Regional Cooperation Mechanism Research Articles

A social network analysis of tourism cooperation in the Yangtze River Delta: A supply and demand perspective.

This study explores the spatial structure of regional tourism cooperation networks among 27 cities in the Yangtze River Delta from the perspective of supply and demand. Data from the supply network were collected from official news released by the Chinese government and quotations for tour routes published by travel agencies. Travel notes published on tourists’ blog community platforms about their travel experiences were used as source data for the demand network. The degree of cooperation between the cities was analyzed based on the frequency of occurrence and co-occurrence of information on tourist attractions or cities in the Yangtze River Delta region in tourist notes, tourist route quotes, and official news. This study divides 27 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region into three categories: those where supply matches demand (e.g., Shanghai and Nanjing), nine cities where there is a demand lag (e.g., Zhenjiang), and 16 cities where there is a supply lag (e.g., Wuxi). Investigating the differences between the supply and demand networks is helpful to understand the effectiveness of regional tourism cooperation mechanisms and government policies, which is crucial for the sustainability and good governance of regional tourism.

Introduction to the Project for Strengthening the ASEAN Regional Capacity on Disaster Health Management (ARCH Project).

Southeast Asia is the second biggest region in the world in terms of the total number of natural disasters since 1900. Therefore, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) initiated regional challenges toward strengthening regional collaboration for disaster prevention and response since the earthquake of Sumatra in Indonesia occurred in 2004. Moreover, ASEAN Leaders signed "the ASEAN Declaration on One ASEAN, One Response" in 2016. Under these circumstances, ASEAN decided to implement the Project for Strengthening the ASEAN Regional Capacity on Disaster Health Management (ARCH Project). The objective of the ARCH Project is to strengthen coordination on disaster health management (DHM) for rapid and effective response to disasters occurring in the ASEAN region and to enhance the capacity of each ASEAN Member State (AMS) on DHM. This article aims to overview the outline and its strategy, and review the progress of the project. ARCH Project is an ASEAN official project supported by Japan's official development assistance. Five outputs were launched for: (1) coordination platform on DHM; (2) framework of regional collaboration practices; (3) tools for effective regional collaboration; (4) enhancement of academic network on DHM; and (5) capacity development activities for each AMS. The Project was reviewed in terms of accomplishment and evaluation criteria. Regional Coordination Committee on DHM was established as a coordination platform to: Oversee the implementation of the ARCH Project for the Output 1; Regional Collaboration Drill was developed and conducted for the Output 2; The standard operating procedure for coordination of emergency medical teams (EMTs) in ASEAN was developed for the Output 3; Various presentations on ARCH were made in academic conferences for the Output 4; and Several training programs and educational curricula were developed for the Output 5. The Project has accomplished its Project Purpose and satisfied all the indicators set. ARCH Project has high Relevance, Impact, Sustainability, and Effectiveness, while some improvements in Efficiency are needed. ARCH Project is the first-ever successful regional cooperation mechanism and standardization of DHM in ASEAN, one of the most disaster-prone regions. It also contributes to the capacity building of AMS. The ARCH Project has a remarkable impact on the resilience and flexible medical response to disasters, although continuous efforts of stakeholders to make this initiative sustainable are necessary.

Reimagining regional cooperation as a springboard for curbing piracy off the coast of Nigeria

Nigerian waters remain risky for navigation. Despite efforts by the Nigerian government to suppress piracy off its coast, little progress has been made. Moreover, Nigeria is ill-equipped, ill-prepared and lacks effective enforcement of the extant piracy legal regime due to an inefficient institutional framework to combat piracy suo motu. This paper suggests the adoption of the regional cooperation mechanism to curb piracy in Nigeria, given the number of piracy incidents off its coast and the fact that the coast extends to the waters of neighbouring countries. Additionally, Nigerian piracy affects the navigational and geostrategic importance of the Gulf of Guinea to the global energy supply and international trade, and it implicates regional trade agreements in Africa. The research methodology is a dialectical analysis of data, legal instruments, and scholarly publications. Also, this research uses the application of anti-piracy regional cooperation agendas in other piracy hotspots to suggest the adoption of regional cooperation to suppress Nigerian piracy. The results reveal that attempts to curb piracy in Nigeria have been futile because the country lacks the political will to eliminate the causes of piracy. Since Nigerian piracy has a regional effect, regional cooperation would be apt to suppress this crime. Legal instruments, soft laws, regional agreements and international maritime organisations promote regional cooperation in combating piracy. Consequently, the paper explores factors that bolster and sustain regional cooperation as a means of repressing piracy off the Nigerian coast.

