China is trying to become a world leader and two initiatives that will help this country to gain support of the countries in different parts of the world including East Asia are the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. Two initiatives were presented at the end of 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping and supported by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (Xie). As the result of the two initiatives China and many neighboring countries and regions will become interconnected and China will benefit economically and politically from such cooperation and integration.
The Belt and the Road are important subjects for research, because China already is the leader in East Asia and reached the level when it can think globally in terms of the economic and political leadership. During research it is worth analyzing the goals, tools and perspectives of two initiatives. A special attention should be given to the region of East Asia in which China would like to create a “community of shared interests” (Ngyen). Moreover, it is important to compare two initiatives in order to understand what goals China has at the regional and international level. Finally, a lot of countries have already expressed their interest in participating in both initiatives. However it is not clear what kind of benefits and risks the participating countries will get. Therefore, opinions of the key trading partners and potential partners about the Chinese initiatives will need to be assessed too. In conclusion, China’s economy has slowed down and now the government applies different strategies to boost the economy and expand the foreign markets. If China succeeds with Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road in the long-term it will be a key international actor.
Works Cited
Xie, Tao. “Is China's 'Belt and Road' a Strategy?” The Diplomat. 16 December 2015.
Web. 16 March 2016
Nguyen, Phuong. “For China, a Race to Retain Appeal in Southeast Asia”. Center for
Strategic and International Studies. 21 January 2016. Web. 16 March 2016
