GoJIL Vol. 12, No. 1 (2022)
Dynamic Belt and Road Initiative and the Global South’s Approach to Sustainability
Dan Yao and Mingzhe Zhu
Abstract
When discussing China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), mainstream
scholarship adopts the narrative of grand strategy, which assumes the existence
of a predetermined and top-down plan as well as China’s determination to
implement it according to its interests and vision. This article, with its focus on
sustainability, challenges this narrative and draws attention to the indeterminate
features of the BRI. It proposes an alternative interpretation that considers the
BRI as a dynamic field that facilitates the emergence of the Global South’s
approach to international law. It argues that the countries of the Global
South can be regrouped as a symbolic region by their proximity in the global
distribution of economic and environmental goods, with its identity defined
by common history with international law, and necessary solidarity in the
pursuit of the cause of liberation. This article then compares the BRI with the
previous projects of the Global South and identifies a vagueness of commitment,
lack of coordination mechanism, and flexibility as their key features. Further
substantialized by two case studies, it contends that the formulation of rules
is determined by strategic interactions between States and different non-State
actors in a given location according to local realities.
Keywords:
Third World Approaches to International Law; the Global South; the Belt and Road Initiativ
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