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webCredibility Rating
4/5
High(4)High quality. Established institution or organization with editorial oversight and accountability.
Rating inherited from publication venue: RAND Corporation
This RAND report is primarily about Chinese geopolitical strategy and the Belt and Road Initiative; it has limited direct relevance to AI safety topics but may provide background on US-China strategic competition relevant to AI governance discussions.
Metadata
Importance: 18/100organizational reportanalysis
Summary
This RAND Corporation report analyzes China's political, diplomatic, economic, and military engagement with the Developing World from the 1990s through the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative. It examines how China's self-perception as a vulnerable developing nation shaped its foreign policy, and identifies 'pivotal states' most important to Chinese strategic interests across regions.
Key Points
- •China has consistently viewed itself as a vulnerable developing country, shaping its foreign engagement strategy even as it grew economically and militarily.
- •China's engagement with the Developing World accelerated in the 1990s-2000s, culminating in the Belt and Road Initiative as a vehicle for expanding influence.
- •The report analyzes China's engagement across political/diplomatic, economic, and military dimensions, organized by region and key 'pivotal states'.
- •The 2008 financial crisis was a turning point that increased global skepticism of Western economic models and boosted China's outreach to developing nations.
- •China organizes its security concerns and engagement in concentric circles of importance, with proximate neighbors receiving highest priority.
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| AI Proliferation | Risk | 60.0 |
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China has always viewed itself as a vulnerable underdeveloped country. In the 1990s, it began negotiating economic agreements and creating China-centric institutions, culminating in the 2000s in numerous institutions and ultimately the Belt and Road Initiative. The authors analyze China's political and diplomatic, economic, and military engagement with the Developing World and discuss specific countries that are most important to China.
# At the Dawn of Belt and Road
China in the Developing World
[Andrew Scobell](https://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/s/scobell_andrew.html), [Bonny Lin](https://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/l/lin_bonny.html), [Howard J. Shatz](https://www.rand.org/about/people/s/shatz_howard_j.html), [Michael Johnson](https://www.rand.org/about/people/j/johnson_michael.html), [Larry Hanauer](https://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/h/hanauer_larry.html), [Michael S. Chase](https://www.rand.org/about/people/c/chase_michael_s.html), [Astrid Stuth Cevallos](https://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/c/cevallos_astrid_stuth.html), [Ivan W. Rasmussen](https://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/r/rasmussen_ivan_w.html), [Arthur Chan](https://www.rand.org/pubs/authors/c/chan_arthur.html), [Aaron Strong](https://www.rand.org/about/people/s/strong_aaron.html), et al.
ResearchPublished Oct 16, 2018
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Since its establishment in 1949, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has viewed itself as an underdeveloped country — economically backward, physically weak, and vulnerable to exploitation by more powerful states. Even as the PRC has grown stronger economically and militarily, especially since launching the reform and opening policies of Deng Xiaoping in 1978, PRC officials continue to insist China is a developing country.
In the initial stages of reform and opening, China's relations with the developed world were shaped by its desire to expand
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