The world is getting increasingly divided between (US-led) geopolitical and (China-led) geoeconomic narratives and dynamics. Geopolitically, we are witnessing the rise of new narratives coming from Washington DC. The new ideological-geopolitical buzzword is the concept of ‘value based’ or ‘rules-based order’, an order which the West and its allies (EU members, India, Japan and Australia) are claiming to stand for. The new geographic imaginary that this narrative resides in is the relatively new-fangled concept of ‘Indo-Pacific’, which aims to accommodate India in this geopolitical mix. This narrative and its geography are a thinly veiled ideological construct directed against China, designed for a possible Cold War 2.0. There are some geoeconomic initiatives from the US (B3W) and the EU (Connectivity Strategy) but they are not supported by a serious volume of actual investments.
Geoeconomically, China is formulating narratives, initiatives, and official agreements to defy those geopolitical dynamics. It is promoting the ‘new Silk Road’ narrative, with its sub-narrative of ‘win-win cooperation’. Initiatives include the BRI, which is an empty umbrella concept and branding strategy for Chinese-led geoeconomics in the world. But it is backed by agreements such as RCEP, which is even attracting ideological rivals such as Japan, Australia, and New Zealand as well as all of the ASEAN countries and South Korea. Hong Kong is planning to join soon. If the US, the EU and India want to compete with China comprehensively and seriously, they need to actually invest in developing countries and engage in the nitty-gritty details of signing economic and trade agreements to rival agreements such as RCEP and initiatives such as the BRI. Ideological value based narratives are necessary but far from enough if they are not backed by actual economic agreements and initiatives. Without resorting to ‘value’-judgments, China is economically engaging (not always successfully but consistently) in places such as Myanmar (and the rest of the ASEAN countries, some of which don’t like China much), Afghanistan (at the expense of the US And India), Iran (at the expense of the US and EU economic interests), the Arab world, Pakistan (at the expense of the US influence), Latin America, and Africa.
M. Forough
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