An excellent book on Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from a Polish/East European perspective examining Chinas domestic dynamics, namely central-provincial relationship. This is a must-read for any scholar who is interested in this subject.
Quansheng Zhao, Professor of International Relations, American University, Washington, DC, USA
Mierzejewski breaks new ground in scholarship on Chinas major connectivity initiative, the Belt and Road, by engaging in detailed case studies of the roles played by provinces, in the process shedding light on politics and policy making in the Chinese state and its global implications.
Tim Summers, Assistant Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Dominik Mierzejewskis analysis of the role of Chinas provinces in the Belt and Road Initiative is an important and innovative study of the role sub-national actors play in both domestic economic development and foreign paradiplomacy and qualifies the common perception of Beijings macro-management of both ambits. Discourse analysis of provincial-level party and government reports demonstrate how their competition abroad with the support of central government resources also promotes domestic horizontal integration, contributing to the governance and management of Chinas unitary status.
Sen Golden, Full Professor (Retired) of East Asian Studies, Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona (UAB)
Chinas Provinces and the Belt and Road Initiative
This book discusses the Belt and Road Initiative at the provincial level in China. It analyses the evolution of the role of local governments in Chinese foreign policy since the opening of Chinas economy in 1978, showing how the provinces initially competed with each other, and how the central government was forced to react, developing more centralised policies. Unlike other books on the Belt and Road Initiative, which focus on the international aspects of the initiative, this book demonstrates the importance of the Belt and Road in reinforcing Chinas unitary status and for managing and coordinating development at the local level as well as centre-province relations and province-to-province relations inside China.
Dominik Mierzejewski is Associate Professor at the Department of Asian Studies, Faculty of International and Political Studies and Chair of the Centre for Asian Affairs at the University of Lodz, Poland. He specialises in the politics and foreign policy of China.
China Policy Series
Series Editor: Zheng Yongnian
Advanced Institute of Global and Contemporary China Studies,
Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen)
57 Gender Dynamics, Feminist Activism and Social Transformation in China
Edited by Guogang Wu, Yuan Feng, Helen Lansdowne
58 The Struggle for Democracy in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong
Sharp Power and its Discontents
Andreas Fulda
59 The Chinese Communist Party in Action
Consolidating Party Rule
Edited by Zheng Yongnian and Lance L.P Gore
60 Development and Poverty Reduction
A Global Comparative Perspective
Edited by Zheng Yongnian and Jiwei Qian
61 Designing Emergency Management
Chinas Post-SARS Experience, 20032012
Wee-Kiat Lim
62 Chinas Environmental Foreign Relations
Heidi Wang-Kaeding
63 The Decline of the Western-Centric World and the Emerging New Global Order
Contending Views
Edited by Yun-han Chu and Yongnian Zheng
64 Chinas Provinces and the Belt and Road Initiative
Dominik Mierzejewski
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/China-Policy-Series/book-series/SECPS
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2021 Dominik Mierzejewski
The right of Dominik Mierzejewski to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-0-367-65488-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-65490-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-12970-7 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
1 Understanding the Belt and Road Initiative through central-local perspectives
2 The bridgeheads actions under the BRI: Heilongjiang and Yunnan case studies
3 Sichuan and Chongqing: internal integration, Eurasian land bridge and foreign policy
4 Guangdong and Hainan: urbanisation, maritime economies and strategic encounters under the Maritime Silk Road
Conclusions
- 1 Understanding the Belt and Road Initiative through central-local perspectives
- 2 The bridgeheads actions under the BRI: Heilongjiang and Yunnan case studies
- 3 Sichuan and Chongqing: internal integration, Eurasian land bridge and foreign policy
- 4 Guangdong and Hainan: urbanisation, maritime economies and strategic encounters under the Maritime Silk Road
- Conclusions
Guide
During field studies across China, the author met many friendly people who helped in his understanding of Chinas centre-province relations as presented in this book. The author is also particularly grateful to scholars from Nankai University, the Zhou Enlai School of Government, Professor Zhu Guanglei, Professor Yang Long and Doctor Zhang Zhihong whose insights and conversations brought new light to my understanding of contemporary China. Moreover, talks and seminars jointly organised between the Zhou Enlai School of Government and the Center for Asian Affairs at the University of Lodz have developed a platform for discussing local government action both in the domestic and international arena. Needless to say, conversations with my Polish Chinese Studies teachers, namely Professor Jan Rowiski, HE Ambassador Ksawery Burski and Professor Krzysztof Gawlikowski, who all know China through the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and Deng Xiaopings, Jiang Zemins and Hu Jintaos policies, contributed most to my understanding of the Middle Kingdom.
National Science Center funds allowed the author to make fields studies in China where the author gained practical knowledge about centre-province relations, horizontal relations between provincial-level governments and their vertical and horizontal interactions within the Belt and Road Initiative. This book would not have been possible without the financial support of the National Science Center in Poland with regard to the research project The Role of Local Governments in Chinas Foreign Policy (no. UMO2017/25/B/HS5/02117).