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Over the past three decades, rural places along China's land borders have faced interconnected processes of socio-political, economic, and ecological change. These changes, along with an increase in transboundary investment by actors from China in infrastructure on the one hand, and in agriculture and resource extraction on the other, are locally met with a combination of suspicion, fear, and desire for future prosperity. This special issue scrutinizes these dynamics in extractive sectors, particularly agriculture, the plantation industry, and mining, in the context of transboundary processes that can be conceptualized as "neighboring". With an array of qualitative and ethnographic methods and case studies from borderlands in North, Central, South and Southeast Asia that are rarely thought of together, the six articles of this special issue provide a unique perspective on "China's rise" in Asia that goes beyond schematical geopolitical and macro-economic accounts of the 'Belt and Road Initiative.' This introduction to the special issue discusses the key insights and arguments it brings forward and calls for (a) more comparative research on transboundary natural resource use in China's neighborhood and (b) more holistic and multi-scalar research perspectives to make sense of the complex dynamics on the ground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a mega-project of primarily infrastructure-related loans and investments in Pakistan. Recently, the official discourse has increasingly shifted to the agricultural sector. For the region of Gilgit-Baltistan bordering China, academic and policy debates highlight the potential boost of fruit exports to China as the most promising opportunity to be leveraged through the CPEC. This paper scrutinizes these promises from a locally grounded perspective, investigating potential benefits and risks for local farmers. To make sense of the complex interplay between external and local actors, interests, markets and (infra)structures, the paper follows an assemblage-inspired approach to map out local trajectories. Contrary to the CPEC narrative, agricultural exports from Gilgit-Baltistan recently came to a halt, due to increasing trade barriers and seemingly competing agricultural developments in neighboring Xinjiang, China. Moreover, the economically most promising local crop for export to China, namely cherries, does not seem too promising for the majority of small farmers. There are other commodities with export potential, but overall, prospects appear to be limited. There is a need for a deeper engagement with the inherent complexities of CPEC trajectories, particularly in regards to local farming contexts in Pakistan and relevant developments in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the economic, social, demographic and political forces behind China's striking emergence as a market-driven economic and geopolitical superpower have created unintended consequences that will lead the country to crisis and instability as early as 2025. Although many in the West fear China's economic, technological and military power, the potential consequences of a Chinese financial crisis are far more dire, given China's size and integration with the world economy. I examine the macroeconomic advantages of China, and then present a cautionary analysis in which demographic, sociological, economic and other trends may converge to create an economic crisis in China in the period of 2025-30. I shall discuss various scenarios by which China might resolve or forestall this crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]