Annotated Bibliography

Callahan, W. A. (2016). China’s ‘‘Asia Dream’’: The Belt Road Initiative and the new regional order. Asian Journal of
Comparative Politics 1-18.

The following article describes the project Belt and Road Initiative initiated by China. The main
goal of this article is to define strategies that China has adopted to increase its trade by funding
and building infrastructure projects. This article examines the role of peripheral diplomacy in
Xi’s emerging grand strategy. This article follows constructivism to take seriously the role of
ideas and domestic politics in foreign policy-making. Through an analysis of official and
unofficial sources, it traces linkages between ideas, institutions, and behavior in Chinese foreign
policy. The following study has provided detailed analysis from the official and semiofficial
sources regarding the brief policy of BRI to weave neighboring countries into a network of
economic, political, cultural, and security relations centered on China. The author further
explains that BRI is a new project that is still taking shape yet, its objectives are ambitious. The
author concludes that European countries should address China’s challenge by stressing their
commitment to the normative goals of multilateralism, transparency, accountability, and the rule
of law in an open, rule-based global order. This article is a good resource for those who need to
understand how such projects work and how such big goals are achieved keeping while defining
the strategies of China. The Belt Road Initiative knits together ideas and institutions to integrate
Eurasia into a Sino centric community of shared interests, destiny and responsibility. The article
shows how ‘connectivity’ is more than an issue of the ‘hardware’ of physical infrastructure; it is
also a software issue of the connectivity of ideas, institutions, and behavior in diplomacy itself.
This article, however, argues that we need to appreciate how Chinese elites view international
politics, often in terms of domestic ideational debates. The strength of this article is that this
examines the soft power connectivity of ideas, institutions, and behavior in diplomacy itself. BRI
thus is more than hard power and even more than soft power it is framed as a moral project. This
prospect thus concludes a robust future that benefits both Europe and China and its challenges
are different from US-China relations.[ CITATION Wil161 \l 1033 ]

Evron, Y. (2019). The Challenge of Implementing the Belt and Road Initiative in the Middle East: Connectivity Projects
under Conditions of Limited Political Engagement. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2019.
The following article describes China’s economic and political ability to realize its Belt and
Road Initiative (BRI). According to the author, previous researches have paid less attention
towards the BRI’s implications regarding its features of foreign policy and low engagement in
areas beyond its traditional sphere of influence which in this case is the Middle East. Addressing
this issue, the article explores the mutual impact of China’s low political involvement in the
Middle East and BRI’s realization. Distinguishing cross-border connectivity projects from other
BRI-associated activities. This article examines the challenges to executing BRI-related projects
in Israel only which is the weakness of the article. Findings of the study reveal that realizing
connectivity projects, the essence of the BRI vision will require China to increase its regional
engagement, a shift that it has so far avoided. In this article the author has intertwined these
subjects by exploring the implications of China’s limited political involvement in the Middle
East on BRI’s realization in that region. The exploration is conducted by a detailed examination
of BRI’s implementation in Israel. The subsequent article has its own importance as it explains
Realization of BRI-associated connectivity projects in the Middle East requires China to become
involved in, and expand its understanding of, local and regional politics in the region. Whether
the Middle East is or is not associated with the BRI, China is extensively involved in the
development of transportation infrastructures there, as well as in other types of economic
collaborations and arrangements with Middle East. According to the findings of author, the
strength of this article while giving reasonable fact that to assume that it will continue playing a
substantial role in economic development projects across the region, especially when they do not
require it to take risks or invest substantial resources in regional issues.[ CITATION Yor19 \l
1033 ]

Calabrese, J. (2013). China and the Arab Awakening: The Cost of Doing Business. CHINA
REPORT 49 : 1 (2013): 5–23.

