This field seminar examines how China’s plans for the economic development of southwestern China and economic integration strategies with states in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) empowers interests and creates cross-border issues with regional implications. As the Chinese economy began to emerge in the 1990’s, the Greater Mekong Subregion was created to promote inter- regional economic and infrastructural development and is comprised of states in the Mekong river basin: China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. Since 2000, China has developed bilateral and multilateral agreements with GMS states that include infrastructure and trade development plans. While China watchers and theorists ponder the question of China’s future role in world affairs, China’s GMS plans provides direct insight to a rising China’s regional strategies.
These strategies included the creation of free trade zones on the borders with Vietnam and Myanmar, promotion of free trade agreements with all ASEAN countries as well as consideration of a new free trade region known as ASEAN+China. At the same time, China is linking its infrastructure with its neighbors by building highways and water routes for the promotion of interregional trade. Starting in the mid-1990’s, China has built eight large-scale dams on the upper Mekong River which have created social and economic impact in countries downstream and have affected inter-regional relations. The response to China’s plans from individual states and multilateral institutions such as ASEAN and the Mekong River Commission in concern to these dams and other projects has varied from lukewarm to enthusiastic; however, the ASEAN community has not gathered a concerted response to China’s rise and strategies.
The first four weeks of this course provides a theoretical overview to issues surrounding China’s rise, regionalism and international trade and introduces relevant cross-border issues. The beginning portion of the course also takes a deep look at motivations and details for China’s plans for the region. Students will meet with Chinese officials, NGOs, and commercial interests in Yunnan province who influence regional development policy and trade promotion. Students will also travel to the Xiaowan Dam sight, China’s second largest dam, to conduct an impact analysis of the dam on the local region and its downstream effects. The final two weeks of the program will be conducted in a mobile learning format in a free-trade zone on Vietnam’s borders with China and also in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi and the Laotian capital of Vientiane. In these countries, students will engage with government and non- government interests, both native and Chinese, who are empowered or disaffected by China’s plans for the region.
Prerequisites:
None
Attendance policy:
Attendance to all classes and field study trips is mandatory for the completion of the course. Each unexcused absence will count for a deduction of one-third of a student’s final letter grade.
Learning outcomes:
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
• Develop a framework of competing regionalism theories and debate over the effects of international trade.
• Conduct first-hand analysis of the impact of China’s economic and political strategy for integrating with Southeast Asia and provide insight to a rising China in world affairs.
• Identify and interact with regional and governmental and non-governmental interests
• Develop skills in environmental impact analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and application of sustainable development models.
Method of presentation:
The course will be a three credit, seven week field seminar meeting for eighteen sessions for 2.5 hours with occasional guest speakers in conjunction with lecture and in-class discussion. Field study will comprise a substantial portion of the course, providing students with first- hand observation and participation opportunities. Readings are comprised of secondary research on China’s economic development in South East Asia and relevant regional issues as well as including publications of institutions visited during the course. The final two weeks of the course will be conducted in Vietnam and Laos.
Required work and form of assessment:
• In-class participation (15%).
• Country oral and written report (25%): (8 pages) Students choose a mainland Southeast Asian country and produce a report on response to China’s regional plans to date and analysis of cross- border issues in that country.
• Impact analysis of Xiaowan Dam project (30%): Students work together to produce an impact analysis of the Xiaowan Dam project by compiling recent local and downstream data and interviewing interests in China who are affected by the dam project.
• Regional simulation (35%) – Students working individually or in small groups will represent a country or multilateral group in the Greater Mekong Subregion and react to a series of simulated regional events. Students, based on knowledge economic development plans and regional relations will develop a solution to those events and present that solution in a final course presentation. Assessment will be based on the feasibility of those plans and ability of the representative student groups to work together on a solution to the simulation. The simulation will be held at the GMS Secretariat in Vientiane, Laos.
