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2018 | Buch

Introduction Kapitel lesen Erstes Kapitel lesen

Securing the Belt and Road Initiative

Risk Assessment, Private Security and Special Insurances Along the New Wave of Chinese Outbound Investments

herausgegeben von: Alessandro Arduino, Xue Gong

Verlag: Springer Singapore

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" , Springer Professional "Technik"

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Über dieses Buch

This collection explores the expansion of Chinese outbound investments, aimed to sustain the increased need for natural resources, and how they have amplified the magnitude of a possible international crisis that the People’s Republic of China may face in the near future by bringing together the views of a wide range of scholars. President Xi’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI), aimed to promote economic development and exchanges with China for over 60 countries, necessitates a wide range of security procedures. While the threats to Chinese enterprises and Chinese workers based on foreign soil are poised to increase, there is an urgent need to develop new guidelines for risk assessment, special insurance and crisis management. While the Chinese State Owned Enterprises are expanding their international reach capabilities, they still do not have the capacity to assure adequate security. In such a climate, this collection will be of profound value to policy makers, those working in the financial sector, and academics.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Introduction

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), formerly known as One Belt, One Road, is a signature foreign policy priority of Chinese President Xi Jinping. BRI consists of two aspects: the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. All in all, it includes more than two thirds of world population and more than one third of global economic output, and could involve Chinese investments that total up to $4 trillion. While the threat related to the use of violence is not common over all the BRI, several other crises may arise, such as social confrontation, environmental degradation and an overall lack of corporate social responsibilities. The rise of new models of risk assessments, prevention and mitigation, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), private security corporations and big data analysis provide a wide range of capabilities that can benefit the overall BRI’s security.
Alessandro Arduino, Xue Gong

The Belt and Road Security Blueprint

Frontmatter
Chapter 2. The Uneven Regulation of Private Security in ASEAN Member States
Abstract
The enormity of the Belt and Road initiative means that its security requirements have the potential to exceed the capacities of both Chinese and partner-state military, security and policing forces (Arduino 2015). Accordingly, the success of the Belt and Road initiative will rely to a large extent on the capabilities of the global private security industry. But whilst these services—ranging from site, property and personal protection to surveillance, cash transportation and associated technologies—can enhance the security of Chinese overseas investments, they also pose significant risks. High levels of competition within the private security industry provides disincentives for companies and individuals to invest in expensive training. This results in low-quality services and poor working conditions, which increase the likelihood of malpractice and risks to both the businesses they protect and the public they face (Button 2008; van Steden and Sarre 2010). Furthermore, those unable to afford private security services are not only excluded from its benefits, but as a consequence face greater insecurity (Bayley and Shearing 1996). Highlighting this dilemma, the United Nations’ Handbook on State Regulation concerning Civilian Private Security Services and their Contribution to Crime Prevention and Community Safety demonstrates that effective regulatory frameworks allow states, the private sector and communities to benefit from private security services whilst mitigating against the risks they pose to safety (UNODC 2014, p. vii). Yet to date, there has been little systematic research into the operation and governance of private security services in the member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (on the ‘ethnocentrism’ of policing research see Manning 2005, p. 32). This stands in stark contrast to two growing research agendas: the first on domestic private security services in other Asian states such as China (Zhong and Grabosky 2009; Arduino 2015), Japan (Yoshida 1999) and South Korea (Button et al. 2006; Nalla and Hwang 2006; Lee 2008; Kim 2015); and the second on private maritime services in the region (Liss 2007; Sciascia 2013).
Sebastian Booth, Cindy J. Smith
Chapter 3. China’s Belt and Road Security: The Increasing Role of Insurance and Private Security Companies
Abstract
The unprecedented amount of Chinese funds dedicated to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Beijing’s win-win vision of global connectivity and development is going to face a harsh reality that encompasses a wide threat spectrum. Chinese corporations just started to acknowledge that the risks associated with outbound foreign direct investments carries a higher failure rate due to intertwined factors such as: economic crises, conflict, civil unrest, assets nationalization and currency devaluation, just to name a few. In several cases, the Chinese State-Owned Enterprises’ (SOEs) infrastructural projects, macro size and breakneck implementation speed catalyze crisis in the already unstable socio-political environments. The solution to political and criminal violence’s spillovers along the BRI requests a broader involvement that also encompasses the Chinese insurance and private security sectors.
Alessandro Arduino

