Name: Mara Perras Homeroom: E-10B

Research Action Plan

MYP Assessment Criteria B: INVESTIGATION
Limited attempt to / partially / satisfactorily / effectively follows an action plan to
investigate a research question
Uses methods to collect and record limited / some / appropriate / appropriate & varied
information in line with the research question
Limited attempt to / partially / satisfactorily / effectively addresses the research question
Limited / reflection / detailed evaluation of the research process and results.

To help you successfully implement a research action plan you need to follow the steps below:

The main research How do the perspectives of India and China differ the One Belt, One Road
question initiative, its purpose and the conflicts surrounding it?

Justification of The one belt, one road initiative is the biggest trade initiative china has
relevance ever attempted, and, if all 60 intended countries join this group, it
will be the biggest trading route on the globe. It was originally
modelled after the ancient silk road, which sustained the ancient
Chinese empire for centuries. This initiative has an impact
worldwide, both on a political as well as an economic level. Should
it succeed, china will outgrow the US and the west to an extent that
they may not be able to catch up to. This could potentially tip the
already precarious political situation in the world right now. Should
it fail, chinas economy could take a hit, with all the money lost in
the effort. Either way, this is an issue that affects man countries in
the world, particularly in Asia and there is a lot of conflict
surrounding the issue. I would like to focus my articles on the
perspectives of China and India, the other upcoming Asian giant.
There have been disagreements between these two countries over
said project and it would be vital to my understanding of the
situation to analyze it from both perspectives. I chose India,
because it has ties to the US and can therefore bring in a bit of
western opinion and because it is the only other rival for china on
mainland Asia, with a similarly big population and similarly rich
history and culture. This clash of cultures and ideology over an
economic matter is very interesting to research.

Sub questions What is the One belt, one road initiative?

What is the China Pakistan Economic Corridor?

Who are the parties involved?

What does China think of India?

 What does china think of Indias standpoint?

What does India think of China?

What does India think of Chinas standpoint?

How are the conflicts over this region carried out?

How extensive/intense is the conflict?

What are both parties concerned with?

What impact will the BRI and the CPEC have on the separate countries,
should it be implemented/fail?

Does India/China perceive China/India as a threat? Why?

How does military/naval strength tie in with this?

What is the importance of the Malacca Straight/Indian ocean/south China

sea in this?

What is Chinas relationship with Pakistan? The US?

What is Indias relationship with Pakistan? The US?

How does this affect relations between the two countries?

Methods to be used Where will you gather the information? (e.g. library)
in the investigation
I will be looking mainly at newspaper articles for my research. I will be
looking for them electronically on trustworthy news websites (such as the
BBC, CNN, etc.) and I will also physically be going through the newspapers
we receive each day to find articles concerning my topic. If available, I will
use books or journals written on my topic as well, though I doubt that I will
find any, given the fact that this conflict is quite recent. I will also attempt to
find articles from my fathers newspaper archive (if I can get my hands on
them). Any sources I find on my topic must fit in with either of the articles I
will be writing, therefore I will have to make sure that I look at the Chinese
perspective as well as that of the Indian public. I will try to search for
factual sources as well as those with bias, so that I can cross check figures
as well as keep an objective view on the actual happenings and real facts
and keep those apart from the opinions of the different countries.
Recording will be done on a capture sheet, placing relevant quotes under
the respective sub questions. I will use a color code to symbolize the
importance and trustworthiness of websites, for example: trustworthy and
very important, must be included-green, important but check other sources
to verify-red, etc. The URL must be included. Images will be treated the
same, with URL.

Identify the relevant Works Cited

sources/evidence
that you will use. Mark, Joshua J. Silk Road. http://www.ancient.eu/Silk_Road/. Ancient History
Encyclopedia. 28/3/2014. Web 24/5/2017.

Bingxing, Zhao. Chinas One Belt, One Road Initiative: A New Silk Road
linking Asia, Africa and Europe. http://www.globalresearch.ca/chinas-one-
belt-one-road-initiative-a-new-silk-road-linking-asia-africa-and-
europe/5589427. Centre for Research on Globalization. 10/5/2017. Web.
27/5/2017.