UKRAINE CONFLICT AND RUSSIAN INVASION, AND CHINA’S CLAIM FOR A NEW STRATEGY TO INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM

From the Chinese perspective, over the past decade, the international system and order have changed into multilateralism, with a fundamental contribution from People’s Republic of China. However Chinese government considers that geopolitical risks have been exacerbated, US government try to suppress and prevent China from enhancing its status in the international system and to use Ukrainian conflict to build blocs led by United States. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic intensified rising nationalism and protectionism. China’s strategy for the international system is being adjusted accordingly. Our research want to understand the China’s strategy for the international system in three aspects: First, what mean to Chinese leaders upholding the international system. Second, what represents to promote reform of the international governance system. And third, what is the further develop the international system for the global economy, finance, and emerging sectors and for regional cooperation mechanisms, that China defends. From this framework, will be analyzed the evolution of China international policy, from their classic roots to the five principles of peaceful coexistence and “the Narratives on the Russian Invasion in Ukraine”, from two beacons: President Xi Jinping Speaks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, using a negative heuristic and a positive heuristic. But also, the Global Security Initiative for Peace and the Principle of Indivisible Security proposed by President Xi. Confronting “USA plan against Chinese Threat” and “China Global Development Initiative”, “China-EU Comprehensive Investment Agreement (CAI)” and the “Position Paper of the People’s Republic of China for the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly”. At last, this article debate the proposal of the XX Congress of Communist Party of China to a common future of people of China and the humanity toward a New Era of peace, genuine democracy, with full application of Universal Declarations of Human Rights Declaration and Ecocivilization.

Materia medica resources benefits Lancang-Mekong River:a new approach for sub-regional cooperation on traditional medicine

Lancang-Mekong Cooperation is a new type of subregional cooperation mechanism initiated and built by China and other five countries of the Lancang-Mekong subregion, namely Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Countries in the Lancang-Mekong subregion are geographically and culturally connected, and they have nurtured their unique traditional medicine. By combing the history of traditional medicine exchanges between China and other Lancang-Mekong countries and their progress of modern research, this paper summarized the challenges and opportunities of traditional medicine cooperation in the Lancang-Mekong subregion. It has been found that many regional cooperation mechanisms coexist for a long time in the Lancang-Mekong subregion and the medicinal resources are abundant. However, the degree of their development and utilization varies, and modern scientific research is insufficient. Lancang-Mekong Cooperation has provided a strong support for integrating the advantageous resources in Lancang-Mekong subregion countries and making progress together. Focusing on the development and protection of medicinal resources, this paper puts forward a new path of cooperation in the intellectual property rights and characteristic seed resource protection, the compilation of universal herbal pharmacopoeia in various countries, the research and development of public health products, and the construction of traditional herbal industry bases, thus enabling the traditional medicine to better protect the public health and building a human health community.

How to Reach a Regional Cooperation Mechanism to Deal With the Epidemic: An Analysis From the Game Theory Perspective.

The outbreak and persistence of COVID-19 have posed a great threat to global public health and economic development. The continuous economic deterioration has been intensified due to the continuous prevention and control measures, such as closed management. Insisting on the prevention of the epidemic or economic restart has become a dilemma for all countries. Epidemic prevention is not only the main behavior of a single country but also a common problem faced by all countries in the region. Continuous prevention measures will affect economic development, but an early restart of the economy is faced with the recurrence of the epidemic. To avoid the emergence of prisoner's dilemma in the governance of the epidemic, each country cannot make decisions with its optimization, and so it is necessary to build a regional cooperation mechanism to achieve the overall optimization of the economy and prevent the epidemic. Based on the game theory, we analyzed the behavior of countries when carrying out regional cooperation to govern the epidemic and put forward specific cooperative income distribution schemes according to the different attributes of the countries. Our results showed that in the presence of population mobility, regional cooperation to govern the epidemic can minimize the total number of infected people and maximize the overall utility of the region, which was significantly better than the overall benefits of the region in the case of non-cooperation. However, in detail, the smaller the difference of preference for preventing and controlling the epidemic between the two, the more likely it is to lead to a win-win situation. Otherwise, there will be one with damaged interests. When damaged interests appear, the appropriate distribution of cooperative income to the country with a small economic scale and low preference in preventing the epidemic is more conducive to the achievement of cooperative mechanisms and the realization of a win-win situation in the region.

