In 2013, the Chinese government launched the Belt and Road Initiative to promote regional connectivity and globalization. It consists of two segments: the Silk Road Economic Belt that will connect China with Europe through Central Asia, and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road that connects China’s coast to the Mediterranean and Africa.
The narrative that China is engaging in problematic debt trap diplomacy has taken off. But for Sri Lanka and most of China’s other Belt and Road Initiative partners, it is important to understand the history and politics of their relations with Beijing and project selection.
Pitched as a new Silk Road sweeping from Asia to Europe, China’s enormous Belt and Road Initiative is an ambitious, multinational infrastructure project. Experts from four Carnegie global centers explain other countries’ perspectives.
Despite the BRI’s prevalence in discussions of China’s global engagement, many experts are divided on how to interpret it. Is it a global strategy or just an interregional initiative? How can countries and international companies participate in its growth and development?
Since its announcement in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative has grown from an idea centered on connectivity and infrastructure development into a global strategy bolstering China’s influence and economic diplomacy.
As the Belt and Road Initiative moves forward, countries and local communities more directly in the initiative’s path could learn from Latin American countries’ labor practices.
Setting aside the shortcomings of the Belt and Road concept, the “OBOR hype’ around the world points to a real and fundamental trend — the ascent of China as a truly global economic and military power.
As China’s influence grows, Europe starts to have an increasing quest for reciprocity and is turning to realist engagement with China.
The internationalization of China, and of its companies in particular, is one of the most important phenomena of the beginning of the twenty-first century.
It is imperative that the United States not abandon international development out of the mistaken sense that it is removed from America’s core economic, political, and security interests.
India is increasingly seeking partnerships with like-minded countries with similar foreign policy goals, looking beyond the scope of South Asia to counter China’s looming influence in the region.
As China's role in the world, so too does its place in both participating in and defining global governance. It has taken a more assertive role in this arena through its Belt and Road Initiative but some Western nations are wary of China's expanding influence.
The recent Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that took place in Beijing is China’s claim to a more prominent role in determining the rules of the game on a global stage. But in the unpredictable world of Chinese politics, the forum was as much about President Xi Jinping’s standing and an attempt to curtail speculation that he is not in total control.
