China's geopolitical influences on the maritime industry

Abstract

With China being the factory of the world and the main exporter of goods globally, China’s actions can cause ripple down effects in the maritime industry. The objective of this paper is to discuss the social and environmental impacts caused by China’s geopolitical influences on the maritime industry and how they affect maritime businesses. The following events such as Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) developments, South China Seas (SCS) conflict and COVID-19 responses by China would be investigated.

The social impacts for BRI and RCEP include creation and displacement of jobs caused by BRI projects and increased trade from RCEP while environmental impacts are caused by transportation and raw materials used for infrastructure development and carbon emissions by vessels, causing ocean acidification. Social impacts of SCS conflicts include prevention of fishing by the Chinese authorities and potential loss of shipping and trade opportunities if armed conflict occurs in SCS. Environmental impacts include the loss and damage to the marine ecosystem in SCS due to the building of artificial islands. Lastly, the social impacts of COVID-19 responses include port congestion caused by lockdowns and erratic work schedules causing loss of jobs for port and shipping maritime businesses and seafarers having to experience long quarantine periods, crew change delays and being rejected from some ports. Environmental impacts from COVID-19 responses include reduced air pollution as carbon emissions fell due to factory lockdown and vessel operation delays. We had used a mix of primary and secondary data to ensure we collected more consistent and useful findings from maritime businesses and sectors operating in SEA. The primary data consisted of a survey done by 22 maritime personnels and 6 interviews with maritime personnel working in maritime businesses. Secondary data had consisted of articles from journals and other credible sources.

Analysis of the data uncovered that social and environmental impacts caused by China’s actions have a larger impact on fishing communities and offshore sector compared to shipping companies. However, the author had identified key issues that could affect maritime businesses such as loss of jobs due to infrastructure construction from BRI affecting fishing, offshore sector and coastal communities, creation of new jobs due to development of countries caused by BRI and RCEP, environmental damage caused by China’s action in SCS conflict and the BRI as well as seafarer well-being being affected due to COVID-19 responses.

The author has also suggested a few recommendations to mitigate the negative social and environmental impacts on the stakeholders including, developing vocational institutes and skill development courses, transitioning of current skills into future-ready jobs, creating safety zones to prevent damage to marine life, fostering closer relationships between shore workers and seafarers and using technology to monitor seafarers’ mental and physical well-being.