Dr. Andrew Wilson, “China’s Maritime Silk Road”

Launched in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature project to influence the global economic order and potentially remake the political balance of power.   This talk examines the seaward dimensions of the BRI–the Maritime Silk Road.  The scale and complexity of the Maritime Silk Road’s projects have generated both praise and condemnation.   From a U.S. perspective, there is significant concern that BRI investments in port facilities across Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Middle East and even as far as the Mediterranean, are about more than economics, it is about the ability of the Chinese Navy to project power and influence along sea lines previously dominated by the United States and its allies.

Andrew Wilson will unravel some of the mystery surrounding the Maritime Silk Road and show that the project is both a manifestation of Chinese internal politics, economics, and the ways China sees its role in the world; as well as a process whereby the BRI is largely shaped by the countries that partner with China.  Those countries play significant roles in getting the BRI to work for their own developmental and political objectives.  Andrew will also explore the growing disenchantment with the BRI in Europe, heightened geo-political tensions surrounding it in South Asia, and the concern that Chinese projects in the Arctic will strengthen Beijing’s economic and strategic ties with Moscow.

Both the BRI and its Maritime Silk Road component defy simple description.  In one sense they are part of a centralized and coordinated effort to enhance China’s power and presence globally.  At the same time, the BRI is a chaotic multiplayer, multilevel game played both domestically and internationally.  It carries both risks of debt and dependency as well as significant developmental rewards for China and its partners.  As such, the Maritime Silk Road is both reflective of China’s internal fractions and its multiple domestic stakeholders, and is shaped by the complex and diverse projects that this emerging superpower is pursuing in an intricate global landscape.  This talk should prove valuable to anyone eager to understand the BRI in all its complexity and diversity, especially in the maritime domain.

Dr. Andrew Wilson,

Andrew R. Wilson is the John A. van Beuren Chair of Asia-Pacific Studies and Professor of Strategy & Policy at the United States Naval War College in Newport, RI, the world’s oldest and most prestigious center for senior military education.  An old “China Hand,” Andrew received his Bachelor of Arts in East Asian Studies from the University of California Santa Barbara, and earned a Ph.D. in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University with a specialization in the history of Pre-Modern and Modern China.

Professor Wilson has published numerous books and articles on Chinese military history, the Chinese diaspora, and the history of China and maritime Asia.  Professor Wilson’s research interests are not limited to history.  He has also written on Chinese strategic culture, contemporary Asian security, Chinese politics, and China’s military modernization. In addition, he is a student of strategic theory and formerly served as the Naval War College’s Philip A. Crowl Professor of Comparative Strategy.

Before joining the Naval War College faculty in 1998, Professor Wilson taught introductory and advanced courses in Chinese history and the history of the Chinese diaspora at Harvard and at Wellesley College. He has also taught at Salve Regina University and at the University of Rhode Island’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI).  His courses at OLLI include Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, In the Footsteps of Genghis Khan, The Treasure Fleets of the Great Ming and A History of Modern China.  An award-winning educator and dynamic lecturer, Professor Wilson has spoken at numerous military colleges and civilian universities across the United States and around the world, has been featured on the History Channel and National Public Radio, and has been a guest lecturer for One Day University, Scientific American, The New York Times Journeys and National Geographic. Professor Wilson is also an inveterate traveler and fanatical foodie.  He has lived in China, Taiwan and the Philippines and makes annual trips to Asia, frequently accompanied by students and faculty from the Naval War College.

Professor Wilson’s books include Ambition and Identity: Chinese Merchant-Elites in Colonial Manila, 1885-1916; The Chinese in the Caribbean; War, Virtual War and Human Security; China’s Future Nuclear Submarine Force, and the forthcoming Investigating the Belt and Road.  Professor Wilson has also been featured on The Great Courses with lecture series including The Art of War, Masters of War: History’s Greatest Strategic Thinkers, and Understanding Imperial China: Dynasties, Life, and Cultures.■