content:
Class 1 Wk 1: Overview and the ASEAN Way
Eyler China’s Strategic Engagement with the Greater Mekong Subregion” January 2005
Haack. Chapter 1 1-31: The early origins of the ASEAN way: struggle for respect and sovereignty. Haack. Chapter 2 32-55: Post-war origins of the ASEAN way: from estrangement and conflict to reconciliation and accommodation
Class 2 wk 2a: Economic growth and effects of international trade and free trade agreements; history of ASEAN and other regional FTAs
Suryadinata 1. China's Economic Rise and Its Implications for Southeast Asia: The Big Picture, by John Wong
Haack Chapter 5 113-139: China’s relations with ASEAN: challenging or reinforcing the ASEAN way
Class 3 wk 2b: Regionalism and ASEAN+China
Chen, Xiangming. Chapter 7: Four cases across Southeast Asia 176-230
Hock. Chapter 15. Strategic Dimension of ASEAN-China Economic Relations, by Eric Teo Chu Cheow
Hock. Chapter 2. China's Economy in Search of New Development Strategies, by John Wong
2 Field visits: Yunnan Provincial Bureau of commerce, High tech development zone
Class 4 week 3a: Regional Hegemony and soft power
Kurlantznik Chapter 1-2
Kang, David. Hierarchy and Stability in Asian International relations
Hock 12. China's Aid to Southeast Asia, by Zhang Haibing
Field visit: international produce market
Class 5 week 3b: Regional Hegemony and soft power
Kurlantznik. Chapter 3-4
Agnew. Chapters 1 & 5: Introduction and American Constitutionalism or Marketplace Society Suryadinata. Chapter 2. The Emergence of China's Economic Power and Its Implications for Chinese Businesses in Southeast Asia, by Sarasin Viraphol
Class 6&7 week 3c Dam trip: China’s infrastructural development and dam building
Eyler. “China’s Mekong River Dams and Implications for the Greater Mekong Subregion” April 2005
Hanley and Splash. Cost Benefit Analysis and the Environment. Pp 1-76
Lampton, David M. “A Plum for a Peach: Bargaining, Interest, and Bureaucratic Politics in China”
Class 8 week 4a: Domestic NGOs and Sustainable development models
Green Watershed NGO visit
Blewitt. Chapter 1: 1-28 Globalization and Sustainable development
Blewitt. Chapter 2: 27-51 Worldviews and Ethical Values
Blewitt. Chapter 5: 99-122 Sustainable Development politics and governance
Class 9 Week 4b: Burma and Cambodia: Overview and case study
World Bank Country reports for Burma and Cambodia
Lai. Chapter 1: Bilateral Relations Between China and Myanmar (K O Aung)
Haacke, Chapter 4 81-112: The Cambodian Conflict and preserving the ASEAN way: struggling to preserve a principle
Field Visit: Burmese Jade trade warehouse in Kunming
Class 10 week 5a: Thailand: Overview and Case study
World Bank Thailand profile
Case Study on the Thai Senate and international trade politics
Class 11 week 5b: Vietnam: Overview
World bank Vietnam profile
Lai. Vietnam China relations – Present and future
Hensengerth. Chapter 1-2 Regionalism in China-Vietnam Relations: Institution Building in the Greater
Mekong Subregion pp 1-74
Country presentations (China, Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand) Depart for trip
Class 12 week 5c: FT zones and effects: tariffs
Hock 5. ASEAN-China Trade Relations: Origins, Progress and Prospect, by Chen Wen
Hock 6. ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement: Negotiation, Implementation and Prospect, by Lu Bo
Hock 7. ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement: Legal and Institutional Aspects, by Wang Jiangyu
Stay in Hekou China-Vietnam FTZ: Free trade zone HQ visit
Class 13 week 6a: Chinese Diaspora in Vietnam and SEA
Glassman. Bounding the Mekong. Chapters 1-2
Hensengerth. Chapter 3-4 Regionalism in China-Vietnam Relations: Institution Building in the Greater
Mekong Subregion pp 75-125
Overland to Hanoi
Site visits; Meet with ethnic Chinese in Vietnam doing business in China
Vietnamese government economic development promotion office
Factory tour (import both to China and ROW) Hanoi Confucius institute
Class 14 week 6b: Sustainable development in Vietnam
Glassman. Bounding the Mekong. Chapters 3-4
Blewitt. Chapter 6: 123-148 Beyond the Economic Growth model
Blewitt. Chapter 8: 173-198 Tools and systems for sustainability
Class 15 week 6c: Multilaterals: Mekong River Commission
Glassman. Bounding the Mekong. Chapters 5-6
Social Atlas of the Lower Mekong Basin. Mekong River Commission. 2010
Impacts of climate change and development on Mekong flow regimes First assessment. Mekong River
Commission. 2009
Fly to Vientiane, Laos
Site visits in Vientiane, Laos
Mekong River Commission,
Chinese government economic promotion country office, Beer Lao factory (major exporter to SEA and China), International development NGO, Chinese company construction site, meet with Chinese business people living in Laos
Class 16 week 7a: Laos
Glassman. Bounding the Mekong. Chapters 7-8
World Bank Laos Profile
Lai. Chapter 5. China’s rise and its implications for Southeast Asia and Laos
Regional simulation
Class 17 week 7b: Sustainable development solutions and regional scenarios
Glassman Bounding the Mekong Chapters 7-8
Development Scenarios in the Lower Mekong Basin. Mekong River Commission. 2010
Class 18 week 7c (final presentations on simulation)
Return to Kunming
Required readings:
Agnew, John. Hegemony: The New Shape of Global Power. Temple University Press, 2005. Blewitt, John. Understanding Sustainable Development. Earthscan publications, 2008
Chen, Xiangming. As Borders Bend: Transnational Spaces on the Pacific Rim. Rowman and Littlefield 2005.
