Research Summaries

Back Mitigating the Impact of China’s BRI on U.S. Interests and Access in the Indo-Pacific

Fiscal Year 2020
Division Research & Sponsored Programs
Department NPS Naval Research Program
Investigator(s) Glosny, Michael A.
Sponsor NPS Naval Research Program (Navy)
Summary The main purpose of this study is to produce an assessment of Chinaâ¿¿s Belt and Road Initiative and its impact on the U.S. Navyâ¿¿s interests in the Indo-Pacific region. More specifically, it is intended to identify risks that BRI projects may pose to USN access, basing and operations and actions that the Navy can take to mitigate those risks. To accomplish these aims, the study will conduct a review of Chinaâ¿¿s BRI projects as well as a series of case studies focused on BRI projects that have direct impact on Navy access, basing, and operations in strategically located countries throughout the Indo-Pacific region. In each case, we seek to answer the following questions. (1) How are the projects selected, negotiated and implemented? (2) What are the terms of the agreements on which BRI projects are pursued? In particular, what rights do recipients grant to their Chinese lenders? (3) In what ways do BRI projects limit USN access, basing, and operations?

This project will employ the comparative case study method. This method is common in the social sciences and is described at http://methods.sagepub.com/reference/encyc-of-case-study-research/n64.xml. As such, the project will entail a set of case studies from which patterns can be identified.

This project will produce a comprehensive final report as well briefings to the sponsor and other interested audiences in the Navy. The final report will be organized as a series of case studies together with a comparative analysis of those studies. The precise organization and format of the deliverables will be designed to suit the needs of the topic sponsor. Interim reports will be provided to keep the sponsor apprised of our progress and to solicit feedback during the course of study.
Keywords
Publications Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal
Data Publications, theses (not shown) and data repositories will be added to the portal record when information is available in FAIRS and brought back to the portal