All-under-heaven, networked underground

This chapter interrogates the resurgence of Tianxia - a traditional Chinese vision of universal rule - as a 21st-century techno-political project under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), conceptualised as Tianxia 2.0 . Framed through Althusser’s “limit form” and Fang Yizhi’s dialectic of excess (Yu), the analysis explores how Confucian political theology legitimises spatial expansion and hierarchical governance. While the official rhetoric promotes harmony and shared prosperity, the chapter reveals Tianxia 2.0 ’s darker underside: a networked empire of ports; special economic zones (SEZs); and digital infrastructure that replicates colonial logics of extraction, surveillance, and violence. Focusing on Southeast Asia, it exposes how Chinese-controlled SEZs - like Sihanoukville and KK Park - operate as legal exceptions, enabling scams, human trafficking, and forced labour within what the author terms “compound capitalism.” The “Samoan Supply Chain” model illustrates how offshore registration and port logistics conceal illicit transnational flows. Drawing parallels with historical tributary trade, the chapter shows how digital connectivity via the Maritime and Digital Silk Roads has revitalised rhizomatic, underground economies governed by both state and criminal actors. Ultimately, Tianxia 2.0 emerges as a critical “limit form” of compound capitalism: a techno-political apparatus that cloaks domination in cosmopolitan ideals, while perpetuating border violence, labour precarity, and epistemic exclusion.