This article examines how, and how well, China responded to the Arab Awakening at home and
in the conduct of its diplomacy. The popular unrest that has swept the Arab World since January
2011 occurring as China entered a period of leadership succession and delicate economic
adjustment presented Beijing with both domestic political and diplomatic challenges. The
political upheaval that has swept the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has
accentuated this sense of vulnerability. China’s overseas commercial interests in the MENA
region have grown exponentially over the past two decades. They range from the purchase of
substantial quantities of crude oil and major investments, to tens of thousands of Chinese
expatriate workers. China is now Iran’s number one economic partner. This article explores how,
and how effectively, China has responded to the Arab uprisings. Further the research explains a
series of uprisings across the Arab world have raised several concerns for China. The author of
this article stresses that the prevailing climate throughout the region is one of political instability
and economic uncertainty. A struggle between pro-democracy forces and the military looms in
Egypt. China is not impervious to these pressures. Indeed, the stakes for China primarily a
function of its growing economic presence globally and in particular, its increasingly extensive
economic ties with the region. The strength of the study is that it has well defined the fact that
Arab Awakening has presented the Chinese leadership with both domestic political and
diplomatic challenges. At the domestic level, the challenge has been to prevent the Arab
uprisings from having a ‘demonstration effect’. At the regional and international levels, the
Awakening has tested China’s traditional adherence to the principle of ‘noninterference’ and has
complicated its diplomacy. Findings of the study may help in understanding China’s tactical
adjustments in response to the turmoil in the Middle East such that the Arab Awakening could
ultimately provide a window of strategic opportunity for China to expand its economic presence
and political influence in the region.[ CITATION Joh13 \l 1033 ]

Len, C. (2015). China's 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative, Energy Security and SLOC Access. ISSN: 0973-3159
(Print) 1946-6609 (Online) Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 Summer 2015, pp. 1–18.

The following article discusses Beijing’s latest attempts to secure China’s maritime energy
supply chain across the Indian Ocean region and the South China Sea through which the majority
of its seaborne energy imports transit. As China increasingly relies on the seaborne energy trade,
Beijing has come to attach more importance to the security of the sea lines of communication
and has a growing strategic interest in ensuring unimpeded access in these two areas. In this
paper, the author discusses Beijing’s efforts in the context of China’s maritime power
aspirations, particularly the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiative which is promoted by the
current Chinese President, Xi Jinping. The author argues that Beijing’s latest maritime agenda
will be hampered by the strategic distrust and political risks China faces in the Asian region. This
article examines Beijing’s current efforts and the challenges it faces in addressing its seaborne
energy trade in the context of China’s maritime power aspirations and its 21st Century Maritime
Silk Road initiative. The strength of this article is that it has covered China’s attempt to attain
energy security and SLOC access in the context of its maritime power aspirations focusing on Xi
Jinping’s 21st Century MSR initiative. It examined the growing role of PLAN in the protection
of overseas Chinese rights and interests and provided an analysis on China’s efforts in
developing commercial ports. The limitation of the study is the limited logistical support, a key
obstacle for the PLAN to operate more extensively in the Indian Ocean. The author finally
concludes that the Chinese government has to work more closely with its companies to adopt the
best international practices, in terms of lending arrangements, community outreach and social
safeguards.[ CITATION Chr15 \l 1033 ]

Minghao, Z. (2016). The Belt and Road Initiative and its Implications for China-Europe Relations. Zhao Minghao (2016):
The Belt and Road Initiative and its Implications for China-Europe Relations, The International Spectator.

