THE NEW SILK ROAD IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

The aim of this article is to present the Chinese Maritime Silk Road initiative in the South China Sea region. The article first looks at the importance of the South China Sea for Chinese trade, which led to the development of the Maritime Silk Road. It then focuses on the specific position of the ASEAN grouping in this initiative. The main obstacles, economic and political, which this initiative must overcome to gain the full support of the countries in the region, are discussed. Finally, the article looks at the reactions of these states, which move between the bandwagoning and balancing strategies, based on the expected economic benefits and the existence of political disputes with China. The main conclusion of the paper is that while the Maritime Silk Road has great potential, the economic and political actions of China do not enable it to fully develop. The main methods used were the study and analysis of online sources, mainly articles from online databases of scientific journals.