Since its launch in late 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has become a significant factor in shaping China’s economic and diplomatic relations with the outside world. China’s increasing clout presents challenges as well as opportunities, especially for the developing economies of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

This special issue aims to shed light on this topic by asking and answering the question: ‘Is China’s economic ascendancy enhancing or undermining the ASEAN Economic Community?’ The special issue is looking for fresh insights, both theoretically- and empirically-oriented, that would enable the academic and policy communities to gain a deeper understanding on the issue. In particular, the special issue encourages scholars to further explore the processes and mechanisms of the BRI in ASEAN along three sub-themes – institutions at a regional level, industry/sector, and particular ASEAN nations’ economic relationship with China. These three sub-themes help to sharpen our conceptualization on how China’s economic expansion is meshing with ASEAN’s increasing regionalism and the specificities of its political economy. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• The political economy of new, region-specific mega free trade agreements, especially the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) and the US-lite version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)
• Rise of alternative, China-driven institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the New Development Bank (NDB)
• The economic and financial governance of ASEAN+3 institutions such as the ASEAN +3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO) and Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM), taking stock of China’s increasing economic might relative to ASEAN
• Production and infrastructure networks interlinking ASEAN, China, and other economies
• Economic strategies of selected ASEAN economies in tapping into the BRI
• Ethnic Chinese enterprises of ASEAN and their involvement in the BRI

Guest Editors: Professor Hong Liu (Nanyang Technological University), Professor Kong Yam Tan (Nanyang Technological University), Dr. Guanie Lim (Nanyang Technological University)

Submission Procedure: Contributors should submit their manuscript in English by February 28, 2019. Manuscripts should be submitted online at the following link: www.editorialmanager.com/ser/default.asp

Contributors should clearly indicate in the website that the paper is submitted to the Special Issue on The Political Economy of the Belt and Road Initiative: Perspectives from Southeast Asia. There is no submission fee.

All papers must adhere to the “Guideline for Contributors” (available online at www.worldscientific.com/page/ser/submissionguidelines) of the Singapore Economic Review.

For further questions or inquiries, please visit www.worldscientific.com/worldscinet/ser or contact the corresponding guest editor at [email protected].