Soft balancing against the US ‘pivot to Asia’: China’s geostrategic rationale for establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Chan, Lai-Ha

doi:10.1080/10357718.2017.1357679

Cited by 33 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In this context, Beijing is mixing new ideas like the Chinese dream or Asia for Asian, establishing new institutions such as Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), and proposing new regional and cross-regional plans like BRI to build new governance ideas, norms, and rules. From a neorealist perspective, Chan (2017) argued that China sees US strategy in Asia as a threat to its national interests. In response, China has launched initiatives like BRI and the AIIB to rebalance with the USA and carve out a regional security space in Eurasia to mitigate the threat from the USA and its allies in Asia.…”

Section: Belt and Road Initiative: Expanding China-pakistan Geoeconomic Cooperationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A geoeconomic and geopolitical review of Gwadar Port on belt and road initiative

Gholizadeh

Madani

Saneinia

2020

MABR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose By combining geopolitical and economic factors and from a geoeconomic perspective, the importance of Gwadar to China and Pakistan is discussed in detail. By applying geoeconomic approach and based on the historical approach, geographical and geopolitical conditions and international development trends of Gwadar port, the authors develop the analytical framework to analyze the Gwadar port and studied its importance in the development of China and Pakistan, as well as the positive influence on the economic growth of both countries. Design/methodology/approach A geoeconomic study is done to run a more profound and more comprehensive analysis of China–Pakistan economic relationship, as geoeconomic includes interrelations of geographical, geopolitical and economic factors in international relations. Findings The results show that Gwadar Port's development could enhance the economic security of both China and Pakistan. With the opening of Gwadar Port, oil and energy in the Middle East will be imported directly to China through Pakistan's oil pipeline. This is not only oil but also goods from Central Asia, and even Europe and the USA will land from Gwadar Port and enter China through the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The development of Gwadar port under the CPEC program could also dramatically increase the capacity of Pakistan's maritime trade while reducing its dependence on the current largest port, Karachi, near the India border. Originality/value Geo-economics theory is used to run a more profound and more comprehensive analysis of China–Pakistan economic relationship as geoeconomic includes interrelations of geographical, location, geopolitical and economic factors in international relations. By combining geopolitical and economic factors and from a geoeconomic perspective, this study seeks to analyze the Gwadar port development and its implications for both China and Pakistan.

show abstract

Section: Belt and Road Initiative: Expanding China-pakistan Geoeconomic Cooperationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A geoeconomic and geopolitical review of Gwadar Port on belt and road initiative

Gholizadeh

Madani

Saneinia

2020

MABR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…America’s policy, as discussed in the previous section, seeks to reinvigorate American presence in Asia by strengthening a network of alliances in a bid to balance (or contain) China’s rise. Beijing, in its counter-response, rejected networks of alliances and called for common partnerships among nations as a way of common security (Chan, 2017, p. 572). Such a response attunes well with China’s economic prebalancing.…”

Section: Myanmar’s Unique Importance In China’s ‘Economic Prebalancinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is reflected in the OBOR initiative, such that China presents itself as a benign power-maker, seeking to delegitimize US presence in the Eurasian zone, particularly in the Indian Ocean region. As Chan (2017, p. 573) notes, the OBOR is a Chinese ‘great game’ that seeks to create a ‘Eurasian zone of economic influence in its West’ (Chan, 2017, p. 573). In response to America’s intention to contain China, such a great game envisages undermining American influence from the east without open military confrontation.…”

Section: Myanmar’s Unique Importance In China’s ‘Economic Prebalancinmentioning

confidence: 99%

China’s Balancing Behaviour Against the United States and the Special Importance of Myanmar

Mannan

2020

Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

As China rises, Sino–US competition for influence in East and Southeast Asia has become inescapable. China’s growing influence on its south-western neighbour, Myanmar, is a case in point. The impact of China’s rise is more strongly felt, politically and economically, in Myanmar than elsewhere in the world. This article asks the follow question: What explains China’s more aggressive political and economic clout in Myanmar than elsewhere in the world? To answer this question, this article argues that Myanmar holds a unique importance to China’s balancing act against the preponderance of American power in a unipolar world. Most of the available literature on China’s inroads into Myanmar focus on China’s geopolitical and strategic interests. With such focus, existing literatures take on Myanmar’s importance to China in terms of China’s politics of resource extraction that meets the requirement of its overall economic development. There is no denying it—resource extraction is important for China in order to feed its expanding economy. But hardly any study frames Myanmar’s special weight in China’s politics of resource extraction from the perspective of Beijing’s balancing act against the United States (US). China’s balancing act is characterized by an ‘economic prebalancing’ strategy. The strategy is rooted in China’s grand strategy of acquiring ‘comprehensive national strength’, and more precisely, it is embedded in Beijing’s ‘peaceful development’ strategy. The article asserts that Myanmar is critically important in China’s economic prebalancing strategy against the United States.

show abstract

“…Such a goal dovetails with Chinese aspirations of re-establishing a Sinocentric sphere of influence (and hegemony) in Asia (Kupchan, 2014: 253). Moreover, with the AIIB, it is possible for China to soft-balance the US (Chan, 2017). At this stage, however, the motivations that led 55 states from all over the world to join Beijing before the official launch of the AIIB remain unexplained.…”

Section: Igos: Formation and Membershipmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who joins counter-hegemonic IGOs? Early and late members of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Vieira

2018

Research & Politics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

What makes states join intergovernmental organizations intended to challenge a hegemon? The China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), founded in June 2015, targets the primacy of the US-led Asian Development Bank (ADB) in the Asia-Pacific region, and is a crucial case for answering this question. I argue that early AIIB members are likely to be politically distant from the US in both international and domestic terms. In contrast, subsequent states seeking AIIB membership include democratic states, existing ADB members and countries internationally aligned with the US, as measured by voting similarity at the United Nations General Assembly. Through logit models, I test these propositions and analyze which states adhered to the 2014 Memorandum of Understanding that signaled Beijing's willingness to form the Bank and which states joined the AIIB subsequently at its foundation in 2015. The results support my claim that early members tend to score low in democratic governance, while late members are US allies.

show abstract

Soft balancing against the US ‘pivot to Asia’: China’s geostrategic rationale for establishing the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Cited by 33 publications

References 15 publications

A geoeconomic and geopolitical review of Gwadar Port on belt and road initiative

A geoeconomic and geopolitical review of Gwadar Port on belt and road initiative

China’s Balancing Behaviour Against the United States and the Special Importance of Myanmar

Who joins counter-hegemonic IGOs? Early and late members of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About