IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/asiaeu/v18y2020i3d10.1007_s10308-019-00543-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The “Eastern Polygon” of the Trans-Siberian rail line: a critical factor for assessing Russia’s strategy toward Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific

Author

Listed:
  • Jacopo Maria Pepe

    (German Council on Foreign Relations
    School of Advanced International Studies-Johns Hopkins University SAIS)

Abstract

This paper discusses the critical role that the Eastern Section (“Eastern Polygon”) of the Trans-Siberian rail line (TSR) plays in Moscow’s broader strategy toward the Asia-Pacific and Eurasia. The paper argues that existing domestic financial constraints in the rail infrastructure development of the “Eastern Polygon,” while relevant, do not account alone for Russia’s increasing challenges when it comes to simultaneously integrate in the political economy of the Asia-Pacific, modernize the Far East Regions of the country, and leverage both to secure the TSR’s monopolistic position as main transcontinental artery between Asia and Europe. It is much more the combined and cumulative effect of domestic, financial infrastructure constraints along this section of the TSR, China’s ambiguous position on the TSR’s role in its Belt and Road Initiative as well as the emergence of new corridors following the geographic shift in production and industrial locations inside China which ultimately thwarts Russia’s plan to leverage the “Eastern Polygon” to realize its geopolitical and geo-economic ambitions in the Asia-Pacific and Eurasia at large.

Suggested Citation

  • Jacopo Maria Pepe, 2020. "The “Eastern Polygon” of the Trans-Siberian rail line: a critical factor for assessing Russia’s strategy toward Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 305-324, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiaeu:v:18:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s10308-019-00543-5
    DOI: 10.1007/s10308-019-00543-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10308-019-00543-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10308-019-00543-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Valeriy Tsvetkov & Kobilzhon Zoidov & Aleksey Medkov, 2012. "Problems of economic security in Russian transportation and intermediate carrier infrastructure," Economy of region, Centre for Economic Security, Institute of Economics of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 1(1), pages 100-109.
    2. Vinokurov, Evgeny, 2017. "Eurasian Economic Union: Current state and preliminary results," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(1), pages 54-70.
    3. Valeriy Tsvetkov & Kobilzhon Zoidov & Aleksey Medkov, 2012. "Problems of economic security in Russian transportation and intermediate carrier infrastructure," Economy of region, Centre for Economic Security, Institute of Economics of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 1(1), pages 90-100.
    4. Valeriy Tsvetkov & Kobilzhon Zoidov & Aleksey Medkov, 2012. "Problems of economic security in Russian transportation and intermediate carrier infrastructure," Economy of region, Centre for Economic Security, Institute of Economics of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 1(2), pages 50-60.
    5. Natasha Kuhrt, 2012. "The Russian Far East in Russia's Asia Policy: Dual Integration or Double Periphery?," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 64(3), pages 471-493.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bolortuya Purev & Weida He, 2021. "Coal industrial supply chain network: Mongolian capabilities across the Asian market," Technium Social Sciences Journal, Technium Science, vol. 19(1), pages 401-411, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Valeriy Tsvetkov & Kobilzhon Zoidov & Aleksey Medkov & Valentina Ionicheva, 2015. "Institutional and Organizational Features of the Cross-Border Freight Traffic in the Conditions of Integration Among Former Soviet States. Part 1," Economy of region, Centre for Economic Security, Institute of Economics of Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences, vol. 1(3), pages 188-204.
    2. Tsvetkov, V. A. & Zoidov, K. H. & Medkov, A. A. & Ionicheva, V. N., 2015. "Institutional and organizational features of cross-border cargo traffic in the post-soviet space integration terms. Part I," R-Economy, Ural Federal University, Graduate School of Economics and Management, vol. 1(3), pages 417-430.
    3. Popescu Raluca Maria, 2021. "European Union vs. Eurasian Union – a brief comparative analysis and perspectives for cooperation," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 15(1), pages 1294-1304, December.
    4. Robert Tumanyan, 2018. "Economic unions and the gravity model: evidence from Eurasian economic union," Asian Journal of Empirical Research, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 8(3), pages 90-98, March.
    5. Batsaikhan, Uuriintuya & Dabrowski, Marek, 2017. "Central Asia — twenty-five years after the breakup of the USSR," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 296-320.
    6. Minakir, P. & Prokapalo, O., 2018. "Far East Priority: Combinations of Investment and Institutes," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 38(2), pages 146-155.
    7. Cerqua, Augusto & Montalbano, Pierluigi & Temerbulatova, Zhansaya, 2024. "A decade of Eurasian integration: An ex-post non-parametric assessment of the Eurasian economic union," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    8. Vera Kot & Arina Barsukova & Wadim Strielkowski & Mikhail Krivko & Luboš Smutka, 2022. "International Trade in the Post-Soviet Space: Trends, Threats, and Prospects for the Internal Trade within the Eurasian Economic Union," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-19, December.
    9. Falkowski Krzysztof, 2017. "Long-Term Comparative Advantages of the Eurasian Economic Union Member States in International Trade," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 53(4), pages 27-49, December.
    10. Gnutzmann, Hinnerk & Gnutzmann-Mkrtchyan, Arevik, 2020. "The Cost of Borders: Evidence from the Eurasian Customs Union," Hannover Economic Papers (HEP) dp-664, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    11. Victor Ye. Kovalev & Aleksandr N. Semin, 2021. "Resilience of Russia’s agri-food market under customs imbalances of the Eurasian integration," Journal of New Economy, Ural State University of Economics, vol. 22(3), pages 28-43, October.
    12. Gnutzmann–Mkrtchyan, Arevik & Hugot, Jules, 2022. "Gravity-Based Tools for Assessing the Impact of Tariff Changes," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 649, Asian Development Bank.
    13. Sh. A. Sargsyan & D. A. Maisano & A. R. Mirzoyan & A. A. Manukyan & E. G. Gzoyan, 2020. "EU-EAEU dilemma of Armenia: Does science support politics?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(3), pages 1491-1507, March.
    14. Bianco, V. & Proskuryakova, L. & Starodubtseva, A., 2021. "Energy inequality in the Eurasian Economic Union," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    15. Vinokurov, Evgeny & Libman, Alexander, 2017. "Eurasian integration and its institutions: possible contributions to security in Eurasia," MPRA Paper 83021, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Vinokurov, Evgeny & Demidenko, Mikhail & Korshunov, Dmitry & Kovacs, Mihaly, 2017. "Customs unions, currency crises, and monetary policy coordination: The case of the Eurasian Economic Union," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 280-295.
    17. Mia M. Bennett, 2021. "The Making of Post‐Post‐Soviet Ruins: Infrastructure Development and Disintegration in Contemporary Russia," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 332-347, March.
    18. Krivogorsky, Victoria & Mintchik, Natalia & Alon, Anna, 2023. "Accounting research in former Soviet bloc countries: Past trends and current and future developments," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    19. Elen Akopova & Assiya Nursapa & Ilyas Kuderin, 2018. "Current environmental problems in member states of the Eurasian Economic Union," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 529-539, August.
    20. Gracia-Lázaro, Carlos & Dercole, Fabio & Moreno, Yamir, 2022. "Dynamics of economic unions: An agent-based model to investigate the economic and social drivers of withdrawals," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:asiaeu:v:18:y:2020:i:3:d:10.1007_s10308-019-00543-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.