Routledge Handbook of China's Belt and Road Initiative in Eurasia by Sahakyan, Mher D.; Lo, Kevin;

Short description:

This handbook analyses the impact of China’s Belt and Road geostrategy in Eurasia. Over the last decade the BRI helped bring China economic and political superpower status, but the Russo-Ukrainian war brought seismic geopolitical and geoeconomic impacts.

Long description:

This handbook critically analyses and examines the impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) geostrategy in Eurasia. Over the last decade, the BRI contributed to China becoming an economic and political superpower, but the Russo–Ukrainian War brought seismic geopolitical and geoeconomic impacts and a new struggle between great powers. Covering the impact of the BRI and the positions of other great, middle, and small powers, the ten parts explain the geopolitical and geoeconomic dynamics along the Silk Road Economic Belt’s six major economic corridors, implementing case studies on Europe, South Caucasus, Central Asia, Russian Far East, Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia.

Expert scholars from East, West, North, and South engage with BRI concepts to create a book that will be of interest to policymakers, businesspeople, scholars, and students of area studies, cybersecurity and digitalisation, economics, security studies, the politics of international trade, foreign policy, global governance, and international organisations.

"Amid geographically non-congruous arrangements gaining traction as a way of readjusting to the evolving power transition in the world, the Belt and Road Initiative continues to be a bellwether of ‘reglobalisation’. In its avatar 3.0, this ‘project of the century’ continues to encompass more than it old and new economic value, along with cultural, political, space, and security dynamics. The Routledge Handbook of China’s Belt and Road Inititiative in Eurasia demonstrates well how the Initiative facilitates the transformation of Asia into Eurasia and beyond, thus making this a multinetworked and multialigned ecosystem. It also underlines the BRI’s relevance as a global phenomenon despite the new political realities in the United States and the noise about China’s economic slowdown. Finally, in an era of ‘corridorisation’, the Handbook contributors reinforce the mantra: “It doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.”

 - Dr Narayanappa Janardhan, Director, Research and Analysis, Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy, Abu Dhabi

"Dr. Mher D. Sahakyan and Dr. Kevin Lo united scholars from different parts of the world to present all voices from East, West, North, and South. The authors analyzed the Belt and Road Initiative’s corridors, providing recommendations on the further development of the initiative. The authors have introduced case studies on Central Asia, the Middle East, the South Caucasus, Europe, and other regions to bring facts in detail. Among the key topics of the Routledge Handbook of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Eurasia, are chapters on the Digital and Space Silk Road, environmental Governance, and Critical Raw Materials. Authors’ interviews with practitioners and scholars from different Eurasian states also bring credibility to this work. 

According to this research, the Belt and Road Initiative in a Eurasian continent under a Multipolar World Order 2.0 is an essential building blok, and it will be more crucial to global geopolitics, peace, and development. As this study suggests, China and Eurasian countries can utlise opportunities and resolve the challenges within and beyond the BRI. In my opinion, the features of this new Handbook are consistent with the substances of the conjunction of global initiatives, which brings additional opportunities for further research.

There is no doubt that in a Multipolar World Order 2.0 the Routledge Handbook of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Eurasia, which represents the collaboration among and beyond Eurasian academic boundaries or nationalities, will provide scholarly welfare and inspiration for global readers, bringing new ideas and research."

- Zheng Yuntian (Professor at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China, director of the World Socialism Institute in RUC)

Table of Contents:

PART I 1. Introduction of the Belt and Road Initiative in the Eurasian Continent  PART II: Silk Road Economic Belt 2. Rebuilding Eurasian Interconnectivity: China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor  3. Evolution of the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor: Weighing functionality and rhetoric  4. Explaining the Belt and Road Initiative: A Case Study of the New Eurasian Land Bridge Economic Corridor  5. Understanding Bangladesh–China–India–Myanmar Economic Corridor in the Era of Multipolar World Order 2.0: Perspectives from Bangladesh  6. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in Multipolar World Order 2.0: Perspectives from India  7. China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor and Lancang-Mekong Sub-Regional Cooperation in the Era of Multipolar World Order 2.0 PART III: Digital and Space Silk Roads  8. The security dimension of the Digital Silk Road: from Netpolitik to Digitalpolitik 9. Sino-Russian Cybersecurity Cooperation in a Multipolar World Order: Implications for the Digital Silk Road 10. China’s Starry Constellations with Russia and the Global South: The Space Silk Road Analysed  PART IV: Environmental Governance and Critical Raw Materials 11. The Environmental Governance of China’s Belt and Road Initiative  12. Belt and Road Initiative’s impact on Critical Raw Materials in Eurasia:  The case of the EU PART V: Geopolitical Dynamics 13. Unpacking Chinese Communication about the Belt and Road Initiative: Moral Realist Project in a World Order 2.0  14. China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the US Indo-Pacific Strategy: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis  15. From Obama to Biden: The United States Position on BRI under the “China Threat” Narrative  PART VI: Central Asia and the Russian Far East 16. Multipolarity, the Rise of China, and Kazakhstan's Emergence as a Middle Power  17. The Belt and Road Initiative in Central Asia: Opportunities and Challenges for Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan  18. India and China in Central Asia: Neither Rivalry nor Collaboration  19. Social Innovation Projects in Belt and Road Initiative Countries: Case Studies of Uzbekistan and China   20. Chinese Investment in the Russian Far East: Problems and Prospects  PART VII: South Caucasus 21. Beyond the West-Russia Dichotomy: Case Studies on the Hedging Strategies of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia  22. The International North-South Transport Corridor and the Belt and Road Initiative in the South Caucasus  PART VIII: Middle East  23. The Belt and Road Initiative and China–GCC Relations: Strategic Partnerships in a Multipolar World Order 2.0   24. Prospects for New Infrastructure Cooperation between China and the Gulf Countries Under the Belt and Road Initiative  25. Iran's Look East Policy and the Energy Silk Road: The Energy Partnership of Iran and China  26. Navigating the Silk Road in Central and Eastern Europe  PART IX: Europe 27. Towards a Shared Future: Upgrade of Strategic Partnership between China and Serbia within the BRI framework  28. Rethinking Italy-China Cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative: The Communication’s Impact in the Italian Case Study  PART X: Conclusion 29. Conclusion: A Research and Policy Agenda for the Belt and Road Initiative