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“No man is an island, entire of itself” (Donne, 1624). When the British metaphysical poet John Donne (1572–1631) wrote that, concepts such as entrepreneurship, marketing, tourism, and world trade were either not known or rudimentarily conceived. The scope and implications of these business forces for the health of countries would not be more fully realized for centuries to come. While Donne was not speaking directly to the issues of this research, it is significant, given the central focus of marketing on exchange, that what Donne wrote about in the context of human relations and the need of people to exist in interaction with one another has a connective interpretation to commerce. By extension, individual companies or organizations are not islands unto themselves as they face the make-or-buy and outsourcing decisions, industries are not islands as they must exchange for raw materials and labor, and countries are not metaphorical islands given the uneven distribution of raw materials around the planet. The relative geographic isolation of Iceland (2 hours by airplane from Great Britain), a small population base of approximately 300,000, and a location near the Arctic Circle underscores the need for trade and interaction with other countries as a means of creating and maintaining a vibrant economy.

China is one of the fastest-growing countries; it holds important positions in many product markets, including the global automotive market. The objectives of this study are as follows: to assess the position of China in the global automotive production, global automotive exports and imports; and also compare the position of China on these indicators with the main competing countries. In this regard, the method of comparative analysis has become the main research method. Based on the analysis and calculations performed, the authors came to some conclusions. China came out on top in the production and export of automotive products, overtaking key competitors, including the United States, Japan, Germany and India. This was achieved through an effective combination of trade, investment and industrial policy instruments. The decline in production and export of cars during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic was minimal in China compared to competitors, which is explained by an efficiently formed supply chain, as well as the presence of transport hubs (7 of the 10 largest sea container ports are located in China). The authors believe that future trends in the development of the Chinese automotive industry will be associated with the renewal of production to reduce environmental pollution and restructuring of supply chains to further localize the production of intermediate components for the automotive industry.

The relevance of the research topic is due to the high importance of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) for increasing the presence of China in the markets of the countries of the New Silk Road. The topic becomes more relevant due to the ambiguous results of the BRI, although it was launched in 2013. On the one hand, the effect for China is growing. On the other hand, the effect for the participating countries has not yet reached the level initially declared.

The chapter aims to identify the main challenges and advantages of the BRI based on the involvement of countries and their markets in the trade and economic system formed by China.

The research novelty lies in studying the economic goals and objectives of the People's Republic of China (PRC) under the BRI and the possibilities of using the trade and economic system created by the PRC for developing the PRC and the BRI member countries.

The authors found that the initiative is designed to better integrate the economy of China at the regional and global level, promote the socio-economic progress of the less developed western territories of the country and stabilize foreign trade and domestic socio-economic processes in conditions of global instability. The authors justify that this initiative, uniting more than 80 countries in Asia, Africa and Oceania, will strengthen China's role in the world economy and trade, form a specific international trade and economic platform under the leadership of China and provide the country a leading position in at least three parts of the world.

The authors use traditional economic research methods, such as scientific abstraction, deduction, analysis and synthesis. Additionally, the authors use the method of visualization based on the application of the statistical method.

This chapter seeks to analyze trade in environmental goods between China and the EU and highlight prominent problems and future opportunities.

We explore trade empirically, based on the definition of environmental goods proposed by OECD and database from UN COMTRADE (HS96).

We find that value of trade in environmental goods between China and the EU has increased from $2.759 billion in 1996 to $42.446 billion in 2012, with an average annual growth rate of 21%. Trade is concentrated in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, and Belgium (together accounting for 82%). China has a trade deficit in most categories of environmental goods. Overall, although trade in environmental goods between China and the EU has increased rapidly, the trade structure is unbalanced and the competitiveness of China’s environmental goods trade is still low.

This chapter provides a robust basis for analysis of trade in environmental goods between China and the EU.

Discussions on environmental goods trade are complicated by a lack of clear definition and lack of consistent data. This chapter provides a clear and consistent data set in order to have a robust basis for analysis of this important phenomenon.

The chapter attempts to evaluate the utility of applying multi-level governance outside of the EU, and also outside of the group of democratic states, to states that have defied the third wave of democratization and that are characterized by a so-called new authoritarianism. The case is the People’s Republic of China, and the focus falls on policy-making and implementation in the field of hydropower with special attention to the issue area of environmental protection.

