Foreword
This book deals with China’s globalization in the twenty-first century and the modern Silk Road. It explains globalization with reference to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Globalization “is the subject of a rapidly proliferating theoretical literature…” (Mittelman 2010: 3, 24). Although globalization studies try to theorize structural change, it would be wrong to either underestimate or exaggerate the achievements. The new Silk Road, called in 2013 One Belt, One Road (OBOR), is China’s project of the century. It is a challenge to explain what is the Belt and Road because it is changing , despite its global key purpose, and it has no clear definition in spite of the existence of memoranda signed by China and other states that are part of the Belt and Road project. Those who fear and think that China wants “to create a new world order” have to study more the positive aspect of the BRI, which is an important theme of my book. It is sure that globalization without risks does not exist. Western globalization and the Belt and Road Initiative are both not exempted of certain risks which are part of the present time world economy . Finance and investments in the twenty-first century always need a serious consideration of the risks involved. Does China’s Belt and Road need a new Chinese ethic to better succeed? The world is currently suffering severe economic and financial problems, so the modern Silk Road, with its long past history of more than two thousand years, needs initiative, creativity, international governance and ethic to give some hope and to try to end the US–China trade war.
What explains this book? It contains various chapters on Central Asia, the pivot of Asia and the gate of the OBOR , infrastructure , the Greater Bay Area with Guangdong Province, Hong Kong and Macau SARs, the Maritime Silk Road (MSR), the South China Sea (SCS), the ASEAN countries including Indonesia and Malaysia , the dispute resolution Timor-Leste versus Australia secured by a Treaty on Maritime Boundary, and two chapters on the Belt and Road Initiative and Africa . Harmony , dispute resolution and arbitration give an actualized definition of dispute resolution in South Africa , and the epilogue concludes. The positive theme of this book is essential, and in all chapters a force of the Chinese globalization is pointed out, the Belt and Road Initiative is not linked with capitalist globalization.
The objective of the book is the opportunities created by the Belt and Road Initiative , which exists in all the chapters. Some risks of China’s globalization should be mentioned. There are risks on the BRI as in all types of globalization, especially for the infrastructure projects that involve loans. In the introduction, in Chaps. 2 and 3, Berlie introduces and explains the Belt and Road Initiative and the New Silk Road which is a socialist globalization with Chinese characteristics and the entire book demonstrates it, we hope. So, a direct comparison of both Western and Chinese globalization is not so useful, but there are international rules and China is suggested to try to promote more international arbitration ; this is one of the thesis of this book also developed in particular in Chaps. 10 and 11. Since April 2018, the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA) has been trying to be closer to the Hong Kong international arbitration. It is sure that an economic confrontation is unproductive to solve the question of the world’s economic weakness that the USA and China try to improve.
Manuel Benard’s Chap. 4 on Infrastructure and the Belt and Road Initiative is a key chapter. China’s ambition to link globalization and infrastructure development in Asia and Africa is not always perfect. All countries should provide free market access to “all developing countries poorer and smaller than themselves.” Do China and the USA follow this advice in global governance? (Stiglitz and Charlton 2005; Glenn 2007: 211). The Maritime Silk Road is essential for China’s merchant navy growing everyday years. There was other important navy news, a Vietnamese tanker carrying gasoline cargo successfully reached North Korea (Reuters 2019) when Trump met Kim in Hanoi, on February 28, 2019. President Donald Trump prepared key talks on security and cooperation which finally failed in the Vietnamese capital. Elsewhere on the Belt and Road exist essential investments to boost the new Silk Road, and investment enhances infrastructure . This question of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) is essential and this book will stress this question. Manuel Benard knows the question of infrastructure from his long experience in Asia and Africa . Chapters 1 and 4 address the question of China’s huge investments on infrastructure . The giant Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge is an example in which Hong Kong has invested HK$120 billion so far. The mega bridge was opened to public on October 24, 2018, and this was officially announced by the three governments (Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai) five days before its opening. A more global role of the Hong Kong and Macau SARs will happen later, but slowly. Chapter 4 also considers the philosophy of infrastructure , sea, rail, road, air and pipeline transportation along the Belt and Road. It also addresses the important question of energy.
The integration of two Special Administrative Regions with the new Greater Bay Area is not so easy. “The Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, reassured the public on the safety of mega bridge … and area cities (are) urged to drop rivalry and cooperate” (SCMP, February 11 and 13, 2019). There is no limit to the ambition to develop infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative. The Liaoning Daily and South China Morning Post mentioned the project to link Dadong, Liaoning, and Pyongyang, the North Korea capital by rail and a new road. However, China will not try to “push any infrastructure projects with North Korea while sanctions are still in place” (SCMP, September 15, 2018). Everything at present do not work so well because the trade conflict between the USA and China is not yet solved even if the discussions between the two countries seem to go smoothly. For example, on the GBA, the property market tries with some difficulty to promote essential Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs).
The practical study of globalization continues in Chap. 5 written by Berlie and Steven Hung. It includes the Greater Bay Area and its new blueprint in February 2019, with the role of Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions linked to China’s Belt and Road Initiative . Zhang Mingliang is a qualified scholar to write Chap. 6 on “China’s Development of Public Goods in the South China Sea Islands.” Zhang’s thesis is that China could improve its position in the SCS by offering public services there. His first study on the question was his already published Beijing University Doctorate dissertation on China and the USA in the Paracel and Spratly Islands. The question of peace and harmony compels China and the USA to reconsider their ambitions in the South China Sea . Security and peace will remain a robust foundation for international political stability. The Belt and Road Initiative in the South China Sea needs time and patience. When China and ASEAN are concerned, careful international diplomacy is necessary, and the solution is unilateral, state by state. China has a long history of avoidance of conflict with Southeast Asian countries, so cooperation, exploration and joint exploitation of limited parts of the South China Sea , case by case, reef by reef, is a solution needing great joint Sino-Southeast Asian diplomacy.
To maintain excellent relationships with ASEAN is essential for China. Geoffrey C. Gunn, Emeritus Professor, Nagasaki University/Adjunct Professor at the Center for Macau Studies, University of Macau, is a well-known specialist of the Malay World, and he wrote Chap. 7 entitled: “China’s Globalization and the Belt and Road Project: The Case of Indonesia /Malaysia .” He knows well that China’s globalization is based on pre-eminent relations with ASEAN and the United Nations (UN), and the future will tell how the Southeast Asian countries will support the BRI. Among the leaders of ASEAN , the Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad fully supports the Belt and Road Initiative . China’s main claim of full sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands is another question. The reader will be interested to compare Geoffrey Gunn’s view and Chap. 6 by Zhang Mi...