China’s landmark globalization, development, and soft power strategy, and is strongly associated with President Xi’s leadership.”2 BRI’s strategic priorities are the following: support China’s “Go Global” policy; increase exports to BRI countries; promote industrial restructuring among Chinese firms; strengthen China’s geopolitical role; strengthen the renminbi’s (RMB) global role; and reduce the country’s industrial oversupply.3 Figure 1: One Belt One Road China’s modern-day adaptation of the ancient Silk Road aims to revive the routes via a network of railways, ports pipelines and highways Source: Reproduced from Belt and Road by numbers. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.sc.com/en/feature/belt-and-road-by-the-numbers/ According to Boucher, China has grown its economy for the past 10 or more years by building infrastructure (i.e. roads, high-speed rail, and ports) within its borders.4 But as the infrastructure in China produces declining returns, the BRI gives China’s infrastructure firms access to other markets abroad. Thus, the big construction firms in China—the Gezhouba Group, the China Railway Group, and the China Communications Construction Company—are the big names in the BRI. Therefore, the BRI is an upgrade of China’s “Going Out” or “Go Global” strategy which was adopted in the 1990s, pushing Chinese businesses and industries to internationalize and invest abroad. China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have been facing overcapacity issues domestically, especially in steel, cement, coal, and chemical industries.5 Meanwhile, rising demand in fast-growing developing economies, which comprise the bulk of BRI countries, clearly presents opportunities for Chinese metals, building materials, and construction equipment firms, particularly in light of weaker domestic activity in such sectors in China.
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