Agenda

Yuka Kobayashi 

Xi’s ambitions to make China a ‘strong and wealthy nation’ under the ‘Two Centennial Goals’ has made China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, Yi daiyilu) a priority. The BRI is Xi Jinping’s flagship foreign policy which brings together the country’s geopolitical and geo-economic aims. Until the War in Ukraine BRI was connecting China to Europe through Russia and Ukraine; however, since last year, the armed conflict between the two largest countries connecting China with Europe creates serious challenges to the BRI. The focus in Xi’s BRI has moved from ports, dry ports and roads to creating a Chinese World Order based on a ‘community of shared destiny of mankind’. This idea, together with China’s governance models present an alternative to the US-led world order, but what exactly is this Chinese alternative world order? This talk will unpack the current Chinese notion of world order by focusing on its historical development and will outline some observations for future prospects.

Speaker Bio:
Yuka Kobayashi (LL.B Kyoto, MPhil, DPhil Oxon) is Lecturer/Assistant Professor in China and International Politics at SOAS, University of London, and Visiting Research Professor at Nankai University (China) and Visiting Scholar at the World Trade Organizaton (WTO). Prior to joining SOAS, she was a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. Her research interests include International Relations of China, International Law, Trade and Investment (Belt and Road Initiative/WTO/FDI), Climate Change/Energy and Human Rights. She was previously specialist advisor for the UK’s International Relations and Defence Committee, and has advised various governments, think-tanks and international organisations.

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SPIN project: IL and Korea - From European International Law to Asian One: Korean Experience, 1880s-1940s - CUP: H75F21001780005

Image credits: Official visit of the President of China, January 18, 2016, UN Photo/Pierre Albouy / flickr