Daly, Herman. Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development. Beacon Press, 1998
Eyler, Brian. China’s Strategic Engagement with the Greater Mekong Subregion” 2005.
Eyler, Brian “China’s Mekong River Dams and Implications for the Greater Mekong Subregion” 2005
Glassman, Jim. Bounding the Mekong: The Asian Development Bank, China, and Thailand. University of Hawaii, 2010.
Hensengerth, Oliver. Regionalism in China-Vietnam Relations: Institution-Building in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Routledge, 2009.
Hanley, Nick. Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Environment. Edward Elgar Publishing, 1995.
Hock, Saw Swee. ASEAN-China Economic Relations. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 2006.
Impacts of climate change and development on Mekong flow regimes First assessment. Mekong River Commission. 2009
Jurgen, Haack. ASEAN’s Diplomatic and Security Culture: Origins, Developments and Propects. Routledge, 2009
Kang, David. “Hierarchy and Stability in Asian International Relations.” In Kurlantick, Joshua. Charm Offensive. Yale, 2008.
International Relations Theory and the Asia Pacific. Columbia, New York 2003.
Lampton, David M. “A Plum for a Peach: Bargaining, Interest, and Bureaucratic Politics in China” Lai, Hongyi. Harmony and Development: ASEAN-China Relations. World Scientific Press 2008
Plummer, Michael G. ASEAN economic integration: Trade, FDI, Finance. World Scientific Publishing Company, 2009.
Social Atlas of the Lower Mekong Basin. Mekong River Commission. 2010Suryadinata, Leo. Southeast Asia's Chinese Businesses in an Era of Globalization: Coping with the Rise of China. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore.
Brief Biography of Instructor:
Brian serves as the Director of the IES Beijing Center at the Beijing Foreign Studies University and is an expert on China’s economic integration with the GMS region. He has conducted extensive research with various interests in the region including the Yunnanese government officials and businesspeople, local NGOs and local and ethnically Chinese interests in Thailand and Laos. He acts as a consultant to the UNDP Lancang-Mekong Economic Cooperation programme in Kunming, Yunnan province and designed and led several study tours comprised of IES Beijing students throughout Yunnan’s portion of the GMS region.
This field seminar examines how China’s plans for the economic development of southwestern China and economic integration strategies with states in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) empowers interests and creates cross-border issues with regional implications. As the Chinese economy began to emerge in the 1990’s, the Greater Mekong Subregion was created to promote inter- regional economic and infrastructural development and is comprised of states in the Mekong river basin: China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. Since 2000, China has developed bilateral and multilateral agreements with GMS states that include infrastructure and trade development plans. While China watchers and theorists ponder the question of China’s future role in world affairs, China’s GMS plans provides direct insight to a rising China’s regional strategies.
These strategies included the creation of free trade zones on the borders with Vietnam and Myanmar, promotion of free trade agreements with all ASEAN countries as well as consideration of a new free trade region known as ASEAN+China. At the same time, China is linking its infrastructure with its neighbors by building highways and water routes for the promotion of interregional trade. Starting in the mid-1990’s, China has built eight large-scale dams on the upper Mekong River which have created social and economic impact in countries downstream and have affected inter-regional relations. The response to China’s plans from individual states and multilateral institutions such as ASEAN and the Mekong River Commission in concern to these dams and other projects has varied from lukewarm to enthusiastic; however, the ASEAN community has not gathered a concerted response to China’s rise and strategies.
