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In the fourth instalment of his 'Belt and Road Initiative' series, Gerald Chan provides a critical analysis of China's vaccine diplomacy. Locating it within China's wider infrastructure development strategy, Chan deploys geo-developmentalism as a theoretical tool to analyse its contribution to a new global health order, particularly with the pandemic pushing the country to the forefront of vaccine exportation. This timely book considers the contention between patient rights and patent rights, and the position of China in this debate as a relative latecomer to the global health game. Chan covers the infrastructural and digital innovations involved in recent health initiatives; moving on to unravel Sino-US rivalry and what this means for global health development; and assess the export of healthcare to Africa. Ultimately, this innovative study argues that China's tilt towards providing life saving drugs over the rights of patent holders will lead to better healthcare for the global poor. Providing a fresh perspective on China's unfolding diplomatic strategies, China's Health Silk Road will appeal to students and scholars of international relations, global development, Asian politics and health policy. Furthermore, it will prove crucial reading for policy-makers and think tank analysts looking to better understand Sino-American relations and global health

Front Matter -- Copyright -- Contents -- Figures -- Tables -- Preface and acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- 1. Introduction to China's Digital Silk Road -- 2. The new Silk Road: land, sea, digital -- 3. Theorising the Belt and Road: geodevelopmentalism revisited -- 4. The digital Silk Road: driving the fourth Industrial Revolution? -- 5. The mobile Silk Road: digital economy and the e-yuan -- 6. The cable Silk Road: over the land and under the sea -- 7. The space Silk Road: reaching for the stars? -- 8. Digital diplomacy and internet governance -- 9. Conclusion -- Appendix A: a chronology of developments of the Belt and Road Initiative, 2013-2021 -- Appendix B -- Select bibliography -- Index.

"This innovative book examines the maritime component of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), focusing on three key trade routes and addressing the question of how China protects its overseas assets. Gerald Chan explores China's rising maritime power, using geo-developmentalism as a theoretical framework to analyse the country's development of port facilities and infrastructure along important trade routes. Through developing these sea routes, he argues that a new global order is in the making."

The first of its kind, this book critically and systematically addresses questions about China's high-speed rail diplomacy and 'one belt, one road' initiative. Gerald Chan argues that 'geo-developmentalism' is currently being formed in China, and explores its international impact. Understanding China's New Diplomacy offers an in-depth examination of how China has risen so quickly to become a high-speed rail superpower, and how this has impacted positively and negatively on other countries, particularly its neighbours in Asia. Chan also highlights the challenges the initiative poses to the state, particularly in balancing these projects to maintain China's status as both a land and maritime power. By reviewing the country's unique style of state capitalism and its success of absorbing foreign train technology, new developmental methods exclusive to China are revealed. Government officials, foreign policy makers and students with a keen desire to discover more about Chinese foreign policy and international relations would greatly benefit from the expert insight into China's geopolitical future

Has China embraced global poverty reduction? To what extent has it done so? China faces three paradoxes in trying to alleviate poverty: first, the country is on the whole getting richer, becoming one of the largest economies in the world, yet huge pockets of extreme poverty exist in the country. Second, it wants to be taken seriously as a responsible member of the international community. It would therefore like to be treated as a normal aid giver helping the poor in the developing world. Yet its own people are crying out loud for better social services at home. Third, while it wants to be respected by others in the world, it has been accused by other countries of ignoring, if not abusing, human rights in the Third World in its relentless search for natural resources, trade and investments. This paper aims to unravel these paradoxes by examining China's foreign aid and its adherence or otherwise to the UN Millennium Development Goals. In so doing, the paper assesses China's unilateral approach as well as its multilateral approach to poverty alleviation. It argues that China's overall approach has become more multilateral in nature but the change has been slow and incremental. Its influence in global poverty reduction, though increasing, is still limited.

What are the Chinese views on Asian multilateralism? To answer this question, this article uses a fresh perspective—social evolution—to look at China's engagement with ASEAN. It aims to identify the mechanisms of change that trigger the major shifts in the bilateral relationship between China and ASEAN. It examines the nature of these mechanisms of change, traces their origins and assesses their impact. The article argues in favour of adopting a social evolutionary approach to study the China–ASEAN relationship along with the existing theoretical approaches of realism, liberalism and constructivism. Hopefully the article helps to shed some light on the puzzling dilemma of multilateralism versus bilateralism that China faces in dealing with ASEAN over trade and investments, political balancing and territorial disputes.