The Maritime Silk Road Initiative and Its Implications for China's Regional Policy

This study attempts to compare previous maritime issues between China and neighboring countries, including the ongoing cooperation between Beijing and ASEAN countries in Southeast Asia. This paper suggests that the promotion of the Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI) can mitigate relevant maritime militarized interstate disputes in the region. Creating coordinated foreign policy and sharing information could help prevent conflict, as scholarly research has demonstrated. The empirical findings of this study also help identify the crucial elements that determine how China can improve its maritime policies under the MSRI, with a special focus on the case of the Philippines, which has experienced the most continuous friction over maritime boundaries with China.