By Kerry Brown
How China’s OBOR might creep from economics to security issues.
The “One Belt, One Road” (OBOR) concept has remained frustratingly vague since it appeared in late 2013. One of the few things that can be said about it with any confidence is that it outlines the possibilities of a common economic zone among the 65 or so diverse member states. The heart of OBOR is an invitation for all the countries included to focus on benefits to be gained from engaging more with the Chinese economy. In that sense, it has proved to be a subtle, but very evident, gambit by China for a large number of countries linked to it by geography or logistics to factor Beijing more into their external thinking. A ploy for primacy perhaps, but initially in the economic, not the geopolitical, realm.
Despite this emphasis on economic links, there are inevitable questions about the ways in which the creation of a highly diverse, loose and abstract international common market centered on China bleeds into the area of security. The central, southeast and northeast Asian neighbors of China have significant security issues, many of them linked to their economic ones. Would a framework like OBOR ever allow these states to talk in a more shared way about these security issues, and involve China in their discussions? After all, economic success is of little lasting value without some kind of sense of sustainable security. The two are inextricable.
Read the full story at The Diplomat