The first four weeks of this course provides a theoretical overview to issues surrounding China’s rise, regionalism and international trade and introduces relevant cross-border issues. The beginning portion of the course also takes a deep look at motivations and details for China’s plans for the region. Students will meet with Chinese officials, NGOs, and commercial interests in Yunnan province who influence regional development policy and trade promotion. Students will also travel to the Xiaowan Dam sight, China’s second largest dam, to conduct an impact analysis of the dam on the local region and its downstream effects. The final two weeks of the program will be conducted in a mobile learning format in a free-trade zone on Vietnam’s borders with China and also in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi and the Laotian capital of Vientiane. In these countries, students will engage with government and non- government interests, both native and Chinese, who are empowered or disaffected by China’s plans for the region.
None
Attendance to all classes and field study trips is mandatory for the completion of the course. Each unexcused absence will count for a deduction of one-third of a student’s final letter grade.
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
• Develop a framework of competing regionalism theories and debate over the effects of international trade.
• Conduct first-hand analysis of the impact of China’s economic and political strategy for integrating with Southeast Asia and provide insight to a rising China in world affairs.
• Identify and interact with regional and governmental and non-governmental interests
• Develop skills in environmental impact analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and application of sustainable development models.
The course will be a three credit, seven week field seminar meeting for eighteen sessions for 2.5 hours with occasional guest speakers in conjunction with lecture and in-class discussion. Field study will comprise a substantial portion of the course, providing students with first- hand observation and participation opportunities. Readings are comprised of secondary research on China’s economic development in South East Asia and relevant regional issues as well as including publications of institutions visited during the course. The final two weeks of the course will be conducted in Vietnam and Laos.
• In-class participation (15%).
• Country oral and written report (25%): (8 pages) Students choose a mainland Southeast Asian country and produce a report on response to China’s regional plans to date and analysis of cross- border issues in that country.
• Impact analysis of Xiaowan Dam project (30%): Students work together to produce an impact analysis of the Xiaowan Dam project by compiling recent local and downstream data and interviewing interests in China who are affected by the dam project.
• Regional simulation (35%) – Students working individually or in small groups will represent a country or multilateral group in the Greater Mekong Subregion and react to a series of simulated regional events. Students, based on knowledge economic development plans and regional relations will develop a solution to those events and present that solution in a final course presentation. Assessment will be based on the feasibility of those plans and ability of the representative student groups to work together on a solution to the simulation. The simulation will be held at the GMS Secretariat in Vientiane, Laos.
Class 1 Wk 1: Overview and the ASEAN Way
Eyler China’s Strategic Engagement with the Greater Mekong Subregion” January 2005
Haack. Chapter 1 1-31: The early origins of the ASEAN way: struggle for respect and sovereignty. Haack. Chapter 2 32-55: Post-war origins of the ASEAN way: from estrangement and conflict to reconciliation and accommodation
Class 2 wk 2a: Economic growth and effects of international trade and free trade agreements; history of ASEAN and other regional FTAs
Suryadinata 1. China's Economic Rise and Its Implications for Southeast Asia: The Big Picture, by John Wong
Haack Chapter 5 113-139: China’s relations with ASEAN: challenging or reinforcing the ASEAN way
Class 3 wk 2b: Regionalism and ASEAN+China
Chen, Xiangming. Chapter 7: Four cases across Southeast Asia 176-230
Hock. Chapter 15. Strategic Dimension of ASEAN-China Economic Relations, by Eric Teo Chu Cheow
Hock. Chapter 2. China's Economy in Search of New Development Strategies, by John Wong
2 Field visits: Yunnan Provincial Bureau of commerce, High tech development zone
Class 4 week 3a: Regional Hegemony and soft power
Kurlantznik Chapter 1-2
