Chapter 4: The Belt and Road Initiative
4.1 Overview of “The Belt and Road”
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Chapter 4: The Belt and Road Initiative
This chapter will provide an understanding of the Belt and Road Initiative so that it can be compared to the “going-out” strategy. It will also identify projects under the Belt and Road that have an energy focus, breaking them up by economic corridors. Finally, this chapter will compare the Belt and Road Initiative with the “going-out” strategy in order to identify shared features between the two.
4.1 Overview of “The Belt and Road”
The “Belt and Road Initiative” (“一帶一路”) is China’s current national development strategy, which aims to deepen China’s integration with the world economy. It is not so much a detailed plan as it is a loose bundle of vaguely-defined policy objectives.
In his earliest speech introducing One Belt One Road, President Xi Jinping proposed “an economic belt along the Silk Road” that would connect China first to Central Asia, and then to Europe.177 In comparing this proposal to the ancient Silk Road, Xi invoked the image of “a steady stream of envoys, caravans, travelers, scholars and artisans traveling between the East and West.”178 A month later, Xi invoked a similar image in Indonesia, this time proposing greater connectivity by building “the Maritime Silk Road of the 21st century.”179 These speeches marked the unveiling of the One Belt One Road initiative and kicked off a series of
announcements regarding projects that would fall under its umbrella. Even before the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
177 Xi, "Promote Friendship between Our People and Work Together to Build a Bright Future".
178 Ibid.
179 "Speech to Indonesian Parliament".
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and Ministry of Commerce released their joint “Vision and Actions” plan in March 2015, China established the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Silk Road Fund to finance OBOR projects and had also begun drafting memorandums for cooperation with countries such as Thailand.180
The “Vision and Actions” plan provides a broad outline of China’s plans and goals for OBOR and provides more information than Xi’s initial speeches, but does not provide much in the way of specific details. The aim of One Belt One Road is to:
Promote the connectivity of Asian, European and African continents and their adjacent seas, establish and strengthen partnerships among the countries along the Belt and Road, set up all-dimensional, multi-tiered and composite
connectivity networks, and realize diversified, independent, balanced and sustainable development in these countries.181
As introduced in Xi’s early speeches, One Belt One Road is composed of both the Silk Road Economic Belt on land and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road on sea:
The 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road is designed to go from China’s coast to Europe through the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean in one route, and from China’s coast through the South China Sea to the South Pacific in the other. On land, the Initiative will focus on jointly building a new Eurasian Land Bridge and developing China-Mongolia-Russia, China-Central Asia-West Asia and China-Indochina Peninsula economic corridors…At
sea…the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor are closely related to the Belt and Road Initiative…”182 (emphasis added)
The “Cooperation Priorities” put forth in the “Visions and Actions” plan were essentially identical to the ones put forth in Xi Jinping’s initial announcement in 2013, only updated to include more specific policy points: policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bond.183 It is in some these
180 Shaohui Tian, "Chronology of China's Belt and Roat Initiative," Xinhuanet, http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2015-03/28/c_134105435.htm.
181 National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Commerce,
"Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road."
182 See Appendix A for a map of the Belt and Road Initiative and the associated economic corridors. Ibid.
183 Ibid.
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policy points that the relationship between One Belt One Road and China’s energy policy first becomes apparent. Under “facilities connectivity”, the plan states that “[w]e should promote cooperation in the connectivity of energy infrastructure, work in concert to ensure the security of oil and gas pipelines and other transport routes…”184 In the next section titled
“unimpeded trade”, the plan also encourages:
“[C]ooperation in the exploration and development of coal, oil, gas, metal minerals and other conventional energy sources…cooperation in the processing and conversion of energy and resources at or near places where they are exploited, so as to create an integrated industrial chain of energy and resource cooperation.”185
The “Vision and Actions” plan also looks at how One Belt One Road will affect different parts of China. It mentions infrastructure improvements for various regions, which range from logistical hubs for pipelines and railways to port and airport
construction. Even so, these plans are framed more as recommendations than concrete proposals.
The other major official document that covers One Belt One Road is the recently released “Building the Belt and Road” document published by the Office of the Leading Group for the Belt and Road Initiative. This document is in some ways an updated version of the “Vision and Actions” plan in that it restates objectives from the
“Vision and Actions” plan while also mentioning projects that are either in progress, nearing completion, or operational. It elaborates on the “six corridors” listed in the
“Vision and Actions” plan and also identifies five routes that China intends to focus on (three overland and two maritime). The land routes are:
from Northwest China and Northeast China to Europe and the Baltic Sea via Central Asia and Russia; one from Northwest China to the Persian Gulf and
184 Ibid.
185 Ibid.
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the Mediterranean Sea, passing through Central Asia and West Asia; and one from Southwest China through the Indochina Peninsula to the Indian Ocean.186 The two maritime routes both start in Chinese coastal port cities and cross through the South China Sea; one “passes through the Malacca Strait, and reaches the Indian Ocean, extending to Europe,” while the other “extends to the South Pacific.”187
“Building the Belt and Road” also explicitly defines “rail, highways, seagoing transport, aviation, pipelines, and aerospace integrated information network” as the
“six means of communication” to be targeted when pursuing infrastructure
development.188 The five cooperation priorities listed in “Vision and Actions” (policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, people-to-people bond) are updated to:
1. Promoting connectivity of infrastructure and facilities 2. Enhancing economic and trade cooperation
3. Expanding production capacity and investment cooperation 4. Expanding financial cooperation
5. Strengthening cooperation on ecological and environmental protection 6. Promoting orderly maritime cooperation
7. Strengthening cooperation and exchanges in cultural, social and other fields189
Each of these items is further broken down, and the points relevant to energy will be discussed in Section 4.2.
According to SASAC, as of May 2017, 47 Chinese state-owned enterprises are working on 1,676 projects in countries taking part in One Belt One Road.190 Neither the “Vision and Actions” plan nor the “Building the Belt and Road” document cover
186 Office of the Leading Group for the Belt and Road Initiative, Building the Belt and Road: Concept, Practice and China's Contribution, First ed. (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press Co. Ltd, 2017), 9-10.
187 Ibid., 10.
188 Ibid., 10-11.
189 Ibid.
190 State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, "Guoxinban
Zhongyang Qiye Canyu "Yidai Yilu" Gongjian Qingkuang Fabuhui Shi Lu (國家辦中央企業參與“一帶一路”
共建情況發布會實錄)," (Beijing2017).
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the full array of projects that fall under One Belt One Road; if such a document exists, it does not appear to be publicly available.191 Some projects are mentioned directly in
“Building the Belt and Road,” and others are featured in publications by Xinhua, the Chinese state media outlet. However, projects listed in official documents tend to be ones appear to be successful, and in some cases their “progress” may be overstated.192 More comprehensive lists can be found in secondary compilations, but even these are not necessarily complete due to the sheer number of projects under One Belt One Road’s umbrella. That said, projects of greater importance will receive greater attention, and will likely be properly accounted for in both official documents and secondary sources.