China’s Momentum: The “One Belt One Road” Triple’s Securitisation

Abstract

Paulo Duarte explores the security implications of China’s One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative in the context of Chinese (re)emergence. It sees the OBOR project as being embedded with the triple securitisation of Chinese interests: economic, physical/military and soft powers. The author sees the OBOR as an initiative by a pragmatic and nostalgic China to maintain internal stability and to deal with potential economic constraints. At the same time, it might provide leeway for Beijing to move West in a context where its eastern frontier is faced with many uncertainties and even tensions.