Progress and Prospects: Sino-Russian Strategic Coordination in Multilateral Mechanisms

Abstract As China and Russia face a complex international and neighborhood environment with many uncertainties and real security threats, it is of special significance to strengthen cooperation within the multilateral framework at the regional and higher level, including leading the establishment of new regional cooperation mechanisms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). China and Russia are interacting in global and regional frameworks such as the United Nations (U.N.), BRICS, G20, APEC, and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, and jointly promoting cooperation between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union. All of these add more connotations and richer levels of cooperation in the Sino-Russian comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination in the new era. The two countries share the same or similar views on many international and regional issues and have extensive common interests in security, economic and political fields, which is an important prerequisite and basis for multilateral cooperation. There are inevitable differences between the two major powers in goals on regional issues, yet those differences haven’t become substantial obstacles to multilateral cooperation. Looking forward, with the complex changes in the international situation, especially in the post-pandemic era when there will be significant adjustments in the economic, political and security landscape, close cooperation between China and Russia within multilateral mechanisms can play an increasingly important role in improving the global and regional governance system, maintaining multilateralism and steering the international landscape in a more just and rational direction.

The Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR): The Emergence of a Voluntary Regional Cooperation Mechanism for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity Within a Fragmented Regional Ocean Governance Landscape

The San Jose Declaration formally established the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR) in 2004, a voluntary regional cooperation mechanism created by the coastal States of Ecuador, Costa Rica, Colombia, and Panama in response to anthropogenic pressures in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, one of the most productive and biodiverse oceans in the world. This article will explain how, in the absence of a coherent, overarching regional ocean governance framework, these four coastal States came together to create a regional cooperation mechanism for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. The key normative features of CMAR will be examined, as well as legal and governance challenges, such as its non-binding nature, large scale, limited sectoral engagement, and insufficient resources. The analysis will be couched within a discussion of the wider regional ocean governance framework, which remains fragmented, with gaps and overlaps in terms of membership, mandates and geographic coverage. Possibilities for integration, and the potential impact of a new treaty protecting biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ), will also be considered.

High-Quality Development and Institutionalization of the BRI

After the BRI enters a new stage, high-quality development is becoming its main goal, but there is no consensus among Chinese academic circles on how to achieve high-quality development. Based on the assumption that the BRI is a development-oriented regional economic cooperation mechanism, the author proposes that the connotation of its high-quality development lies in sustainability, and the path to achieve sustainability lies in its institutionalization. The development orientation of the BRI determines that it does not set rules as a threshold during its initial stage, thus providing opportunities for developing countries to participate in international economic cooperation. However, this does not mean that the BRI does not need rules and institutionalization. Institutionalization is an endogenous requirement for deepening the BRI cooperation, an inevitable choice for addressing exogenous challenges, and a prerequisite for docking with the existing global governance system. It should be pointed that the institutionalization cannot duplicate the existing institutionalization model of regional integration, but needs to follow the principles of mutual consultation, gradualism and the Viewpoint of Righteousness and Benefit. Therefore, high-quality development of the BRI requires the establishment of a sustainable cooperation system, a benefit distribution system and a support system.

