“Golden Corner and Silver Edge” and the Construction of the Chinese Overland “Frontier Economic Belt”

Abstract

In the context of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the opening-up of its frontier areas, China possesses regional advantages known as the “golden corner and silver edge”. Local governments at all levels should leverage their geographical and resource strengths, while the country as a whole can systematically and proactively plan the development of an overland frontier economic belt. The formation of a “One Belt” along China’s overland frontier regions as well as the establishment of a “One Belt, Multiple Points” pearl chain comprising towns at the frontier-road intersection, highlights great potentials for frontier development and embodies China’s bigger strategy of constructing a “frontier economic belt”.