A comprehensive overview of China's belt and road initiative and its implication for the region and beyond

• Published date: 01 February 2022
• Author: Zia Ur Rahman
• Date: 01 February 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2298

ACADEMIC PAPER

A comprehensive overview of China's belt and road initiative

and its implication for the region and beyond

Zia Ur Rahman

Research School for Southeast Asian Studies,

Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China

Correspondence

Zia Ur Rahman, Research School for Southeast

Asian Studies, Xiamen University, No.422

South Siming Road, Xiamen, Fujian 361005,

China.

Email: zrahman915@yahoo.com, zia@stu.xmu.

edu.cn

The primary objective of this study is to present the background and overview of the

Chinese belt and road initiative (BRI) project while exploring views, opinions, skepti-

cisms, and challenges related to this initiative. President Xi Jinping initiated the Silk

Road Economic Belt (SREB) and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) to boost

regional cooperation, which was later officially named as the One Built One Road

(OBOR) or BRI. To this date, more than 65 nations from Asia, Europe, and Northeast

Africa have joined the “BRI,”to revive the old silk road. In an official document, “the

Vision and Action of the OBOR,”China plans to realize five cooperation and develop-

ment plans, comprising of six intercontinental economic corridors. These projects are

expected to bring collective economic growth in BRI member economies while keep-

ing China at the heart of such development. The five main facets of “OBOR”cooper-

ation include infrastructure connectivity, policy communications, finance, trade, and

people-to-people bonds to encourage regional cooperation and mutual growth.

1|BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

1.1 |One Belt One Road/(Yidai Yilu, 一带一路)or

belt and road initiative

In 2013, China started the “B&R”initiative with the aims of promoting

international cooperation, connectivity, and international trade to

facilitate harmonized global economic development (Muzapu,

Havadi, & Mandizvidza, 2018). On September 7, 2013, Xi Jinping, in

his keynote speech at Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan), initiated

the vision to mutually construct the “Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB)”

(Brakman, Frankopan, Garretsen, & Van Marrewijk, 2019). On

October 3, 2013, the President also invited the global leaders to con-

struct the 21st-century “MSR”during a speech at the Indonesian

Congress (Clarke, 2018; Lee, Hu, Lee, Choi, & Shin, 2018). The “SREB”

and “MSR,”collectively known as the “B&R”is aimed at boosting the

cross-border trade and promoting a well-connected global transporta-

tion infrastructure (Herrero & Xu, 2017; Liu, Dunford, et al., 2018; Liu,

Lu, et al., 2018; Liu, Zhang, et al., 2018). Beyond trade and infrastruc-

ture development, this trillion-dollar project also covers various fields,

for example, technology, science, poverty reduction, sustainable

developments, environment protection, education, infrastructure,

agriculture, cross-border economic cooperation, and tourism

(Breuer, 2017; Shahriar, 2019). Even though China has gained eco-

nomic benefits from its “opening up”and “going-out”strategy, the

“OBOR”project is projected to strengthen China's global influence.

After the low-slung economic growth, an imminent need emerged for

China to shift from the export-led growth model (Yoshikawa, 2017).

Despite the fact “going-out”strategy (2001) helped China to expand

globally, the 10th (2001–2005), 11th (2006–2010), and 12th

(2011–2015) 5-Years Plans have made a significant contribution to

the formation and enlargement of the current and future OBOR pro-

jects (Joshua, 2019). According to some experts, China's attempt to

change its economic growth model is no more just a means to attain

technology and foreign reserves, but an effort to augment its global

influence and presence in the world governance (Ohashi, 2018). Many

view this initiative as an attempt to marshal a new era of regional and

Abbreviations and acronyms: BRI, built and road initiative; MSR, maritime silk road; OBOR,

one built one road; SR, silk road; SREB, silk road economic belt; AIIB, Asian Infrastructure

Investment Bank; ASEAN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations; BCIM–EC,

Bangladesh–China–India–Myanmar Economic Corridor; CDB, China Development Bank;

CEE, Central and Eastern Europe; COFDI, Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investment;

CPEC, China–Pakistan Economic Corridor; Eximbank, China Export and Import Bank; FCSSC,

Financial Centre for South–South Cooperation; FDI, Foreign Direct Investment; GBP, Great

Britten Found; GDP, Gross Domestic Products; MNs, Multinational Enterprises; RMB,

Renminbi; RSA, Renminbi Swap Agreements; SCO, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation; SRF,

Silk Road Fund; UNCTAD, United Nation Conference on Trade and Development; USD,

United State Dollar; WTO, World Trade Organisation.

Received: 11 June 2020 Revised: 23 June 2020 Accepted: 14 July 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2298

J Public Affairs. 2022;22:e2298. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1of12

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2298