Bruce-Lockhart, Anna. Why is China building a New Silk Road?

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/06/why-china-is-building-a-new-
silk-road/. 26/6/2016. Web. 27/5/2017.

Cal, Peter. Why India Is Wary of Chinas Silk Road Initiative.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-cai/india-china-silk-road-
initiative_b_11894038.html. HuffPost. Na. Web. 27/5/2017.

China Daily ASEAN Edition. Vietnam to press on with Belt and Road. China
Daily. 24-30 April, 2017. 2. Print.

China Daily ASEAN Edition. Pakistan-Belt and Road. China Daily. 24-30 April,
2017. 4. Print.

China Daily ASEAN Edition. World of interest in Belt and Road forum. China
Daily. 24-30 April, 2017. 3. Print.

China Daily ASEAN Edition. Belt and Road Q1 ODI rises to $2.95b. China Daily.
24-30 April, 2017. 22. Print.

Jinping, Xi. Full text of President Xi's speech at opening of Belt and Road forum.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-05/14/c_136282982.htm.
15/5/2017. Speech. 26/5/2016.

Liang, Lim Yan (China correspondent in Horgos, Xinjiang). Not smooth as silk
yet in border hub. The Straits Times. May 12, 2017. A20. Print.

Hindustantimes. China wants India to be part of its new Silk Road project.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/china-wants-india-to-be-
part-of-its-new-silk-road-project/story-ShncRtdtPUgMKHnQUjMQpL.html.
11/5/2017. Web 27/5/2017.

Madhav, Ram. But Indias staying away from the OBOR mega show will not
affect bilateral relations adversely. 17/5/2017. Na. 27/5/2017.

Na. Bay of Bengal may be future spot for Sino-Indian conflict, says top Indian
submariner. 16/5/2017. Na. 27/5/2017.

Nataraj, Geethanjali and Sekhani, Richa. Chinas One Belt One Road
Initiative: Analysis from an Indian Perspective.
http://beltandroad.hktdc.com/en/insights/chinas-one-belt-one-road-
initiative-analysis-indian-perspective. Belt and Road.17/5/2017. Web.
27/5/2017.

Perras, Arne. Historical B\background on Indo-Pakistani conflict, expertise on

perspectives. 27/5/2017.

Peri, Dinakar. U.S. Admiral cautions India on Chinese influence. 19/1/2017.

Na. 27/5/2017.

Ping, Chong Koh (China correspondent in Beijing). New Silk Road brings
opportunities and challenges: Lawrence Wong. The Straits Times. 17 May,
2017. A8. Print.

Ping, Chong Koh. China pledges $174b for mega Silk Road Project. The Straits
Times. 15 May, 2017. A1. Print.
 Prakash, Arun. A strategic encirclement: Indias political and security
establishment needs a strategy in light of Chinas naval expansion. 25/4/2017.
Na. 27/5/2017.

Reuters. China says new Silk Road not about military ambitions.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-silkroad-defence-
idUSKBN18L11T. 25/5/2017. Web. 26/5/2017.

Sanwal, Mukul. Navigating the new silk road.

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/navigating-the-new-silk-
road/article18420757.ece. 22/5/2017. Web. 25/5/2017.

South China Morning Post. Nepal joins China's One Belt, One Road initiative,
possibly alarming India.
http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/diplomacy/article/2094091/nepal-joins-
chinas-one-belt-one-road-initiative-possibly. 12/5/2017. Web. 27/5/2017.

The Indian Express. Chinas Belt and Road Initiative opportunity for India:
Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon.
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/chinas-belt-and-road-initiative-
opportunity-for-india-foreign-secretary-shivshankar-menon-4622715/.
21/4/2017. Web. 26/5/2017.

The Straits Times online. China pledges $174 billion for Belt and Road
initiative, says open to everyone. http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-
asia/free-trade-important-engine-for-development-says-xi-jinping-at-
opening-of-one-belt. 14/5/2017. Web. 26/5/2017.

