Briq Ingilizce

Peer-Reviewed Article The Belt and Road Initiative in the Shadow of Competition Between China and the US Assadollah Athari Ehsan Ejazi Assist. Prof., Department of Political Science, Lecturer, Department of International Relations, Islamic Azad University University of Guilan Dr. Assadollah Athari received his PhD in Political Science from the University of Tehran. He is currently Professor of Political Science at Islamic Azad University of Takestan. He served as a senior researcher at the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics, The Center for Strategic Research and Scientific Research and Middle East Strategic Studies Center in Tehran. Dr. Athari has written various books and articles concerning Middle Eastern politics, especially about do- mestic and foreign policy of Turkey. He has also participated in various international conferences. Dr. Athari has been one of founders of the Iranian International Studies Association and Iranian World Studies Association. E-mail: [email protected] Dr. Ehsan Ejazi earned his PhD in International Relations at the University of Guilan. He is currently a lecturer at the University of Guilan. He previously serves as a lecturer at Islamic Azad University’s Science and Research Branch. He taught courses on the Palestine-Israel conflict. Dr. Ejazi has been a fellow researcher at The Center for Strategic Research and Scientific Research and Middle East Strategic Studies Center in Tehran since 2016. His research interests are Middle Eastern politics, Iranian foreign policy, Iran-US relations and the Palestine-Israel conflict. E-mail: [email protected] BRIq • Volume 1 Issue 4 Autumn 2020 ABSTRACT The Belt- Road Initiative (BRI) is a global project that connects China to other parts of the world, such as Europe, Asia and Africa, by land and sea. China's goal in launching this project is to expand its trade links to the rest of the world and to find a common ground in the global equation. The BRI is one of the manifestations of China's emerging power that will pose serious challenges to US hegemony. It is expected that the implementation of this project will not only increase China's influence and power in the regional and international arena, but also pave the way for Asia's economic development and increase its political and economic power around the globe. In this regard, the main questions of the article are: What are the salient characteristics of this project? What are the main challenges posed by the US? We suggest that the BRI will provide a golden opportunity for China to become a regional hegemon in Asia and then a hegemon in global level. Meanwhile, the US has resorted to tough measures to prevent China from becoming a hegemon by putting economic, political and financial obstacles in the way of BRI. Keywords: Belt & Road Initiative; China; hegemony; international cooperation; US IN 2013, CHINA PUBLICLY UNVEILED ITS suing a change in the world economic map for Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), which consist of many years. The route that turns the ancient Silk a project to connect China to other parts of the Road into a modern transit, trade and economic world, such as Europe, Asia and Africa, by land corridor stretches from Shanghai to Berlin. The and sea. In fact, China's goal in building such project is the largest economic development pro- a project is to expand its trade links to the rest ject in the history of the world, which, of course, of the world and to find a common ground in has further raised the concerns of China's rivals, the global equation. Generally speaking, it is a to the point that the Europeans signed an infra- move towards establishing a new hegemony and structure agreement with Japan to counter the engaging in close competition with the United BRI strategy. The deal is part of a “connect to States. This project is supposed to connect China Asia” strategy launched by the European Union to Europe through Iran, which is why the Mid- last year to allay international concerns about dle East resides at the center of this project. the Chinese new Silk Road (Emmott, 2019). China has introduced the BRI to the global The BRI is considered to be a modern and community as a 100-year-old project. It seems improved design of the ancient Silk Road. It is that the main goal of this project has to do with also one of the manifestations of China's emerg- economic issues, and China intends to some- ing power that connects the three continents of how control the region's economy with the new Asia, Europe and Africa. The New Silk Road is Silk Road project. Apart from economic con- an investment project in the economic infra- trol, many of these countries are also politically structure of 71 countries (Belt and Road Initi- and culturally inclined towards China and will ative, 2020) and the development of two major become potential partners. China has been pur- trade routes, the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and 44 Assadollah Athari - Ehsan Ejazi - The Belt and Road Initiative in the Shadow of Competition Between China and the US the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”, which Highlight Design Features are is still being developed and expanded. The Any successful global development strategy is to project aims to enhance China's position in the be based on communications and transit lines in world's trade and economic equations, and to order to strengthen trade cooperation. The full create an international transit network centered implementation of this plan will change the busi- on China, enabling China to deliver its goods by ness structure of the world, and for this reason the land and sea to countries on all three continents. BRI is called the project of the century. It accounts The “economic belt”, which is a land project, for 62.3% of the world's population, three-quar- connects China through Central Asia and the ters of the world's energy resources (Bruni, 2019: Middle East and then to Eastern and Western 5), and 30% of GDP (Shepard, 2020). So far, 126 Europe by Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, countries and 29 international organizations have Iran, Turkey, Ukraine, Poland, Belgium, France signed 173 cooperation agreements with China in and finally Italy (Countries of the Belt and Road line with this plan (Xinhua, 2019). By 2027, the Initiative (BRI), 2020). The 21st Century Mari- total value of the projects envisaged in this plan time Silk Road connects China by sea to South- is 1.2-1.3 trillion, although estimates on total in- east Asia and Africa and even Europe through vestments vary (Chatzky & McBride, 2020). Chi- Greece and Italy in the northern Mediterranean, na Development Bank has already allocated $ 900 and includes Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri billion for more than 900 projects in 60 countries Lanka, Pakistan and Kenya. (Cai, 2017). The BRI’s Political Goals The BRI is a win-win plan and all parties, in- cluding China and the countries on the route, will benefit from it; at the same time, involved countries dependence on China is increasing. It will increase China's freedom of diplomatic maneuver and is therefore one of the manifesta- A China-Europe freight train leaves the Xinzhu Railway tions of China's emerging power. It will certainly Station in Xi'an to head for Italy's Milan. boost China's international power and political (Yuan Jingzhi/Xinhua) influence in the world, especially in Asia. Given the positive economic effects of its implementa- It is expected that the launch of this pro- tion, it will change the economic and political ject will not only increase China's influence and future of Asia. It could, along with China's mil- power in the regional and international arena, itary power, lead to its hegemony in East Asia, but also pave the way for Asia's economic devel- and ultimately enable China to become a major opment and increase its political and econom- power in the world economy by overcoming ic power in the world. A number of important the onshore and offshore trade routes in Eura- questions arise at this point: What are the sali- sia. Moreover, the BRI has remarkably increased ent characteristics of this project? What are the China’s soft power among various countries main challenges posed by the US? along the land route (Voon & Xu, 2020: 122). 45 BRIq • Volume 1 Issue 4 Autumn 2020 Nevertheless, it is doubtful that China could ex- It will have a positive impact on the ert a soft power of similar influence to that of economies of Asian countries and the US (Beeson , 2018: 250). It rather remains pave the way for the emergence of an initiative to strengthen the trend towards a a strong Asia. multipolar world, the globalization of the economy, cultural diversity, the wider use of infor- nese manufacturers and adds to China's strength mation technology, and the strengthening of a as a large economy. It will have a positive impact global free regime within the framework of open on the economies of Asian countries and pave the regional cooperation. way for the emergence of a strong Asia. Undoubt- edly, it facilitates the flow of communication and transportation of goods from China to Europe, Asia and Africa and vice versa, and generates lively competition in the field of transportation. As of 2017, more than 5,000 cargoes have been transmitted and 33 cities in China and 33 cities in 12 European countries are mutually connected within the BRI’s framework (Ohashi, 2018: 91). China seeks to connect poorer areas within the country to foreign markets, too.

Load more