Need of Regional Cooperation for Response and Recovery of COVID-19 in SAARC Countries

This study is based on need of regional cooperation for response and recovery of COVID-19 pandemic. For the analysis purpose, both primary and secondary data have been applied. Primary data is collected from the open-ended interview from which main theme and associated theme of regional integration to combat global pandemic have been identified and discussed. SAARC countries’ mutual response and recovery planning act as regional platform for cross country discussion and concentration. Sharing of experiences and resources may help to win over global pandemic through collaboration. It helps to bring human life of SAARC region to normality. Similar cross border and cross sectoral vulnerabilities can be controlled and out of control situation is tracked easily. One South Asia to check COVID-19 concept can bring regional cooperation, and engagement which will produce significant gains across South Asia. So, ranges of opportunities are there. Also, for mutual assistance to combat notorious virus, it is necessary to revise by identifying the possible mechanisms for regional cooperation so that all members can benefit through shared knowledge and mechanism. Even after the many years of establishment of SAARC, disaster mitigation plan for serious health issues has not been well established in this difficult and emergency period. This situation of cooperation will establish firmament for health care support and cooperation system in regional level. The mutual support for needy area of the SAARC region can be shared and comparative advantage for all. It would be easier to be a part of global arrangement to control and counter heinous Covid-19 crisis with multiple mutations. If this was the reason, then critical problems and humanitarian support could have been easier, and life of thousands of people can be saved in this pandemic period. Least developed countries like Nepal of this region urgently need regional and global support to counter the health crisis through medical support.

New transboundary water resources cooperation for Greater Mekong Subregion: the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation

Abstract The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) is a new type of regional cooperation mechanism in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). It was officially co-founded by six Lancang-Mekong countries in 2016. Water resources cooperation is the flagship field of the LMC. The goal of this article is to introduce comprehensively the LMC and to illustrate why it can be regarded as a new choice for regional water resources cooperation in the GMS. This paper first reviews the background to LMC's foundation, and then introduces the structural framework, operating mechanism and recent advances of the LMC. It will then analyze the deficiencies of the present water resources cooperation mechanisms in the GMS and the comparative advantages of water resources cooperation under LMC. Finally, some suggestions were given to improve and reinforce water resources cooperation under the LMC. This research concludes that the LMC is more suitable for the actual needs and objective reality of Lancang-Mekong countries owing to its high-level and all-round regional cooperation mechanism. It was established jointly by all riparian states, with a shared vision to enhance the well-being of six countries' people, and works to narrow the development gap among regional countries.

Методологический подход к моделированию межгосударственной электроводородной системы в северо-восточной Азии

The article proposes a methodological approach to the development of the tools for studying the international electro-hydrogen system creation in Northeast Asia. The term carrier was introduced and its definition was given. The resource, economic and technological prerequisites for the development of the unified regional infrastructure to produce, transfer, transform and utilise both electricity and carriers for consumers of energy services are considered. The author points out the need for a comprehensive consideration of technological, economic, social and political factors when developing such a complex technical system, which affects the diverse actors’ interests. In order to create mutual understanding and balance the stakeholders’ interests, the tool to evaluate the efficiency of such a system is necessary. The use of mathematical models is becoming one of the most vital and widespread techniques employed for this purposes. Thereby, the article deals with the structure and the development stages of the regional electrohydrogen model for Northeast Asia. The review of the models that address the issues of hydrogen technologies and renewable energy integration into energy supply systems is given. The main types of the models used to describe such technical and economic systems are identified and it is concluded that the development of the two-level models system is necessary. The production and transport models at the upper (international) level should be the core of the proposed models system. At the lower level (the hydrogen carriers production), the models of optimal resource management are required to determine the composition and parameters of the technological equipment. Step-by-step development of the models system is proposed. The first stage is the simplest scenario where only solar and wind energy is considered as an energy source. At this stage, it is possible to weed out inefficient technologies and identify targeted technologies and mechanisms for multilateral regional cooperation. The second stage should balance the interests of the actors and stakeholders. Here, the traditional renewable energy (biomass, hydro and pumped storage) along with (thermal) and nuclear power generation, as well as other (carbon) hydrogen technologies will become available for consideration. The final, third stage of the research tools development, will require separate accounting of and carbon energy to consider certification mechanisms and energy pricing when building the international hydrogen system in Northeast Asia. In conclusion, the structure of the first stage production and transport model is described. This model will allow estimating the comparative effectiveness of different electric and hydrogen technologies to deliver green energy to the consumers in the Northeast Asian economies.

