The belt and road initiative in Southwest China: responses from Yunnan province

Abstract

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been the subject of extensive analysis since late 2013. Most of this views it as a manifestation of China’s approach to global issues under Xi Jinping, whether economic, geopolitical, or as a bid to reshape globalization. There has so far been less research into the domestic dynamics of the BRI, including at the sub-national level in China. Based primarily on an examination of provincial-level policy documents and research, this paper explores the ways in which policy makers in the southwestern province of Yunnan have responded to the BRI, and what this might mean for the implementation and shaping of the initiative. It identifies the promotion of externally-oriented development as the main response in Yunnan to the BRI, structured around the idea of making the province a ‘pivot’ to south and southeast Asia. This provincial-level response is shaped by pre-existing policy goals in Yunnan and reflects more continuity than change in policy substance. This is consistent with interpretations of the BRI as an ‘omnibus’ policy which can incorporate multiple objectives and act as a framework within which provincial actors can compete for influence or which they can use to make progress towards achieving local objectives in the context of national strategy. The paper concludes that in the case of Yunnan and the BRI, broad alignment between provincial and central government objectives suggests that on this issue, Yunnan is more of an ‘influencer’ and ‘interpreter’ than ‘ignorer’ of national policy goals.

Keywords:

• China
• Belt and Road Initiative
• Yunnan
• provincial agency
• China’s regions

Notes

Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges support from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Direct Grant for research 2017-18: China's Belt and Road Initiative: provincial policy responses in Yunnan, and research assistance from Weng Xin, Zhu Kai, Qu Aixin, Liang Yaoxiang, Xiao Dong, Jing Shiting, Juan Yongchun, Alexandria Preis and Sophie Reiss. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the annual conference of the Hong Kong Political Science Association held at the City University of Hong Kong on 3 November 2018, and at a seminar organised by the Department of Geography and Resource Management at CUHK on 21 March 2019; the author is grateful to participants in both events, and to two anonymous reviewers, for their helpful comments and feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 Qin remained in post until October 2014. In May 2019 he was placed under investigation after giving himself up to the Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.

2 Author’s partial translation of “云南要主动服务和融入国家发展战略, 闯出一条跨越式发展的路子来, 努力成为民族团结进步示范区、生态文明建设排头兵、面向南亚东南亚辐射中心, 谱写好中国梦的云南篇章, 这是云南改革开放和现代化建设的根本遵循和行动指南.”

3 The phrase 辐射中心 fushe zhongxin might be more literally translated as ‘radiation centre’, but I choose to use the term ‘pivot’ as this is the translation used by the Chinese government in English versions of the State Council Visions and Actions document (State Council, 2015).

4 Author’s translation of中共云南省委关于深入贯彻落实习近平总书记考察云南重要讲话精神闯出跨越发展路子的决定.

5 This compares to 517km of expressways in 2001 (Summers, 2013, p. 125).

6 This data is by location of importers and exporters (rather than by place of destination or origin in China). I am most grateful to Weng Xin for her help in collating trade data used in this paragraph from China and Yunnan Statistical Yearbooks.

7 According to a Xinhua report (2018), between 2008 and 2017, general trade increased from US$7.9 billion to US$13.4 billion (up 70%), while processing trade grew from US$500 million to US$2.9 billion (up 5.8 times) and border trade from US$1.2 billion to US$3.4 billion (up 2.8 times).

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Tim Summers

Tim Summers is Lecturer in the Centre for China Studies at CUHK. His research interests cover the international relations and political economy of contemporary China. Recent publications include a book, China’s Regions in an Era of Globalization and articles on the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s maritime disputes, Europe-China relations and Hong Kong.