New Perspectives on the Belt and Road Initiative Beyond Doctrinal Debates

DEALAN RIGA: Seeing the title of Tom Miller’s book, China’s Asian dream, could you explain why a part of the Chinese doctrine is presenting BRI as a dream?

RICHARD T. GRIFFITHS: Firstly, the numbers involved are huge, so people ask “how can China do it? To what extent is it a dream?”. If there is any criticism of China, most think the country can ill afford it and China should do more at home since it is a lower-middle income country. The other part of the dream is the ambition. It is the dream of the future. And that involves the sort of idea of a rising hegemon. And this brings a second message…. That there is not enough room on this planet for two hegemons. So if China rises, it must be a threat to the US, and therefore commentators see China as having a political ambition. Now, you can argue against this by asking, “is the ambition the major driving force or is it a consequence?” What I mean to say is that when countries grow, they tend to expand their cultural influence as well. For example in Europe, we have become accustomed to Japanese style and taste. Korean pop is popular here as well. So to that extent you to get a sequence – with trade goes the flag, and with the flag goes political influence, goes cultural influence. That is what is going to happen, basically, whenever one country grows. And if you believe in a zero sum game, you will end up losing…