The Straits Times online. India skips China's One Belt, One Road summit, warns
of 'unsustainable' debt. http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/south-asia/india-
skips-chinas-one-belt-one-road-summit-warns-of-unsustainable-debt.
14/5/2017. Web. 27/5/2017.

Xinhua. China stresses B&R Initiative has no military or geo-strategic aims.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-05/25/c_136315124.htm.
25/5/2017. Web. 27/5/2017.

What steps will you Task Completion Date Check

follow to address/
answer the research Choose Topic and 13/5/2017
question? perspectives

Formulate Research 13/5/2017

Question and sub
questions

Create capture sheet 14/5/2017

Find and highlight 15/5/2017

important information
regarding:

What is the One belt,

one road initiative?

What is the China

Pakistan Economic
Corridor?

Who are the parties

involved?

Find and highlight 16/5/2017

important information
regarding:

How are the conflicts

over this region
carried out?

How
extensive/intense is
the conflict?

What are both parties

concerned with?

Find and highlight 17/5/2017

important information
regarding:

What does China

think of India?

What does china think

of Indias standpoint?

What does India think

of China?

What does India think

of Chinas standpoint?

How are the conflicts

over this region
carried out?

Find and highlight 18/5/2017

important information
regarding:

What impact will the

BRI and the CPEC
have on the separate
countries, should it be
implemented/fail?

Find and highlight 19/5/2017

important information
regarding:

Does India/China
perceive China/India
 as a threat? Why?

How does
military/naval strength
tie in with this?

What is the
importance of the
Malacca
Straight/Indian
ocean/south China
sea in this?

Find and highlight 20/5/2017

important information
regarding:

What is Chinas
relationship with
Pakistan? The US?

What is Indias
relationship with
Pakistan? The US?

How does this affect

relations between the
two countries?

Write text only for 23/5/2017

China Perspective
article

Write text only for 25/5/2017

India perspective
article

Format into 26/5/2017

newspaper style

Finalize works cited 27/5/2017

and evaluation

Evaluation An important element of undertaking research is to evaluate the process

and results of the investigation. (Criterion B). Please include this here.

The researching and writing of these two articles was a lot more difficult
than I had anticipated in the beginning. My topic was quite recent, so new
information was coming in as I was writing and this caused problems,
because I would have to go back and change things I wanted to include a
new piece of information so that it made sense. The research was quite
demanding and I went through around 30 sources in total to get a full
grasp on the writing style of different newspapers and what the general
perspectives of both sides were. I found the article writing very difficult. I
am usually the kind of student who is fast when it comes to writing and
doesnt really have to plan. I usually sit down and write what comes to
mind and that works. I dont think I have ever spent so much time per word
on a piece of text (which is ironic as journalists have to work that in
reverse, as little time per word as possible). I deliberated over the use of
each adjective and agonized of titles and beginnings and what verbs to
use (Growing up in a journalist family has made me very perfectionistic
when it comes to articles). I would go as far as to say that this has been
the hardest humanities assignment yet for me. I could have managed my
time better, because although I took my time writing the pieces, I started
them quite late and was stressing the last two days to get the work done.

This project has taught me quite a bit on geopolitical maneuvering in

southern Asia (not a topic I ever thought Id become an expert on), but
also how manipulative the press can be. The same information can be
presented from a hundred different angles in different lights, supporting
different or even opposing arguments. Whats scary though, is the fact that
you can never trust anyone to have true facts (that brings up the question
whether there are such things as facts, but I refuse to go into that before I
have to do TOH anyway).

I found this assessment to be quite valuable as a learning experience, but

in the interest of future students sleep schedules and sanity, I think there
should be a bit more support for the actual writing of the article. A proposal
for next year, which I think would fulfill the same criteria and might be
more feasible: Instead of writing two completely free standing articles,
students could select 1 3 articles from one perspectives and write an
article featuring the same information but in an opposing position,
basically a reaction to the original articles. Just a thought.