Beijing’s Pivot West: The Convergence of Innenpolitik and Aussenpolitik on China’s ‘Belt and Road’?

Michael Clarke*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    23 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    This article seeks to contribute to ongoing debates about the causes and consequences of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It argues via a neoclassical realist analysis that BRI can be seen as the product of the convergence of Aussenpolitik (foreign policy) and Innenpolitik (domestic politics) factors in China’s grand strategy, specifically enduring desires to balance against American primacy and to secure China’s frontier regions such as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). The article concludes that the intersection of these objectives with the geopolitical logic of BRI (i.e. combating American primacy in the maritime domain of the Indo-Pacific through China-led Eurasian integration) provides an explanation for the timing and intensity of Beijing’s imposition of a pervasive ‘security state’ in Xinjiang.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)336-353
    Number of pages18
    JournalJournal of Contemporary China
    Volume29
    Issue number123
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 3 May 2020

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