Motivated by the Chinese government's foreign direct investment (FDI) promotion policies, this paper is attempting to examine the implications of these policies to the Belt and Road (B&R) regions under the unique institutional settings. By applying the software tool CiteSpace, which is developed for visual analyze of science mapping (Chen, 2017), this paper aims to investigate the dynamics of Chinese cross-border investment activities in B&R countries, taking the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor as an example, and discuss the question whether & how these policies and activities could drive more Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs) to exploit these emerging business opportunities in B&R regions, as well as investigate what is the trend of Chinese FDI in B&R.
TopBackground
The Silk Road is an ancient land commercial trade route that started in ancient China and connected Asia, Africa and Europe. Its original function was to transport silk, porcelain and other commodities produced in ancient China. Later, it became the main route for exchanges between the East and the West in economic, political, cultural, and other aspects.
In terms of transportation modes, the Silk Road is mainly divided into the land Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road.
The land Silk Road dates back to the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC - 8 AD). It was established by Emperor Wu, who sent Zhang Qian as an envoy to the Western Regions, starting from the capital Chang'an (now Xi'an) and ending in Rome. This road is considered to be the intersection of ancient Eastern and Western civilizations linking the Eurasian continent, and silk was the most representative cargo.
The Maritime Silk Road refers to the maritime channel for economic and cultural exchanges between ancient China and the rest of the world. It was first opened in the Qin (221 BC to 207 BC) and Han dynasties (202 BC to 220 AD). Starting from Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Ningbo, Yangzhou and other coastal cities, from the South China Sea to the Arabian Sea, and even as far as the “Maritime Silk Road” of maritime trade on the east coast of Africa (Hook, 2022).
Over time, the Silk Road has become a collective name for all political, economic and cultural exchanges between ancient China and the West.
B&R or Belt and Road is the abbreviation of “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” (Saud et al., 2019), and it’s also considered as China’s “Going global strategy” (Rauf et al., 2020). It covers more than 60 countries, 47.6% of the global population, 27.8% of total world trade and nearly 30% of the world’s GDP (Huang, 2016; Chin & He, 2016; World Bank, 2018; Belt and Road Initiative Big Data Report, 2018).
In September and October 2013, during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visits to Central Asia and Southeast Asian countries, he proposed major initiatives to jointly build the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”, which have received high attention from the international community. These include 1) the Silk Road Economic Belt, whose strategy covers the economic integration of Southeast Asia, the economic integration of Northeast Asia, and ultimately leads to Europe, forming a general trend of economic integration in Eurasia (Du & Zhang, 2018). 2) The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Economic Belt, and its strategy is to form a closed loop of sea and land between the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa and the Silk Road Economic Belt (Ge et al., 2020).