Abstract
ABSTRACT This paper´s central hypothesis is that China´s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) implies the construction of new networks in the international division of labor that insert the partner countries in a peripheral condition towards China. Although it is clear that the ambitious project of Eurasia´s integration, announced by Xi Jinping in 2013 and formalized in 2017, is by itself a novelty of structural impacts in the international system, it is also a product of deep transformations within China since the early 2000s and, to understand its current impacts, it is crucial to look back at the roots of China’s foreign insertion in the previous decade. This paper is divided into the following sections: i) a brief discussion of the three major domestic transformations in China since the 2000s; ii) China’s economic statecraft overseas as a byproduct of strategic and economic forces; iii) the symbolic-institutional dimension of that economic statecraft; iv) a case study of Chinese projection in Southeast (SE) Asia divided in two parts, which correspond to the two waves of outward foreign direct investments (OFDI); and v) final considerations. RESUMO A hipotese central deste artigo e que a iniciativa chinesa da Nova Rota da Seda (BRI, em ingles) implica a construcao de novas redes na divisao internacional do trabalho que inserem os paises parceiros em uma condicao periferica em relacao a China. Embora esteja claro que o ambicioso projeto de integracao da Eurasia, anunciado por Xi Jinping em 2013 e formalizado em 2017, e por si so uma novidade de impactos estruturais no sistema internacional, a BRI e tambem um produto de profundas transformacoes domesticas da China desde o inicio dos anos 2000 e, para entender seus impactos atuais, e crucial olhar para as raizes da insercao internacional chinesa. Este artigo esta dividido nas seguintes secoes: i) uma breve discussao das tres principais transformacoes internas na China desde os anos 2000; ii) o estatismo economico chines no exterior como subproduto de forcas estrategicas e economicas; iii) a dimensao simbolico-institucional deste estatismo economico; iv) um estudo de caso da projecao chinesa no Sudeste (SE) da Asia dividido em duas partes, que correspondem as duas ondas de investimentos externos diretos (IED); e v) consideracoes finais
Highlights
Immanuel Wallerstein (1974) argues that the modern world-system is composed of two overlapping and mutually affected subsystems: the power struggle between sovereign states and the international division of labor under the Braudelian logic of capitalism
What defines the position of states in this hierarchy is the predominance of activities that produce capital accumulation and derive large portions of profit from the world-economy and less sophisticated activities that transfer value to the core
This papers central hypothesis is that Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) implies the construction of new networks in the international division of labor that insert the partner countries in a peripheral condition towards China
Summary
Chinas economic statecraft has been reinforced by a symbolicinstitutional drive, which can be defined as the set of actions of government entities responsible for building a peaceful and responsible image of China abroad. The internationalization of SOEs in energy and transport sectors makes China’s economic and geopolitical goals converge: on the one hand, it means a new path to keep the capital accumulation of companies that were facing a saturated domestic market; on the other, it guarantees access to vital energy resources, creates a logistic belt of ports under Chinese control that can harbor warships and grants some leverage over the hosting countrys politics by controlling strategic economic sectors This way, Wallerstein’s perspective is valid, for the creation of core-periphery relations reinforces the asymmetry in inter-state power relations and vice-versa
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