Approach, Participation and Peer Attention: The Interaction of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with the World

Abstract

With China’s rise and Xi Jinping’s self-confidence, China has become more active and confident as it engages in regional and global affairs. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is seen as China’s most significant and far-reaching initiative. With the BRI as an overarching subject of my dissertation, my study aims to investigate how China and the world interact with each other against the background of China’s new era of a more assertive foreign policy. The three papers in my dissertation explore the following questions respectively. Firstly, what is the role and approach of China’s BRI to the global order? Secondly, how does the world interact with China? Thirdly, what is the nature of other countries’ horizontal interactions in the context of the BRI? This dissertation applies both qualitative and quantitative methods, including typology, content, congruence, network and regression analysis. The dissertation’s data is mainly sourced from the text data of official documents, the event data of the “Belt and Road Portal,” and the media data of European Media Monitor (EMM). My dissertation illustrates a more sophisticated typology of countries’ approaches to the global order. The event data I have collected visualizes the interaction levels of countries with China. The spatial gravity model proves to be an appropriate approach to explaining China’s bilateral interactions with the world regarding the BRI, and the peer attention of EU countries on each other’s actions in response to the BRI. My study on peer attention in the EU community presents a meaningful example of how to apply network analysis to explore actors’ interactions. In summary, this dissertation produces several notable contributions. The first paper helps to interpret the proactive involvement of rising powers in global affairs. The second illustrates the interaction levels of countries in the BRI and explores the driving forces on states’ interaction with China. The third paper reveals how countries in one regional community interact with each other to manage their increased engagements with China and other emerging powers.