Evolution Characteristics of Urban Land Use Efficiency Under Environmental Constraints in China

In the context of high-quality economic development and coordinated regional development, this paper measures the urban land use efficiency of 275 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2016, taking into account the unexpected output (environmental pollution), and explores the temporal and spatial evolution of urban land use efficiency through kernel density estimation and spatial autocorrelation analysis. The results show that: (1) From 2003 to 2016, China's urban land use efficiency showed an overall fluctuating growth, but it remained at a low level. The mean value of urban land use efficiency has been gradually decreasing in east, west and central regions. (2) In the whole country and the eastern, central and western regions, the regional differences have been increasing, and the efficiency values of the whole country and the east have become polarized. (3) Urban land use efficiency shows a weak spatial positive correlation, but the degree of spatial agglomeration is increasing. High-high agglomeration areas are mostly distributed in the southeastern coastal areas, and extend into the central region, while most of the high-low polarized areas are the capital cities of the central and western regions. The low-high depressed areas are scattered around the high-value accumulation areas, some of which have turned into high-high agglomeration areas during the study period, while the low-low homogeneous areas are mainly distributed in the central, western and northeastern regions. Therefore, it is proposed that strengthening the utilization of urban stock land, strengthening the regional cooperation mechanism, and formulating policies which improve the efficiency of land use are effective ways to promote the intensive and economical use of urban land, as well as regional coordinated development.

ASEAN's Position in Traning Peace in the South China Sea

In the present context, there are many different approaches and assessments of ASEAN'S position in maintaining peace in the South China Sea. The article with a positive view and approach from a historical perspective, the author analyzes the position and effective activities of this organization in maintaining peace in the South China Sea. Accordingly, ASEAN'S outstanding position in maintaining peace in the South China Sea is promoting Asean's central values, flexibility in handling issues and challenges related to peace, security, and regional developments, including the South China Sea issue. This is a fairly active organization in promoting confidence building measures, creating mechanisms for regional cooperation that can engage external partners, especially all major countries to achieve common regional goals.

Research on criminal judicial assistance in the context of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area——A case study of combating cross-border money laundering in Macao

According to the 「Outline Development Plan for Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area」, the relationship between Macao, Hong Kong and Guangdong Province is becoming closer and closer, and Macao SAR should integrate into the overall development of the country. Due to the special industrial structure and geographical location, the crime of cross-border money laundering in Macao SAR is very widespread, so the criminal judicial assistance has also been put on the agenda. The article will start from the legislative evolution and judicial status of money laundering in Macao and its neighboring areas, analyze the principles involved in the controversial issues in the process of exploring the dilemma of criminal judicial assistance, and demonstrate the feasibility of criminal judicial assistance in the context of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao from three dimensions of constitutional basis, existing legislative, legal basis and practical basis. Finally, on the premise of adhering to the principle of sovereignty and mutual respect, through expanding the case investigation system, strengthening the inter regional police cooperation and exchange mechanism, and promoting the signing of criminal judicial assistance agreements between different regions, we can seek to form a new mode of criminal judicial assistance in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao under the 「one country, two systems」.

Security Challenges for Small Island Developing States: The Case of Cape Verde


 
 
 
 This article is an exploratory, descriptive study, with a qualitative and interdisciplinary approach. It integrates concepts and perspectives of contemporary history, international relations, and security studies. Its main aim is to analyse security issues in Africa, taking as a reference the Cape Verde archipelago, which is part of the group of Small Island Developing States. This matter suggests a wider multidimensional approach that prioritizes the intersection of data obtained from a critical analysis in order to deepen regional cooperation and integration mechanisms. This can provide the Cape Verdean state with strategic options to prevent and mitigate potential security threats.
 
 
 

La disputa marítima israelo-libanesa y el neofuncionalismo

The neofunctionalist theory considers that cooperation among states in certain areas of common interest will make it possible an advance towards regional integration and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, due to the perception of the advantages derived from such integration. In reality, this neofunctionalist inspiration has been present in the European Union (EU) policies towards the Mediterranean Sea. The thesis moved forward in this article is that, in contrast to neofunctionalist expectations, the discovery of important hydrocarbon deposits that straddle the maritime boundary between Israel and Lebanon has contributed to foster more instability in an area where existing rivalries are especially sensitive to any shift in the balance of power. Moreover, the traditional US hegemonic role is clearly weakened and it cannot provide an effective mediation. As for the EU mechanisms for regional cooperation, they are not the appropriate tool to overcome this conflict due to the fact that they do not meet the existing security concerns, as the realist theory predicts.

