Abstract
This is an important book. It describes in rich detail the mindset of China’s policymakers facing new security challenges as the country emerged as a major economic force in the world. At the core of the explanation lies a unique combination of geographical features that have influenced China’s history and both the perception and the reality of its current security dilemmas and risks. China is still engaged in pulling the mass of its citizens out of poverty. Its domestic security and the political legitimacy of the state are based upon the premise of increasing prosperity. However, it has to operate in a world of complex interdependence where peace and prosperity are intertwined. The Belt and Road initiative fits into this security analysis by helping the country to break out of the isolation to which it had been condemned by the peculiarities of its geography, allowing it to increase the connectivity with its neighbours, while simultaneously contributing to the increase in regional prosperity. The result does not simply challenge the status quo, it questions the very basis of the ‘realist’ political paradigms employed by analysts in the West. The various infrastructural projects that lie at the foundation of the Belt and Road strategy provide the means of achieving both mutually beneficial economic results and the external reputation of the state. To quote the author of this book, Francisco Leandro, ‘China has developed concentric and multireinforced circles of security, centred on a comprehensive domestic-directed security’ (p. 338).
The first chapter (pp. 43–122) is devoted to analysing the question of the geopolitical complexities of China that pose geopolitical challenges and command regional and global significance. The Belt and Road initiative helps to address the imbalance within the country and to allow it to break out of its geographical isolation. The second chapter (pp. 125–213), which is heavily based on American political science literature, addresses the question of how, in current circumstances, one should approach the issue of security. The third chapter (pp. 217–94) tries to answer the question of how the Special Administrative Regions (i.e. Hong Kong and Macao) contribute to, and potentially benefit from, China’s Belt and Road initiative. These three chapters together account for fully 90 per cent of the text. A fourth chapter (pp. 297–327) sketches several approaches for examining China’s current security model. A final chapter (pp. 331–45) ties all the strands together. Given the complexity of the monograph, it is worth reading this chapter before embarking on the main body of the text.
It is not an easy book to read. The information density is often overwhelming and the information is sometimes repetitious. The text does not always lie well in English. The author does try to assist the reader to appreciate the arguments raised in the text by providing a wealth of well-chosen explanatory maps and diagrams, which this reviewer certainly appreciated. Unfortunately the publishers have so reduced them in size as to render many of them almost indecipherable to the naked eye. This is a shame, since they are judiciously placed and they really do reinforce the text. Another source of irritation is the decision by the author to use two referencing systems – footnotes and in-text citations. Given the fact that scarcely a page passes without a lengthy footnote, it would have improved the accessibility of the text had the text references also been consigned to the bottom of the page. For example, page 91, discussing the (mostly derogatory) descriptions made by different authors of the state of North Korea, contains no less than 21 in-text references and four footnotes.
This book presents a complex explanation for the motivations lying behind the Belt and Road initiative, and one that is rarely seen. For this reason, it deserves the widest possible readership.