Beyond Geopolitics: A Geoeconomic Perspective of China-Iran Belt and Road Initiative Relations/Jeopolitik Otesi: Cin ve Iran'in Kusak ve Yol Girisimi Iliskilerine Jeoekonomik Bakis

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the largest regional development project in the history of global development. It is estimated that Chinese companies will invest up to $1.2 trillion in infrastructure development in Asia and elsewhere in the coming years. However, there are many obstacles to the successful implementation of this initiative in the host countries, including geographical factors, local culture, geopolitical contestation, public attitudes, institutional capacity and governance quality. These challenges can substantially diminish the coherence of the BRI and prevent its effective implementation. This study aims to develop an analytical framework for exploring the risks associated with and challenges of executing BRI projects in Iran. To this end, all risks are categorized into three broad groups: operational, financial, and geopolitical. The results show that Iran generally faces many internal and external challenges in attracting foreign investment. The critical question is: Why is Iran receiving substantial investment from Chinese companies despite its unfavorable business environment? Ageoeconomic approach is used to develop a theoretical framework to explain Iran-China BRI relations. In this context, Iran's geoeconomic significance is the main factor encouraging the flow of Chinese investment into the country. The BRI comprises mostly functional cooperation between China and countries along the Silk Road based on a specific geospatial environment. Iran's geospatial environment encourages Chinese investments in infrastructure, which is the main content of functional cooperation. Keywords: Belt and Road Initiative, geospatial environment, risk assessment, geoeconomic Kusak ve Yol Giricimi (BRI), kuresel kalkinma tarihindeki en buyuk bolgesel kalkinma projesidir. Cinli sirketlerin gelecek yillarda Asya'da ve baska yerlerde altyapi gelistirmeye 1,2 trilyon dolara kadar yatirim yapacagi tahmin edilmektedir. Ancak, bu girisimin ev sahibi ulkelerde bacarili bir sekilde uygulanmasinin onunde cografi faktorler, yerel kultur, jeopolitik cekicme, kamu tutumlan, kurumsal kapasite ve yonetisim kalitesi gibi bircok zorluk bulunmaktadir. Bu zorluklar, BRI'nin tutarliligini onemli olcude azaltabilir ve etkili bir sekilde uygulanmasini engelleyebilir. Bu calisma, Iran'da BRI projelerinin yurutulmesiyle ilgili riskleri ve zorluklan tespit etmek icin analitik bir cerceve gelictirmeyi amaclamaktadir. Bu dogrultuda, tum riskier operasyonel, finansal ve jeopolitik olmak uzere uc genis, gruba aynlir. Sonuclar, iran'in genel olarak yabanci yatinmlari cekmede bircok ic ve dis zorlukla karsi karcrya oldugunu gostermektedir. 'Iran, olumsuz is ortamina ragmen neden Cinli sirketlerden onemli miktarda yatirim aliyor?' sorusu kritiktir. Iran-Cin BRI ilickilerini aciklamada teorik bir cerceve gelistirmek icin jeoekonomik yaklasim kullanilmaktadir. Bu baglamda, Iran'in jeoekonomik onemi, Cin yatirimlarinin ulkeye akisini tesvik eden ana faktordur. BRI, Cin ile Ipek Yolu uzerindeki ulkeler arasinda belirli bir jeo-uzamsal ortama dayali olarak islevsel is birligini icermektedir. Iran'in jeo-uzamsal ortami, iclevsel is birliginin ana icerigi oian Cin'in altyapi yatinmlarini tecvik etmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Kusak ve Yol Girisimi, jeo-uzamsal ortam, risk degerlendirmesi, jeoekonomi
Introduction In September 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the revival of the ancient Silk Road in Kazakhstan. In October of the same year in Indonesia, he proposed the Maritime [...]