The spatial and temporal evolution of coordinated ecological and socioeconomic development in the provinces along the Silk Road Economic Belt in China

The ecological and socioeconomic conditions of the provinces along the Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) in China are quite different. Current research lacks a scientific analysis of the spatial and temporal evolution of the coordinated ecological and socioeconomic development in this region. Based on the ecological footprint and the Comprehensive Development Index (CDI), an evaluation indicator system for coordinated ecological and socioeconomic development was constructed. The weights of the indicators were determined by the entropy method. Using data from 2005 to 2016, the coupling coordination degree model was used to evaluate the coordination level between the ecological and socioeconomic subsystems. The results showed a decreasing trend in the comprehensive evaluation function score of the ecological subsystem. The socioeconomic subsystem scores and coupling coordination degree fluctuated slightly in 2014 and 2015, but they increased in general. The coordinated development improved, and the spatial differences were obvious. Ecological degradation gradually exhibits a restrictive effect on socioeconomic subsystem, further restricting the improvement of the coordinated development. This study can provide a basis for scientific evaluation of the coordinated development level of ecological and socioeconomic conditions, and is conducive to improving the regional cooperation mechanism.

Water Cooperation Priorities in the Lancang-Mekong River Basin Based on Cooperative Events Since the Mekong River Commission Establishment

The Lancang-Mekong River has attracted much attention from researchers, but the cooperation on water issues in this river basin has been limited, even after the establishment of the Mekong River Commission (MRC). Cooperation on water resources has been determined as one of the key priority areas in the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Mechanism, but there are no details of targets. In order to establish the priorities of water cooperation under the mechanism, we adopted nine categories to classify the objectives of 87 water cooperation events based on the ‘Lancang-Mekong Water Cooperative Events Database’ from 1995 to 2015. Based on the occurrence of cooperative events, cooperative objectives, cooperative scales, and approaches to cooperation, we conducted statistical, correlation, and text analyses. Our analyses indicated the following results: under the impact of economic conditions inside and outside the river basin, full cooperation appeared more difficult than bilateral and multilateral cooperation. Each of the partners adopted different preferences for cooperation targets. Cooperation with more definite objectives was easier to establish than cooperation with broader and more complex objectives. The potential objectives for water cooperation were navigation, hydropower, joint management, data sharing, flood control and water use. Because hydropower development is controversial, and because water cooperation is avoided by most existing regional cooperation mechanisms due to its complexity, we suggest the following priority areas for water cooperation in the Lancang- Mekong River Basin. 1) Navigation and flood control/drought relief are attractive objectives for all the riparian countries across the whole watershed. 2) Data sharing should be a priority for cooperation in the watershed due to its laying the foundation for the equitable and reasonable utilization of transboundary waters. 3) Hydropower is an objective best implemented mainly through bilateral cooperation, and on tributaries.

The “Absence” of Asian Regional Economic Integration and the Development Orientation of the Belt and Road

Asia has a special significance in China’s neighborhood strategy. Geographically, the Belt and Road Initiative faces the countries of Asia or China’s neighbors in the first place. Asia is clearly marked by an imbalance in and “absence” of regional economic integration. This “absence” is two-fold: it is expressed on the one hand as a lack of unified institutional arrangements for regional economic integration, and on the other as the inability of underdeveloped countries in the region to truly participate in regional economic integration and thereby gain opportunities for development. Compared with the rule-oriented nature of existing regional economic integration mechanisms, the Belt and Road Initiative, as a new type of regional cooperation mechanism, displays an orientation towards development. All existing regional economic integration arrangements, regardless of their form, establish specific rules on access thresholds, the rights and duties of member countries, schedules and roadmaps, dispute resolution mechanisms and so forth. This is not the case for the Belt and Road, which is not predicated on specific rules, but establishes its overall framework by orienting itself towards development. Overall, the development orientation of the Belt and Road is helpful not only in overcoming the inherent defects of Asian regional economic integration, but in responding to the new challenge of anti-globalization. This is an institutional public good that China offers to Asia and to the world.