Belt and Road Initiative

For many years, the influence of regional and trans-regional actors in the Middle East and their struggles to dominate the region has become one of the most important debates among international relations scholars. China is one of these emerging powers that has always been trying to compete with the United States by entering and dominating this strategic region. Accordingly, China has launched the Belt and Road Initiative as a step towards achieving this goal. Chinese experts repeatedly emphasized on the importance of the development of connecting infrastructures in the Middle East and their role in integrating the Middle East countries. Many of them believed that developing these infrastructures can deepen integration in this region. What is missing in many analyses in different think tanks, even in the Belt and Road news research centers, is the existence of many obstacles for the regional integration. Therefore, the basic aim of the study is to examine the impact of these infrastructures on the development of integration in the Middle East while considering various obstacles. In this regard, this piece of research work seeks to address this important question as to what are the main obstacles for the realization of Belt Road Initiative in the development of integration in Middle East? The hypothesis to answer the question is that conflicting cultural, ethnic and political values, religious and ethnic divisions, competition of member states, dominance of security discourse and rivalries of trans-regional powers, security dependence of member countries on trans-regional powers and most importantly the lack of complementary economies are among the most important obstacles to the realization of this economic project.

Chinas` ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has attracted the eye of the many economists worldwide. Many of these economists believe that the Belt and Road Initiative is part of China’s vision of a world where America will no longer be the dominant superpower. It is possible that this may be true. China has committed an outsized chunk of its resources towards this project. More than $1 trillion worth of investments are poured into projects which are directly or indirectly associated with the Belt and Road Initiative. the question is of what else the U.S should do if it’s serious about countering Chinese influence.? Will the developing world fall under China’s sway? whether the U.S should worry about the economic and political influence these projects may bring for China? This paper to both identify areas of common interest and possible cooperation, also as shed light on areas of disagreement that need further work.

International trade regulations are often perceived with the labels of security and stability. World Trade Organization (WTO) being the main organization in this globe to regulate and facilitate affairs of international trade has established a stable system for its member states to deal with trades being done between them. Malaysia and China are both member states of the WTO, and these two countries had a long history of trade relationship to date, and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) would signify as the latest proof of the business relationship between China and Malaysia Through years of progress, Malaysia has become an important partner of China in Belt and Road cooperation and has achieved fruitful results in economic and trade cooperation. Even though the BRI is still rapidly developing till today, looking at this initiative on the legal side, actually there is no law ever enacted in line to handle legal issues born from the initiative specifically, which there are two reasons contributing to such matter generally, namely BRI’s lack of basis in public international law and the difference in legal systems of BRI participating countries. As such, this doctrinal study will use a qualitative method to look into the legal issues of BRI through three aspects, namely: (i) institutional issues; (ii) dispute resolution; and (iii) criminal issues, beside discussing the impact of BRI towards Malaysia from an economic perspective.