International Political Economy from a Chinese Angle

China’s BRI in Central and Eastern European Countries: The Role of ‘17+1’ Framework for Regional Economic Cooperation

“…This study highlights and attempts to shape the theoretical framework to understand China's BRI and 17+1 framework in the context of economic engagement in the region� Whereas the EU does not seem to restrict the third country's position in the CEE regions� Even the Western countries enthusiastically joined hands with China's BRI expansion there (Jacoby, 2014)� In China, there are political commentators and prominent authors that discuss BRI and its allied forum shaping the economic cooperation in the CEE countries (Liu, 2018;Song & Qiqi, 2018)� China's economic diplomacy and its expansionist discourses connect internationally in the context of liberal trade and investment� China's domestic policy shapes its national interest on international platforms rather through the BRI projects, and not win-win outcomes� The economic policy of China extends to its foreign policy in the form of geoeconomics as well as geopolitics connectivity around the world (Fewsmith, 1999;Z� Wang, 2004;Wenli, 2001)� China's policy discourse is to pioneer the economic relationship to get benefits of China's presence outside its geographical location� There is a one main motto -to achieve economic supremacy at the global level� The Chinese government wants its economic and trade stronghold in Asia, Europe, and Africa (Kurlantzick, 2007) According to Ruggie, the theoretical framework corresponds to a cooperation tool between bilateralism and multilateralism� A normative structure ties up with the principles and terms of economic cooperation that need to be pointed out� These kinds of principles are useful for rational study to find out the output in the context of qualitative multilateralism across the world� On the other hand, China's foreign policy is constantly striving to strengthen multilateral cooperation to pave the way for BRI projects globally� The normative form of cooperation in the context of multilateralism level is used by China in the developing world� The Chinese academic debate is largely discussing multilateralism's commitment to strengthening BRI cooperation in Third World countries� This is the central issue of a Chinese think tank to expedite the thought process of economic engagement in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Latin American countries (Jakóbowski, 2018, p� cooperation with developed countries is an example of an economic giant challenging the USA across the world� Pepermans (2018) discussed that Chinese diplomacy uses the norms of soft power and economics to gain an advantage in order to establish a stronger partnership with the CEE and Balkan countries� (Pavlićević, 2019a) analysed soft power as a tool for economic cooperation with the CEE countries by China and also for the EU, respectively�…”

The Logic and Contradictions of 'Peaceful Rise/Development' as China's Grand Strategy

“…49 Wu notes that: 'regime security is usually considered an element of national security'. 50 Even China's concern to maintain cultural distinctiveness and avoid Westernization, 51 can be read as eliding with regime security and sovereignty: it has even been argued that the recent concern with soft power reflects the necessity to defend the legitimacy of the CCP against Western cultural penetration. 52 In the eyes of the regime there is therefore a close two-way linkage between the security of CCP rule (necessary to guide the turbulent path of rapid development), and the maintenance of economic growth (necessary both to support the legitimacy of CCP rule, and to lift all boats at the same time as capitalist-style development raises inequalities within China).…”