Securing China's Global Supply Chains: Maritime Routes, Strategic Risks and Resilience

By Jian Zhang

This book examines how disruption to critical maritime routes affects the operation and resilience of China's global supply chains. Connecting maritime security with international trade, logistics, supply chain management and economic security, the book provides a structured analysis of how risks originating at major shipping routes and chokepoints can spread through production, trade and industrial networks. The book examines major maritime corridors including the Strait of Malacca, the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez- Red Sea corridor and the Panama Canal, considering their strategic functions, vulnerability and potential alternatives. It identifies four principal mechanisms through which maritime disruption is transmitted to supply chains: cost, time, information and risk perception. Rather than treating route disruption as producing uniform economic effects, the analysis distinguishes exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity and considers how consequences vary according to cargo, industry, production structure, inventory practices and the availability of substitutes. Sector-specific chapters examine the implications for energy and strategic minerals, agriculture and food, manufacturing and electronics, showing how the characteristics of each supply chain shape both vulnerability and recovery. The book also considers route and supplier diversification, strategic reserves, logistics flexibility, supply chain visibility, contracts and insurance, infrastructure planning and international cooperation. Combining maritime studies with supply chain resilience and risk governance, the book provides a detailed framework for understanding the relationship between shipping-route security and economic continuity. It will be of interest to scholars, postgraduate students, policymakers, researchers and professionals in maritime studies, international trade, logistics and supply chain management, economic security, global value chains and China studies.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1805890719
• ISBN13: 9781805890713
• Release Date: May 2026
• Publisher: Paths Publishing Group
• Length: 502 Pages