ICS Occasional Papers

It is doubtless that a rising China will succeed in promoting its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in coming years. The key questions are the degree of success it will have, and how it will change the Indo-Pacific region. Xi Jinping’s Chinese Dream envisions comprehensive China-centered governance within the geographical footprint of BRI in accordance with the norms, institutions, and values of the Communist Party of China (CPC) by 2049.

The current US-China stand-off underlines a major shift in the arena of geopolitical rivalry to technological competition. Unlike India, China and the US understand the importance of Science and Technology as drivers of growth and ultimately, geopolitical power. China aims to become the most globally advanced Science & Technology nation by 2050. Since Technology is the real foundation of power, this is triggering a US backlash.

This case study of Kailash Sacred Landscape Conservation and Development Initiative attempts to understand the role of participant states; China, India and Nepal in relation to local and global non-state actors around a natural and culturally constructed landscape.

While India has a long history of functional capital markets, both China and India started market reforms process almost around the same time. But the size of the Chinese market is much bigger today than India’s.

The paper discusses the rising tension at each of the three main flashpoints in Northeast Asia, driven by China’s desire for a new China-centered order.

What the strategic underpinnings of China’s foreign policy are, depend on one’s theory of the case. It depends on what foreign policy is considered to be, what weight is given to personality, perception, structures and other factors in making and determining foreign policy.

This paper examines Chinese arguments and justifications for the BRI 'belt and road initiative' in so far as they relate to India, but the weaknesses of these arguments have much to offer other countries that have joined or are seeking to join the BRI.

China gives an enormous amount of aid to African countries in the form of grants, interest-free loans and concessional (or preferential) loans. Findings reveal that a one per cent increase in aid allocation to Africa is associated with 0.6 per cent increase in bilateral trade, signifying that the ‘aid for trade’ hypothesis holds true.

This article examines how China’s growth model has changed and developed since its global economic emergence in the late 1970s, and assesses prospects for China remaining the largest country in purchasing parity terms.

The essay examines BRI in terms of China’s direct economic, political and domestic interests, the funding arrangements for its projects, including aid and loans, and the potential gains for the countries and the regions that are to participate in the connectivity and infrastructure oriented projects, including the maritime projects. It looks closely at the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and the possible connectivity gains that participating countries may obtain among themselves, suggesting that what is being created are ‘international public goods’, even if China has not yet engaged in participatory, comprehensive and equal dialogue among all that are current and potential beneficiaries of BRI actions.

Syngenta, a Swiss seeds and pesticides manufacturing group, one of the largest in Europe and a world leader, is all set to be acquired by ChemChina, a Chinese state-owned enterprise for a record US$43 billion. One of the largest and boldest attempts to date by a Chinese firm to invest in a business abroad, it is believed to be part of China’s comprehensive strategy to ensure food security for its population in the age of climate change, shrinking and polluted open and ground water resources, degrading land quality and increasing demand for high protein foods.

Chinese Internet companies have bet big on the region through investments and partnerships with Southeast Asian companies in e-commerce, digital finance, gaming, and cloud computing, among other things. This paper presents a number of economic opportunities for the region to leapfrog stages in digital connectivity and technology but also poses political and strategic challenges to ASEAN that need to be acknowledged and addressed sooner rather than later