1st Edition

China's Globalization from Below Chinese Entrepreneurial Migrants and the Belt and Road Initiative

By Theodor Tudoroiu Copyright 2022
    340 Pages
    by Routledge

    340 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book analyzes the Chinese-centered globalization ‘from below’ brought about by China’s entrepreneurial migrants and conceived of as a projection of Chinese power in the Belt and Road Initiative partner states. It identifies the features of this globalization ‘from below,’ scrutinizes its mutually reinforcing relationship with China’s globalization ‘from above,’ and shows that these two globalizations are intrinsically related to the construction of a new international order. It outlines how the actors in China’s globalization ‘from below’ include Chinese emigrants who are located in informal transnational economic networks. It reveals that Beijing has enacted many laws that compel these emigrants to contribute to the development of their country of origin but also influences them through the successful promotion of a specific type of deterritorialized nationalism; and that China is ready to impose harsh punitive actions on political elites in partner states which fail to protect its migrants or limit their economic activities. Finally, it argues that China’s globalization ‘from below’ is fundamentally different from the non-hegemonic globalization ‘from below’ represented by, among others, Lebanese and East Indian traders, and that China’s globalization ‘from below’ is rather a self-interested national strategy intended to support the construction of a Chinese-centered international order.

    1. Introduction 2. China and the Interplay of Multiple Globalizations 3. The Chinese Entrepreneurial Migrants 4. The State-Migrants Relationship 5. China and Ghana: Globalization from Below and Social Conditionality 6. China and Suriname: The Virtuous Circle of China’s Two Globalizations 7. China and Kyrgyzstan: Sacrificing one Globalization to Save the Other 8. China and New Zealand: Globalization from Below and the Management of the Chinese Diaspora 9. Analysis and Conclusions

    Biography

    Theodor Tudoroiu is a senior lecturer at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus, Trinidad and Tobago