The Maritime Silk Road: A Euro-Sino Economic, Political and Geo-strategic Challenge

• Main Author: Marsili, Marco
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: China; PRC; European Union; Charles V; Carlos V; arctic routes; seaport; shipping routes; Silk Road; belt and road initiative; Popular republic of China; Arctic Ocean; North Pole; Arctic; Lanes
• Online Access: https://zenodo.org/record/5717277; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5717277

In an era of increasing economic interdependence China is playing a growing role in the global economy, including in Europe, which presents both opportunities and challenges. This paper aims to analyze the different dimensions of an increasingly assertive Chinese presence in Europe from economics to politics and geo-strategy. The essay will address the China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI), the ‘Made in China 2025’ plan, the China 17+1 initiative and Trade disputes between China and Europe. It will also look at questions of technology competition and critical infrastructure investment. China's leaders announced in October 2017 that they want to assume a global leadership role. The long-term strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is one of the major global economic, military and political challenges. Maritime policies play an important role in support of that strategy of making China a global leader. Today, Beijing is seeking to project sophisticated power globally, particularly in areas with heavy BRI activity – the plan for greater connectivity for China across both land and sea through a new Silk Road. The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road affects Europe in five main areas: maritime trade, shipbuilding, emerging growth niches in the blue economy, the global presence of the Chinese navy, and the competition for international influence. It has been calculated that the Maritime Silk Road creates more competition than cooperation opportunities in Europe-China relations. The sea lanes of communication from China to Europe through the Malacca-Suez route are among the busiest in the world – where European interests are more immediate and bigger than on the nascent "Ice Silk Road": China-Europe maritime trade is three times larger than trade by air freight and Eurasian railways, while the last alternative – the Northern Route through the Arctic Ocean, that China dubs the "Ice Silk Road" – is only just starting to develop. In January 2018, the PRC published its first Arctic strategy that ...