Two wheels and two wings: Assembling Chinese industrial park-port projects in the Middle East

Abstract:

Recent research has explored the features of an emergent international development regime that embraces infrastructure-led development as a means of enhancing connectivity and global market integration.   While numerous influential international institutions have been at the forefront of the global infrastructure drive, emerging economic actors such as China are becoming increasingly active as providers of infrastructure development assistance.  This working paper hopes to examine the role of connectivity driven infrastructure in China’s rise as a global superpower and leading economic actor in the Middle East, and implication of global infrastructure deployment for host countries.   The paper focuses on China’s industrial park-port model, which in recent years has emerged as a cornerstone of China’s global infrastructure megaproject, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and a key element of Sino-Middle East cooperation under the BRI.