Date of Award

5-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Ellis, David

Second Advisor

Li, Fang-yu

Area of Concentration

Chinese Language and Culture and International and Area Studies

Abstract

China seeks to change the world by becoming the new global hegemon in the face of waning U.S and Western dominance. The PRC’s primary function to achieve this is its Belt and Road Initiative that commenced in 2013. This global infrastructure project seeks to spread China’s economic model while increasing Chinese bilateral agreements with other developing countries. Turkiye and Kazakhstan as discussed in this thesis are two key components of this initiative, specifically crossing the routes of the Middle Corridor (MCI) that passes from China, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and into Turkiye to reach European markets. These land routes call back to a time of prosperity and an age of Empire, as these routes are a revival of the ancient Silk Road. With the messaging of growing in harmony and reviving ancient golden ages, the BRI is objectively desirable to all three nations discussed in this thesis; however, each actor has its own aims regardless. China seeks to become a new cultural hegemon, but also to resolve its development gap between the coastal cities and its interior. Through the BRI, the MCI specifically, China could theoretically connect its interior that is bereft of energy, water, and market access to developed markets. This is a matter of regime survival for the CCP, as its legitimacy is based on the concept of economic prosperity. Therefore, China has both an external and internal goal with this project, rendering it highly sensitive to the smaller countries of Turkiye and Kazakhstan. Turkiye in this case seeks to raise its status internationally, and the BRI is a possible way to do this. World War 1 came with the fall of the Ottoman Empire which mainly rested on the land of Anatolia. The Republic of Turkiye, founded only a few years later, likewise lays on the former center of the long-lived Empire. The memory of greatness contrasts the modern-day challenges, as well as a growing Islamic identity under Erdoğan’s and the AKP’s regime. The BRI is both a tool to balance the West, as well as an alternative. Finally, Kazakhstan, as is deemed by this project, is the most critical piece of this puzzle. Without Kazakhstan, there is no BRI over Central Asia. Thus, this project is narrowing in on the identity layers and methods of soft power that China and Turkiye each employ. War and economics have proven weak, largely due to Chinese and Turkish vulnerabilities, and therefore, soft power has been chosen as the focus of this project.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

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