The chapter draws on the notion of scales and indigenous Chinese governance concepts and brings these into a conversation with the concept of multi-level governance. Case studies on hydropower decision-making in China contribute empirical data in order to investigate the utility of multi-level governance in the Chinese governance context.

The chapter argues that if multi-level governance is to have utility in other cultural contexts it needs to move away from a consideration of pre-given scales as locus of authority and consider indigenous governance concepts and notions of scale, and it crucially needs to map power relationships in the making and implementation of policies in order to reach analytical depth.

The case of China shows that authoritarian regimes can be analysed in terms of multiple levels as authoritarianism no longer automatically implies strict top-down entities. Instead, autocracies can be highly fragmented and subject to complex decision-making processes that can arise during processes of administrative reform. This can lead to vibrant and reflexive systems of governance that exhibit adaptive skills necessary to ensure regime survival amidst a continuously diversifying society and changing external circumstances. As a consequence, a research programme looking at the new authoritarianism from a multi-level governance perspective has the capacity to uncover and describe new forms of governance, by bringing the concept into a conversation with indigenous governance concepts.

In China, informal networks between the energy bureaucracy and hydropower developers determine the hydropower decision-making process. This is particularly detrimental at a time when the Chinese government emphasizes the importance of the rule of law and social stability. Informal networks in which key government agencies are involved actively thwart the attempt of creating reliable institutions and more transparent and accountable processes of decision-making within the authoritarian governance framework.

The findings show the dominance of informal networks versus the formal decision-making process. This sidelines the environmental bureaucracy and fails to fully realize the importance of public input into the decision-making process as one potential element of institutionalized conflict resolution.

The chapter builds on existing multi-level governance approaches and fuses them with notions of scales and indigenous Chinese governance concepts in order to enable the applicability of the concept of multi-level governance outside of its area of origin. This advances the explanatory depth and theoretical reach of multi-level governance.

With the government’s increased investment in sci-tech and the requirement of scientific research management, RMAs have gradually flourished in China after the 1980s. However, there is no professional qualification specifically for RMA in China and RMA professionals are from various departments. With the arrival of the 21st century, the rapid development of sci-tech has led to the strengthening of the position and role of RMA in research activities. The profession of RMA has made great progress, and a professional contingent of RMA has gradually been formed. This chapter will review the history and development of RMAs in China. Specifically, it includes the evolutionary history of China’s sci-tech policy, how RMAs developed as a profession, current state of RMAs, the size and nature of the RMA profession (taking the academic community CASSSP as an example), and future trends of RMAs in China.

Emphasising the significance of managing environmental and social issues for businesses, the chapter aims at highlighting the need of developing a non-financial risk management system for elevating corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance in China. Particularly, through discussing its importance, opportunities, and challenges.

Analysis and discussion of the chapter are based on multiple sources of information. Review of literature includes authoritative academic articles, reports from renowned global organisations, media coverage of corporations, and examples of business cases in China.

Several key findings are covered in the chapter. First of all, environmental and social concerns are usually being deemed as intangible issues that need to be properly articulated and managed by an effective non-financial risk management system for enhancing corporate sustainability in China. Secondly, through different interpretations of sustainability, links could be drawn for non-financial risk management and sustainability. Thirdly, by explaining the impacts from non-financial risk management to sustainable development and profits, the chapter has argued CSR as a clear business case for any company in China. Fourthly, challenges are also portrayed for the effective management of non-financial risk management by corporations. Finally, the need of a well-defined non-financial risk management system for helping businesses to be more competitive, thus, moving closer to sustainability in China and elsewhere is provided.

Integrating environmental and social risks is critical to the effective management of any corporation’s real risks and to improve resource allocation in a sustainable fashion. This demands a systematic and strategic identification of issues through non-financial risk management. Most significantly, this chapter has shown the way this can be achieved by any corporation in China, and the concepts can be applied into other societies.

The contribution of the chapter is thought to be significant. Although there exists a wide body of research on sustainable development, risk management and CSR in China, there is limited insight into how corporations can effectively conceptualise such intangible or non-financial risks in relation to sustainability.