The Role of Chinese Regimes of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the Belt and Road Initiative in the Transformation of Its Energy Diplomacy: Quest for Economic Sustainability

Arfan Mahmood, Mehran Idris Khan (), Shahid Ali, Zaheer Abbas and Nouman Khan
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Arfan Mahmood: Centre for South Asian Studies, University of the Punjab, Quaid-e-Azam Campus, Lahore 54590, Pakistan
Mehran Idris Khan: School of Law, Dalian Maritime University, Dalian 116026, China
Shahid Ali: Institute of Middle East Studies, Northwest University, Xi’an 710069, China
Zaheer Abbas: School of Political Science and Public Administration, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
Nouman Khan: Department of History and Politics, The University of Haripur, Haripur 22620, Pakistan

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 24, 1-22

Abstract: This paper offers a critical analysis of how the new regimes in the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) of China complement its energy diplomacy to ensure economic sustainability driven by an uninterrupted supply of overseas energy. Recognising the centrality of energy in its foreign policy, China’s initiative in the AIIB and the BRI to complement its energy diplomacy is a subject of immense significance requiring extensive research. The present study investigates whether the transformations in China’s energy diplomacy caused primarily by these new regimes in the AIIB and the BRI are a step toward economic internationalisation or consistency of its years-old mercantilist practices. It adopts a well-defined analytical methodology by utilising the “case-based” approach of John Gerring. This article argues that the new global institutions of China successfully complement the country’s energy diplomacy, and its energy diplomacy towards Central Asia is predominantly neo-mercantilist. However, it shows a strong inclination to facilitate economic interdependence towards regions that carry some strategic weight in China’s national interests. In contrast, countries enriched in energy resources but isolated, with little strategic worth, are put under sheer dependency on China.

Keywords: energy diplomacy; economic internationalisation; neo-mercantilism; economic sustainability; transformations; Belt and Road Initiative; Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank; Central Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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