An Overview of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Its Development Since 2013

Abstract

During a visit to Kazakhstan in September 2013, Chinese leader Xi Jinping announced the launch of a new cross-Eurasian initiative. Nearly ten years on, approximately 140 nations have followed Kazakhstan’s lead and signed onto the multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This chapter aims to provide a concise yet critical overview of the BRI’s evolution in Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the European Union, examining the main BRI investments, strategies, and controversies over the past decade. More specifically, the chapter reflects on how individual projects under the BRI banner are coordinated and funded before examining the stated aims of the BRI. The development of two Eurasian land corridors is then explored as well as the emergent, overlapping strands of BRI discourse, including discourses on the “Human/Cultural,” “Green,” “Health,” and “Digital” Silk Roads. The chapter ends by exploring the key debates happening around China’s intentions at the state, academic, and popular levels across the Eurasian region, highlighting fears of so-called “debt-trap diplomacy.”