Salvatore Babones
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781447336808
- eISBN:
- 9781447336907
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447336808.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
China faces many hostile neighbours; relations with Japan are particularly fraught. China has thus sought friends farther afield, abandoning the Deng-Hu "keeping a low profile" (KLP) strategy for Xi ...
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China faces many hostile neighbours; relations with Japan are particularly fraught. China has thus sought friends farther afield, abandoning the Deng-Hu "keeping a low profile" (KLP) strategy for Xi Jinpeng's expansive "striving for achievement" (SFA) strategy. The centerpiece of SFA is the One Belt, One Road (1B1R) initiative. China's Silk Road Economic Belt is often said to have sparked a new "Great Game" for influence in Central Asia, but Central Asian economies are much too small to have any substantive impact on Eurasian geopolitics. China's 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to Southeast Asia and beyond has been influential only in Africa, where it has little impact on global power structures. Like the fifteenth century voyages of Zheng He, the ultimate purpose of 1B1R may be to legitimate the Chinese government's rule at home. Even in this it is failing, as elite Chinese seek citizenships abroad. Birth tourism to the United States has emerged as their most important family exit strategy.Less
China faces many hostile neighbours; relations with Japan are particularly fraught. China has thus sought friends farther afield, abandoning the Deng-Hu "keeping a low profile" (KLP) strategy for Xi Jinpeng's expansive "striving for achievement" (SFA) strategy. The centerpiece of SFA is the One Belt, One Road (1B1R) initiative. China's Silk Road Economic Belt is often said to have sparked a new "Great Game" for influence in Central Asia, but Central Asian economies are much too small to have any substantive impact on Eurasian geopolitics. China's 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to Southeast Asia and beyond has been influential only in Africa, where it has little impact on global power structures. Like the fifteenth century voyages of Zheng He, the ultimate purpose of 1B1R may be to legitimate the Chinese government's rule at home. Even in this it is failing, as elite Chinese seek citizenships abroad. Birth tourism to the United States has emerged as their most important family exit strategy.