Maritime Political and Security Risks

Frontmatter
Chapter 4. Singapore’s Role in the Belt and Road Initiative
Abstract
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), first announced by President Xi Jinping in 2013, has being promoted as an important, developmentoriented collaboration involving over 60 countries around the world. The routes that link China to ASEAN countries are evidently more promising, due not only to the increasingly intensive ASEAN-China economic ties, but also to their geographic proximity and strong historical linkages. Challenges abound nonetheless. For Singapore, there is an essentially significant role in enhancing China-ASEAN relations. Having rich experience in developing numerous types of joint projects, through collaborating with partner countries, Singapore enjoys a strong advantage in facilitating bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation and in strengthening mutual trust between China and ASEAN states. Meanwhile, Singapore needs to be mindful of the complexities in the region’s geopolitical dynamics and preserve its neutrality. Likewise, Singapore is also facing growing challenges, from decelerating global trade as well as rising competitive pressure from China.
Sarah Y. Tong, Tuan Yuen Kong
Chapter 5. Resolving the Malacca Dilemma: Malaysia’s Role in the Belt and Road Initiative
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL), one of China’s most prominent construction projects in Malaysia since the inception of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The chapter offers a balanced perspective on the ECRL by presenting its pros and cons as well as analyzing on-the-ground implementation issues. Despite its promise to alleviate the proverbial ‘Malacca Dilemma’ and to generate a win-win outcome for both Malaysia and China, the ECRL is hampered by several critical implementation issues, heightening its business and political risk, especially for the Malaysians. There remain significant hurdles to surmount before this undertaking transforms into the ‘game changer’ that resolves China’s over-reliance on the narrow Strait of Malacca and uplifts the living standards of the Malaysians.
Guanie Lim
Chapter 6. The PRC’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative, Southeast Asia, and the United States
Abstract
This chapter considers the interaction among China, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the United States and how the issue of regional trust affects Beijing’s core strategic interests. The New Silk Road maritime version opened up fresh areas of economic and strategic space around China. It spelled out clearly to the country’s maritime neighbours the opportunities and benefits of engaging more with Chinese investment, Chinese trade, and Chinese growth just as the land Silk Road had done for the Central Asian partners. In this complex political and diplomatic context, the regional response to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been a mixture of applause and excitement alongside caution.
Kerry Brown

Corporate Social Responsibilities and Insurance Performance of Chinese Investments

