China’s Momentum: The “One Belt One Road” Triple’s Securitisation

The Soft Power of China and the European Union in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative and Global Strategy

“…Here, he proposed the creation of an overland Silk Road economic belt stretching from China to Europe; and one month later, in Indonesia, he announced a twenty-first century maritime Silk Road (Xinhua 2015). Like the ancient Silk Road, the BRI aims to bring China back to the centre of the world (Duarte and Xing 2018). At the same time, it is informed by an open-door policy as underlined by the action plan released by China's National Development and Reform Commission: 'it is open to all countries, and international and regional organizations for engagement [.…”

“…Such adaptation has been made through the BRI, which rests on a narrative that the government has forged for both internal and external consumption. This narrative aims at assuaging the international community's fears regarding China's real intentions underlying the BRI (Duarte and Xing 2018).…”

“…Indeed, there is a certain revisionism-oriented goal in the BRI as it emerges as a soft tool designed to counter the Western-led international relations and build an international system alternative to the Westphalian order (Dreyer 2015). Hence, the BRI has been used as a tool to build a Chinese-centred order based on Pax Sinica (Duarte and Xing 2018).…”

NT - 52 - Dinte - A Nova Rota da Seda e a Projeção Econômica Internacional da China: Redes de Financiamento, Fluxos de Investimento Externo Direto (IED) e Contratos de Construção

“…Os investimentos no setor de energia, o principal foco do apetite chinês, direcionam-se em especial para o setor extrativo (petróleo, gás e carvão), o que revela a pretensão do governo chinês em assegurar a segurança energética do país (Duarte, 2019;Martins e Pereira, 2019). No caso dos países da BRI, cerca de 52% dos investimentos em energia são alocados nos setores de petróleo, gás e carvão, enquanto o percentual para países fora da iniciativa é de aproximadamente 40%.…”