Intervention with Chinese characteristics: the Belt and Road Initiative reconfiguring (Afro-)Eurasian geo-economics

摘要

With the increasing influence of China, the future of its noninterference policy is being increasingly debated both in China and abroad. This contribution investigates the question of intervention with Chinese characteristics by focusing on the 'geo' in the geo-economics of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRl), which is spatially reterritorialising the social geography of (Afro-)Eurasia. This reconfiguration challenges intervention research. By analysing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as an illustration, this article argues that the geo-economic social geography of BRl is supplanting the current geopolitical social geography (dominated by the USA). Through geo-economic interventions, Chinese infrastructure projects create new geo-economic connectivity through corridors in various territories, which have been rendered simply geo-politicised (Pakistan or Iran) or insignificant (Africa) in the global economy. The article concludes by discussing some implications of geo-economic interventions for intervention research.