Four years and hundreds of billions of dollars later, China’s ambitious global trading strategy known as the “New Maritime Silk Road” or “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) is now coming to life, particularly in parts of East Africa where major infrastructure and defense projects are being built. New ports in Tanzania, rail lines in Kenya, naval facilities in Djibouti and industrial zones along the Suez canal in Egypt are all intended to support this massive new trade network that president Xi Jinping hopes will become a key pillar of his foreign policy agenda.
With the first phase of construction nearing completion in East Africa, focus is now shifting to the next stage where Chinese planners are reportedly considering expanding the trading route inland into Central Africa. This is prompting intense new lobbying battles among African countries to win Beijing’s favor and the billions of dollars of badly-needed infrastructure investment that come with being a node on the “One Belt, One Road” network.
Many outsiders know very little about “One Belt, One Road” and its history. The incorrect assumption is that this is a new phase of Xi’s more assertive global foreign policy designed to challenge the US-led international economic order. In contrast, OBOR is rooted in a decade-old policy that was actually designed to counter fears of a hegemonic China. The so-called “Peaceful Rise” or “Peaceful Development” was first introduced by former Chinese president Hu Jintao when he promoted the concept of fusing China’s expanding foreign policy objectives with a development agenda and a global trading strategy.
Matt Ferchen is an Associate Professor of International Relations at Tsinghua University and a Resident Scholar at the Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy where he is a leading OBOR expert with a particular focus on how it will impact the global south. Matt joins Eric & Cobus to discuss the new politics of Chinese trade.
Show Notes:
- The Maritime Executive: Extending the Great Silk Road Into Central Africa by Harry Valentine
- Foreign Affairs: China Keeps the Peace: How Peaceful Development Helps and Hinders China by Matt Ferchen
- Quartz: It costs twice as much to export olive oil from Spain using China’s “One Belt, One Road” railway by Begoña Blanco
Matt Ferchen is a resident scholar at the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, where he runs the China and the Developing World Program. His research focuses on the governance of China’s urban informal economy, debates about the “China model” of development, and economic and political relations between China and Latin America.
Ferchen is also an associate professor in the Department of International Relations at Tsinghua University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on international and Chinese political economy as well as on China–Latin America relations.
Ferchen is a Truman and Fulbright-Hays fellow. His work has appeared in numerous publications including the Review of International Political Economy and the Chinese Journal of International Politics. Ferchen has lived, worked, and conducted research in China and Latin America.
