Among the news items and analyses from this week, of particular interest is a New York Times opinion piece titled [Is China a Colonial Power?]. Looking at the rapid development and unfolding of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the author critically tackles the question whether Beijing’s new global projection is truly ‘only’ aimed at enhancing development-oriented connectivity, or is in fact a thinly veiled (new) form of colonialism. On the one hand, the BRI can be seen as a genuine attempt by China to start living up to its ‘inherent’ role as a major global player in a ‘responsible’ way - something that former US President George W. Bush called for back in 2005 -, sharing its impressive development expertise with an ever-growing number of countries. Beijing’s win-win rhetoric can also be interpreted as a welcome reformist voice against the at best mixed results of the so-called Washington Consensus development orthodoxy embodied by e.g. the IMF and the World Bank (where the BRI’s macroeconomic relevance has started to be seriously assessed - see e.g. [Three Opportunities and Three Risks of the Belt and Road Initiative]), especially when looking at China’s ‘embrace’ of Africa vis-à-vis the West’s insufficient investments in that continent.
On the other hand, there are elements that clash with the non-threatening, slightly romanticised message of a ‘global Silk Road’ incessantly conveyed by Beijing. First, it is beyond doubt that China is using the BRI to make inroads in its strategically crucial neighbourhood, particularly in the Central Asian countries bordering its restive westernmost provinces (especially Xinjiang). Second, the scale of some of China’s BRI projects can be overwhelming for weaker economic actors. The case of Sri Lanka, unable to pay back the $8 billion it owes Chinese state-owned enterprises for building major infrastructure on its territory, and subsequently ‘convinced’ to lease its port in Hambantota to China for 99 years, is uncannily reminiscent of the terms for which another strategic port, Hong Kong, was leased by the Qing to the British in circumstances that epitomise colonialism.
Overall, the article does make a good case that the BRI should not be seen as a monolithic endeavour, either selflessly world-saving or bleakly aimed at world domination, but rather as a multi-faceted conglomerate of projects with varying aims, scale, and eventual success.
Francesco S. Montesano
The next issue of Silk Road Headlines will be dated 23 May 2018
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To increase awareness of and facilitate the debate on China's Belt and Road Initiative, the Clingendael Institute publishes Silk Road Headlines, a weekly update on relevant news articles from open sources.
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