Kang, David. Hierarchy and Stability in Asian International relations
Hock 12. China's Aid to Southeast Asia, by Zhang Haibing
Field visit: international produce market
Class 5 week 3b: Regional Hegemony and soft power
Kurlantznik. Chapter 3-4
Agnew. Chapters 1 & 5: Introduction and American Constitutionalism or Marketplace Society Suryadinata. Chapter 2. The Emergence of China's Economic Power and Its Implications for Chinese Businesses in Southeast Asia, by Sarasin Viraphol
Class 6&7 week 3c Dam trip: China’s infrastructural development and dam building
Eyler. “China’s Mekong River Dams and Implications for the Greater Mekong Subregion” April 2005
Hanley and Splash. Cost Benefit Analysis and the Environment. Pp 1-76
Lampton, David M. “A Plum for a Peach: Bargaining, Interest, and Bureaucratic Politics in China”
Class 8 week 4a: Domestic NGOs and Sustainable development models
Green Watershed NGO visit
Blewitt. Chapter 1: 1-28 Globalization and Sustainable development
Blewitt. Chapter 2: 27-51 Worldviews and Ethical Values
Blewitt. Chapter 5: 99-122 Sustainable Development politics and governance
Class 9 Week 4b: Burma and Cambodia: Overview and case study
World Bank Country reports for Burma and Cambodia
Lai. Chapter 1: Bilateral Relations Between China and Myanmar (K O Aung)
Haacke, Chapter 4 81-112: The Cambodian Conflict and preserving the ASEAN way: struggling to preserve a principle
Field Visit: Burmese Jade trade warehouse in Kunming
Class 10 week 5a: Thailand: Overview and Case study
World Bank Thailand profile
Case Study on the Thai Senate and international trade politics
Class 11 week 5b: Vietnam: Overview
World bank Vietnam profile
Lai. Vietnam China relations – Present and future
Hensengerth. Chapter 1-2 Regionalism in China-Vietnam Relations: Institution Building in the Greater
Mekong Subregion pp 1-74
Country presentations (China, Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand) Depart for trip
Class 12 week 5c: FT zones and effects: tariffs
Hock 5. ASEAN-China Trade Relations: Origins, Progress and Prospect, by Chen Wen
Hock 6. ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement: Negotiation, Implementation and Prospect, by Lu Bo
Hock 7. ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement: Legal and Institutional Aspects, by Wang Jiangyu
Stay in Hekou China-Vietnam FTZ: Free trade zone HQ visit
Class 13 week 6a: Chinese Diaspora in Vietnam and SEA
Glassman. Bounding the Mekong. Chapters 1-2
Hensengerth. Chapter 3-4 Regionalism in China-Vietnam Relations: Institution Building in the Greater
Mekong Subregion pp 75-125
Overland to Hanoi
Site visits; Meet with ethnic Chinese in Vietnam doing business in China
Vietnamese government economic development promotion office
Factory tour (import both to China and ROW) Hanoi Confucius institute
Class 14 week 6b: Sustainable development in Vietnam
Glassman. Bounding the Mekong. Chapters 3-4
Blewitt. Chapter 6: 123-148 Beyond the Economic Growth model
Blewitt. Chapter 8: 173-198 Tools and systems for sustainability
Class 15 week 6c: Multilaterals: Mekong River Commission
Glassman. Bounding the Mekong. Chapters 5-6
Social Atlas of the Lower Mekong Basin. Mekong River Commission. 2010
Impacts of climate change and development on Mekong flow regimes First assessment. Mekong River
Commission. 2009
Fly to Vientiane, Laos
Site visits in Vientiane, Laos
Mekong River Commission,
Chinese government economic promotion country office, Beer Lao factory (major exporter to SEA and China), International development NGO, Chinese company construction site, meet with Chinese business people living in Laos
Class 16 week 7a: Laos
Glassman. Bounding the Mekong. Chapters 7-8
World Bank Laos Profile
Lai. Chapter 5. China’s rise and its implications for Southeast Asia and Laos
Regional simulation
Class 17 week 7b: Sustainable development solutions and regional scenarios
Glassman Bounding the Mekong Chapters 7-8
Development Scenarios in the Lower Mekong Basin. Mekong River Commission. 2010
Class 18 week 7c (final presentations on simulation)
Return to Kunming
Brian serves as the Director of the IES Beijing Center at the Beijing Foreign Studies University and is an expert on China’s economic integration with the GMS region. He has conducted extensive research with various interests in the region including the Yunnanese government officials and businesspeople, local NGOs and local and ethnically Chinese interests in Thailand and Laos. He acts as a consultant to the UNDP Lancang-Mekong Economic Cooperation programme in Kunming, Yunnan province and designed and led several study tours comprised of IES Beijing students throughout Yunnan’s portion of the GMS region.