CSC International Research Webinar Series
The Domestication of the Belt and Road Initiative: The Provincial Governments’ Adoption to the Central Government Policy
Date: Thursday 17 November 2022
Time: 5.30 – 6.30pm AEST
Location: Online
About this event
The paper touches upon the critical issue of the Belt and Road Initiative domestication. Most analyses present the BRI as China’s grand strategy based on imperial approaches supported by the PRC government. This, however, is only part of the complex picture. Taking the domestic perspective, the BRI is illustrated by discussing central-local dyadic relations from the longer post-1978 perspective. In the first part, the author sheds light on the central-provincial government relations by discussing the continuity of fragmentation and decentralisation in China, with horizontal competition between provinces under Deng Xiaoping and the centralisation approaches by Xi Jinping. The second part discusses the Belt and Road Initiative as a central government vertical management tool that allows Beijing’s central government to centralise the local players’ interests, navigate their international horizontal competition in more coordinated directions and finally secures Beijing’s paramount position. The last part of the paper, based on the three case studies of Heilongjiang-Yunnan, Chongqing-Sichuan and Guangdong-Hainan, presents the reality check and discusses the approaches to the central government initiative of the Belt and Road from the local level. The project is supported by the National Science Centre in Poland based on the agreement UMO-2017/25/B/HS5/02117.
About the speaker
Dominik Mierzejewski, Ph.D., Associate Professor, chair at Center for Asian Affairs (University-based think-tank), professor at the Department of Asian Studies at the Faculty of International and Political Studies, studies at the Shanghai International Studies University (1999-2000, 2003-2004), internship in the Heritage Foundation (2003), Jan Karski scholarship by the American Center of Polish Culture (2003), visiting professor in the Chinese Academy of Social Science granted by the Polish Foundation for Science (2010-2011). Principal investigator in research projects supported by the National Science Centre: “Ideas and identities in Chinese foreign policy”, “The Roles of local governments in Chinese foreign policy” and “Belt and Road Initiative” in developing countries: People’s Republic of China as a multilateral and normative power” and co-investigator in Horizon2020 “Competing Regional Integration in Southeast Asia”. His research focuses on China’s political development, the rhetoric of Chinese foreign policy and local governments’ involvement in China’s foreign policy. He publishes two monographs, and dozens of articles published, e.g. in Singapore, United Kingdom and the United States.
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