TY - JOUR

AU - Johnston, Lauren A.
C8 - APPS-2018-0009.R2
TI - The Belt and Road Initiative: What is in it for China?
JO - Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies
JA - Asia Pac Policy Stud
VL - 6
IS - 1
SN - 2050-2680
UR - https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.265
DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/app5.265
SP - 40
EP - 58
KW - Belt and Road Initiative
KW - China
KW - development
KW - economic demography
KW - RMB internationalisation
PY - 2019
AB - Abstract China's outbound investment exceeded inbound investment for the
first time in 2015. In years leading up this transition, a maturing demographic
transition alongside slowing internal migration and diminishing returns to physical
capital investment, all had a role in China's diminished competitiveness in low-
wage manufactured exports and the fading of the related growth model. In that
context, the 2013 launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) took place in two
stages in two developing countries, Kazakhstan and Indonesia. These launch choices,
and the BRI in general are herein elaborated in terms of economic history,
geography, and demography. The BRI in turn is considered to be aiming to foster the
ongoing development of China, and in doing so also seeks to instigate new era
development opportunity for other developing countries. One facilitation channel
for the latter is China's concept of ?patient capital,? essentially concessional
capital, or foreign aid. For China that offers a means via which to
internationalise the financial sector and also the Renminbi. Lessons from China's
own use of foreign aid and economic development hence serve as an important
reference for ongoing scoping of the shape and trajectory of the BRI. To that end,
this article sheds light on what is in the BRI for China.
ER -