The following article explains how EU brought out a Global Strategy for foreign and security
policy in June 2016, which indicates European efforts to reflect on and reshape its grand
strategy. Meanwhile, China is also conducting an in-depth assessment of the international order
under transition, and strives to rebalance its own national development and foreign policies.
Beijing is pursuing a connectivity-oriented grand strategy. The peaceful rise of China depends on
whether China and other economies can fully leverage each other’s development opportunities,
and become stronger by taking advantage of increasing interconnectedness in the world. The
strength of this article is the versatile explanation of the China-Europe relationship explaining
Europe has been playing a pivotal role in China’s foreign affairs in terms of seeking support for
modernization and constructing a multi-polar/inter-polar world. The weakness of the article is
that it explains the establishment of a lasting China-Europe relationship has laid a firm
foundation for their cooperation in the OBOR only and not by other economical means. In
principle, the author says that the EU welcomes China’s shouldering more responsibility in
engaging with international development through the OBOR. However, he provides limitations
saying that China must take note of the fact that the EU and its member states are not united in
their attitudes toward the OBOR. Moreover, the article is of significance as for those who need to
understand OBOR, it provides a light of the potential gains and how to take advantage of the
OBOR while creating new EU-China synergies. Also beneficial explanation of the stability and
long-time prosperity of the Eurasian region and the greater Middle East has been revealed. It
could inject incentives into China-EU collaboration in the security field for those who have
interest in the subsequent research.[ CITATION Zha16 \l 1033 ]

Conclusion

The following researches have highlighted the project Belt and Road Initiative started by China.
These researches have explained that China has started multiple projects to increase its trade by
building such projects. Further these articles explain that China is extensively involved in the
development of transportation infrastructures there, as well as in other types of economic
collaborations, how China responded to the Arab Awakening at home and in the conduct of its
diplomacy, China’s increased dependence on the seaborne energy trade and China is also
conducting an in-depth assessment of the international order under transition and strives to
rebalance its own national development and foreign policies. All these studies are in relation to
the researches carried by Maha S. Kamel and Clemens Hoffmann regarding China’s Belt and
road initiative and also to the energy as a social relation between China and Middle East. The
article by kamel examines the geopolitical and economic implications of the Belt and Road
Initiative for the Middle East and This article contributes to this third strand by focusing on the
implications of the BRI for the ME region like the researches led by Callahan etc. al. These and
all the aforementioned researches have thoroughly explained the answers to rising questions
regarding BRI and shift in its policies in the Middle East. These studies have analyzed the tools
that China has been using to promote the BRI in ME. Further these articles have identified
problematic tendencies in current analyses of the Middle East’s energy relations. All social
relations are frequently seen as determined by literature review, use and transfer, contributing to
the uniquely instable social relations of the Middle East. These articles have the commonality in
of offering an alternative, more optimistic perspective on the Middle East’s energy relations.
Further these articles provide solutions to the emerging problematic tendencies in dealing with
the Middle East’s energy relations as a triple determinism. The ultimate problem then is that
energy relations are understood as an asocial mathematical reflection of bio-physical or chemical
properties. These are the weaknesses I have analyzed in all the subsequent articles. All the
subsequent articles have their own strengths and weaknesses in terms of subjectivity. Most of
them have criticized or explained one particular factor in terms of China’s BRI project and
energy problems of the Middle East. Findings of these studies may help in understanding
China’s tactical adjustments in response to the turmoil in the Middle East such that the Arab
Awakening could ultimately provide a window of strategic opportunity for China to expand its
economic presence.

Works Cited
Calabrese, J. (2013). China and the Arab Awakening: The Cost of Doing Business. CHINA
REPORT 49 : 1 (2013): 5–23.

Callahan, W. A. (2016). China’s ‘‘Asia Dream’’: The Belt Road Initiative and the new regional
order. Asian Journal of Comparative Politics 1-18.

Callahan, W. A. (2016). China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the New Eurasian Order .

Evron, Y. (2019). The Challenge of Implementing the Belt and Road Initiative in the Middle
East: Connectivity Projects under Conditions of Limited Political Engagement. Published
online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2019.

Len, C. (2015). China's 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative, Energy Security and SLOC
Access. ISSN: 0973-3159 (Print) 1946-6609 (Online) Journal Vol. 11 No. 1 Summer
2015, pp. 1–18.

Minghao, Z. (2016). The Belt and Road Initiative and its Implications for China-Europe
Relations. Zhao Minghao (2016): The Belt and Road Initiative and its Implications for
China-Europe Relations, The International Spectator, DOI:
10.1080/03932729.2016.1235819.