Promise and peril of relational governance for Asian regionalism: evidence from China’s BRI infrastructure development in maritime Southeast Asia

Zhaohui Wang ()
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Zhaohui Wang: Xiamen University

Asia Europe Journal, 2025, vol. 23, issue 2, No 9, 303-325

Abstract: Abstract The way China promotes Asian regionalism through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been somewhat understudied. Drawing on a relational theory of world politics, this article examines the relational approach taken by China in initiating and negotiating BRI projects with partner countries and its repercussions for project implementation. It is argued that China’s relational governance emphasizes policy communication and coordination, cultivates high-level interpersonal relationships, and provides flexibility and adaptability in intergovernmental negotiations. However, China’s relational governance encounters formidable challenges and constraints in managing complex relationships and building trust in cross-national, multi-stakeholder conditions during BRI project implementation. Case studies on Chinese railway projects in three Maritime Southeast Asian countries provide supporting empirical evidence for the pragmatic but bounded nature of relational governance for China-led regionalism through the BRI. Asian regionalism calls for a synthetic model in the future, where relational governance and rule-based governance complement and reinforce each other.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s10308-025-00714-7

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