The Belt and Road Initiative is a large-scale infrastructure and economic development project that was launched by China in 2013. Xi Jinping, China’s new president, initially coined the name “One Belt, One Road,” but recently the official translation became “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI). The BRI includes two parts, the “Silk Road Economic Belt,” which is meant to encompass much of Central Asia by way of highways, railroads, and economic interconnectivity; and the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road,” which is meant to develop ports and free trade around the Indian Ocean. China’s vision for the completed BRI is a vast network of railways, highways, and ports open to trade—largely built and funded by Chinese companies—that would support economic development and integration across the dynamic Central Asian region. Such a network would also vastly increase the international usage of China’s currency, the Renminbi (RMB).
China has defined five priorities for the project: policy coordination, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and connected populations. Beyond these stated goals, China also has many deeper motivations to complete the project. The western regions of China, in particular Xinjiang, remain largely undeveloped and have been sources of popular and occasionally violent separatist movements. China hopes that the BRI will improve infrastructure and economic development in these regions. China has also been plagued in recent years by a production surplus that has harmed Chinese companies’ profits. By exporting its infrastructure and technological capabilities via the BRI, China hopes to create a profitable market for its excess production. Another key goal of the BRI is securing its access to energy resources—the country relies heavily on imports from the Middle East. An important part of the BRI is investments in pipelines and energy flows that, critically, the US Military cannot interfere with.
To date, though the project is still in its early stages, the BRI has more than 60 participant countries, and several more have participated in the Chinese-created Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Thus far, the largest BRI-affiliated project is the China-Pakistan Economic corridor, a network of projects designed to link China to Pakistan’s Gwadar port on the Arabian sea. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor has already cost an estimated $60 billion, and analysts estimate that by 2027 the total expenditure for BRI projects could total $1.3 trillion. However, since around 2018, investments in BRI projects have slowed somewhat amid international criticism and with Chinese officials prioritizing more “solid” investments.
Critics of the initiative have pointed out the dangers in allowing China-led development in a dynamic, high-growth region. Among the largest concerns is China’s “debt-trap diplomacy,” wherein countries and potentially corrupt leaders sign on to predatory loans for infrastructure development, and are later forced to pay with resources, territory, or other economic privileges. Other criticisms leveled against the projects have been their opaque bidding processes and apparently preferential treatment given to Chinese firms. In Malaysia in 2018, the newly elected Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad cancelled $22 billion worth of BRI projects, criticizing both the projects’ costs and the corrupt business practices of his predecessor. Other countries, including Kazakhstan and Kenya, have taken a more cautious approach to BRI projects. However, overall debt to China among BRI countries has soared since 2013, approaching nearly 20% of GDP in some countries.
