Geoeconomics
Although there is no widely accepted singular definition,[1] the distinction of geoeconomics separately from geopolitics is often attributed to Edward Luttwak, an American strategist and military consultant, and Pascal Lorot, a French economist and political scientist.
Likewise, the Dutch sent their frigates into the Thames to reply to the mercantilist legislation of the British Parliament that prohibited their cabotage, just as much earlier the Portuguese had sunk Arab ships with which they could not compete in the India trade.
That already amounts to hunting for exports with low-interest ammunition, but the accusation of predatory finance is reserved for cases where interest rates are suddenly reduced in the course of a fought-over sale.
Our account places networks such as financial communications, supply chains, and the internet, which have been largely neglected by international relations scholars, at the heart of a compelling new understanding of globalization and power.
"[13] From that perspective, investment attractiveness and the capacity to project soft power across considerable distance as China has done through its Belt and Road Initiative are also viewed as a key determinants of geo-economic strength.
[14] Here, large private sector asset owners such as pension funds are expected to play an increasingly important part, alongside US and Chinese state actors: Even the self-absorbed, thrifty ‘America first’ policy makers in the White House eventually realized they couldn't ignore these fateful geo-economic developments.
In November 2018, vice-president Mike Pence travelled to Asia to promote President Trump's ‘Indo-Pacific Vision’, an ambitious plan backed by tens of billions of dollars in new loans and credit-enhancement mechanisms to encourage "private investment in regional infrastructure assets", insisting that "business, not bureaucrats will facilitate our efforts".
The new great game has just started, and pension investors will be courted assiduously by both Washington and Beijing in the coming years – not a bad position to be in in the ‘age of geoeconomics’.