Frontmatter
Chapter 7. China Power Investment Corporation in Myanmar
Abstract
Over the past decade, the Chinese government has embraced the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and has issued laws and regulations to improve its overseas business performance in areas such as environmental protection, labour rights, and other governance issues. As an authoritarian state, China is believed to have a strong political and bureaucratic power over CSR implementation, particularly over the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) that received enormous national support for overseas investment. However, in recent years, Chinese overseas investments have encountered local resistance and criticism for China’s non-compliance of local laws and poor implementation of CSR, prominently in Myanmar. This chapter aims to contribute to the understanding of China’s political economy in Myanmar’s hydropower sector by assessing an often neglected segment that regards the evolving roles of the business actors and on the externalities of business activities on the state-to-state relations. China’s initiative of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) makes the study of Chinese CSR meaningful as it also aims to identify common problems facing Chinese investments and CSR infrastructure development levels of individual host countries.
Xue Gong
Chapter 8. CSR as a Tool to Mitigate Risk for the B&R Initiative: The Case of Thailand
Abstract
The Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative is a strong driver for Chinese firms venturing into more than 60 foreign countries. The risk and risk management of these B&R investments attracts increasing attention inside and outside China. This chapter focuses on why and how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be a tool to mitigate risks for Chinese firms involved in the B&R. The rational for CSR as a tool to mitigate the B&R risk is established, followed by the guidance of its implementation. The CSR performance of Chinese firms overseas is then discussed with a case study of Thailand. Through qualitative analysis of the interview and observation notes, a 4I model is constructed as a framework to describe the CSR of Chinese firms in Thailand. Their practice and performance are studied through four dimensions: “Intention” (how CSR is positioned in the firm); “Involvement” (how stakeholders are involved in CSR activities); “Intervention” (what CSR activities are conducted); and “Impacts” (how CSR activities impact the firm). It shows that many Chinese firms have understood and indeed engaged in CSR activities overseas. They are advised to move from a “philanthropy” level to the “compliance” and “strategy” levels of CSR. CSR is a critical factor to the B&R Initiative as it is a license for Chinese firms to operate and thrive, a pillar of soft power of China in the world.
Zhimin Tang
Chapter 9. China, Securing “Belt and Road Initiative”: Risk Management
Abstract
China’s Belt and Road Initiative aims to promote economic development and exchange with China for more than 60 countries. The initiative will further strengthen China’s global influence, help secure more natural resources for China and ease the domestic overcapacity of some manufacturing segments in China such as steel and power generation.
China’s international expansion can be categorized into three aspects. First, in terms of trade, China started exports mainly since its adoption of the open-door policy in the late 1970s, and became the largest trading nation in 2012. Second, is construction; China has become a major player in the global construction community according to revenue and according to the Engineering News-Record (ENR) (ENR250 2015, 2016 (www.​enr.​com)). Third, is investment; China has become the second largest nation of outbound direct investment in 2016.
Both foreign construction project contracting and foreign direct investment are at the core of the Belt and Road Initiative. The Initiative will be successful only if it is undertaken with appropriate risk management to deal with various risks resulting from the significant differences between China and Belt and Road countries in politics, economy, culture, legislation and governance.
In this chapter, these risks will be addressed under the framework of risk management, which is a dynamic process involving namely risk identification, risk assessment, risk reduction and risk transfer and retention.
HaoMing Zhou

Risk Forecasting and Crisis Mitigation along the Eurasian Landmass and Middle East

Frontmatter
Chapter 10. One Belt, One Road in Central Asia: Progress, Challenges, and Implications
Abstract
“One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) is the multidimensional Chinese undertaking by design and by implications. It has economic, transport, geopolitical, cultural, historical, and security dimensions and encompasses such vast swaths of the Eurasian continent and oceans that it created an impression of global ambitions of China. Central Asia—erstwhile an epicenter of the ancient Great Silk Road—is once again acquiring a higher profile in the Eurasian and world order, not least due to China’s move westward that culminated in the OBOR phenomenon. Five Central Asian countries are facing China’s growing “authoritative and persuasive” presence in the region. The Central Asian shape of OBOR will be created in the geopolitically galvanized area; that’s why its progress is expected to be complicated, with immanent challenges and long-term geopolitical implications.
Farkhod Tolipov
Chapter 11. Securing CPEC: Challenges, Responses and Outcomes
Abstract
This chapter discusses the security of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) flagship project in Pakistan, the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and its geostrategic implications and the terrorist threat landscape from Xinjiang to Gwadar. It argues that CPEC is one of the key pillars of the BRI. The peculiar attribute of CPEC is its intersection between the oversea 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) and the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB). Its total length is approximately 3000 km spanning from Pakistan’s Gwadar Port to Kashgar, northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The macro projects consist of the railway lines, roads, fibre optics, energy pipelines and industrial development zones. Albeit the promises of sustainable development, since the announcement of the CPEC and its ratification the route designated under the corridor triggered much debate and controversy. The major contentions regard the distribution of economic development and infrastructure projects of this mega venture within the provinces. Besides violent extremism and terrorism, ethno nationalist groups are another daunting challenge for the economic corridor.
Khuram Iqbal
Chapter 12. Uyghur Militant Activity in Southeast Asia and Its Security Implications
Abstract
The Uyghur ethnic groups from Xinjiang, China, have been trying to travel to the Middle East through Southeast Asian countries for many years. Many of these Uyghur accepted the extremist ideology and formed the Uyghur military organization link to international terrorism organizations. Although most of these militants went to the Middle East, we recently found that some members tried to use Southeast Asia as their new base of activity. This chapter argues that these Uyghur militants have formed a coalition with local armed groups in Southeast Asia and have participated in a series of terrorist attacks, but their impact on China’s Belt Road Initiative (BRI) is limited. These Uyghur militants have had a multifaceted impact on the stability and security of the Southeast Asian region. And the Southeast Asian countries are more willing to take bilateral or trilateral cooperation to deal with this threat.
Pinjie Sun
Chapter 13. Chinese Investments in the Arab Maelstrom
Abstract
China’s increasingly significant economic and security interests in the Middle East have several impacts. They affect not only its energy security but also its regional posture, relations with regional powers as well as the United States and efforts to pacify nationalist and Islamist Uighurs in its northwestern region of Xinjiang. Those interests are considerably enhanced by China’s One Belt, One Road initiative that seeks to patch together a Eurasian land mass through inter-linked infrastructure, investment and expanded trade relations. Protecting its mushrooming interests is forcing China to realign its policies and relationships in the region.
James M. Dorsey

