EFFECTIVENESS OF REGIONAL TOURISM INTEGRATION—Case of Quadrangle Economic Cooperation Zone in Great Mekong Region

The Quadrangle Economic Cooperation Zone in Great Mekong Region, where the Golden Triangle is located, is composed with the border areas of China, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. The poorest and inaccessible remote Golden Triangle now faces the opportunity to develop and participate in the global economic system. Not only has the traditional border tourism between two countries in this region been growing rapidly and various tourism products cross the regions also have been developed. The article attempts to explore the multiplier effects of tourism on regional cooperation. These consequences of tourism cooperation take effect through the infrastructure improvement, facilitation of the flee movement, improvement of communication and promotion of the alternative economy. The study also points out the unexpected negative consequences to limit its role as a regional cooperative engine due to the lack of consideration of the dual economic and social structure in tourism development. The special attention should be drawn to consider the limited benefits for the marginalized community, the high transaction of the social costs related with the drug tourism and sex tourism. The paper calls for more rigorous cooperative regional plans and policies to the complexity of tourism development in this region.

A review of China’s overseas economic and trade cooperation zones along the Belt and Road:Progress and prospects

As a new mode for Chinese overseas investment and a growth pole for industrialization and urbanization of the host countries,the overseas economic and trade cooperation zone(OETCZ) or overseas free economic zone(OFEZ) of China plays an important role under the Belt and Road Initiative.With the rising attention on OETCZ,studies regarding OETCZ have also increased.However,there is a lack of studies reviewing this topic’s progress,challenges and future directions.This paper employs a systematic review to examine the literature on the OETCZ along the Belt and Road,based on domestic and overseas studies.The results show that domestic studies account for a large proportion of the collected literature,compared to overseas studies.Interdisciplinary research focus includes inductive case studies from a classification perspective,deductive studies based on cultural and institutional perspectives,trade network and bilateral trade relations based on the perspectives of international trade and regional economy,spatial planning studies from urban planning perspective,and overseas comments and earlier studies on Japan’s and Singapore’s overseas parks from the geopolitical and international political perspectives.Despite diverse research contents and dramatic progress,limitations exist in current OETCZ-related studies,including a lack of exploration of the mechanism,questions and concerns from overseas scholars,sustainable development and other problems.Future studies should broaden and deepen research insights,including the “overseas free economic zones(OFEZ)” as a general designation to cover all other types of OETCZs,studies on the primary conditions of host countries,exploration of the theoretical issues behind China’s OETCZ,comparative study of OETCZs such as management structures,profit models,environmental standards and legal systems as well as popular issues questioned internationally.

Variegated transnational partnerships:Multi-scalar actor networks in China’s overseas industrial parks

The development of overseas industrial parks is a key component of the Belt and Road Initiative and a practical way of promoting inclusive globalization by introducing new forms of cooperation between China and the host countries. In this paper, the Thai-Chinese Rayong Industrial Zone(TCRIZ), and the China-Indonesia Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone(KITIC) are discussed in the context of the evolving development strategies and trajectories through three interrelated conceptual lenses – policy mobility, actor networks, and partnerships. The actor-network theory provides a lens to analyze how policy mobility and partnerships develop for two industrial zone case studies. The development, which involves a multi-scalar process, is shaped by the interactions among the national states, the regional governments and corporations against a background of globalization. Three types of transnational actor partnership networks have been identified, namely, hierarchical partnership, spontaneous partnership, and hybrid partnership. A highlight of the study is the role that the partnerships play in the process of policy mobility when it comes to the overseas industrial zones. It is argued that the partnerships are the key to achieving technology transfer on a cross-national basis, and the effectiveness of the technology transfer is dependent on partner selection and the roles of the actors in policy mobility.