The European Union: The Belt and Road Terminus

Frontmatter
Chapter 14. Beyond Ports and Transport Infrastructure: The Geo-Economic Impact of the BRI on the European Union
Abstract
As the terminal point of both the overland and the maritime routes of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the European Union faces significant geo-political, economic and geo-strategic consequences. The most evident influence will be on EU-China bilateral relations, but the impact is manifold and multifaceted to the extent that the BRI will spread over a large number of countries, up to and potentially more than the current 64 countries included in the action plan. The BRI will affect the European Union through the European Neighbourhood Policy towards its southern and eastern bordering countries, many of which are essential participants in the BRI. The BRI will also require the European Union to take a comprehensive attitude about its engagement beyond traditional diplomacy, security and defence policies towards an entire range of new diplomacy areas, including cultural diplomacy, energy diplomacy, maritime diplomacy and “rail diplomacy,” consistently with the strategic priorities included in the global strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy. Finally, the increasing Chinese influence in some member states with a central position in the BRI might call for a strengthening of EU internal cohesion policies and the overall attention towards economic integration of peripheral member states.
Alessia A. Amighini
Chapter 15. China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the 16+1 Platform: The Case of the Czech Republic
Abstract
This chapter examines China’s activities in Central and Eastern European Countries (hereinafter referred to as ‘CEECs’), with a specific reference to the 16+1 platform, during a time of the emerging Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In Europe, this initiative has been looked upon with suspicion and referred to as a ‘divide and conquer’ strategy, aiming to potentially disrupt the workings of the European Union. The argument presented here is that the cooperation between China and the CEECs has not been a one-sided activity. Some countries did not hide their enthusiasm for forging closer partnerships with China and embracing the China-led 16+1 platform, as well as BRI. The Czech Republic is a case in point; however, it still questions the benefits of opening up to China and what the real outcomes of promised investments domestically and in the wider region are. In response to the criticisms, the Chinese leadership has reassured the Europeans that China is acting peacefully under a win-win premise for all parties involved and that the activities within the 16+1 take in consideration the existing projects, such as China-EU cooperation and the EU infrastructure projects.
Alica Kizeková
Backmatter
Metadaten
Titel
Securing the Belt and Road Initiative
herausgegeben von
Alessandro Arduino
Xue Gong
Copyright-Jahr
2018
Verlag
Springer Singapore
Electronic ISBN
978-981-10-7116-4
Print ISBN
978-981-10-7115-7
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-7116-4

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