China's Belt and Road strategy is acknowledged to be the most ambitious geopolitical initiative of the age. Covering almost seventy countries by land and sea, it will affect every element of global society, from shipping to agriculture, digital economy to tourism, politics to culture. Most importantly, it symbolizes a new phase in China's ambitions as a superpower: to remake the world economy and crown Beijing as the new center of capitalism and globalization. Bruno Maçães traces this extraordinary initiative's history, highlighting its achievements to date, and its staggering complexity. He asks whether Belt and Road is about more than power projection and profit. Might it herald a new set of universal political values, to rival those of the West? Is it, in fact, the story of the century?

This book merges macro- and micro-level analysis of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to dissect China’s aim in creating an integrated Eurasian continent through this single mega-project. BRI has been the source of much interest and confusion, as established frameworks of analysis seek to understand China’s intentions behind the policy. China’s international activity in the early 21st century has not yet been successfully theorised by IR scholars because of a failure to satisfactorily encompass its complexity. In addition, the mix-and-match syncretism of the Chinese approach to foreign policy has been under-emphasised or omitted in many analyses. Bringing together complexity thinking and analytic eclecticism to assess the degree to which this scheme can transform international relations, Garlick critically examines this large-scale interconnectivity project and its potential impacts. The book will be of interest to scholars and practitioners in the field of international relations and China studies including academics, policy-makers and diplomats around the world.

Since the introduction of the One Belt, One Road initiative (OBOR), first proposed in late 2013, international scholars have begun to study this new policy and its implications in the global age. While OBOR provides new opportunities for China in terms of regional cooperation and global development, many also raise concerns about China’s intentions of using economic means to achieve strategic and foreign policy objectives. Hailing from the West and the East, the authors reflect on the wide-ranging impacts of OBOR on specific countries, regions, economic policies, and geopolitical considerations. Including both theoretical research and empirical studies that explore opportunities and challenges related to OBOR, this edited volume will allow readers to gain a more comprehensive understanding of this ambitious undertaking and its long-term impact on the rest of the world.

What China’s infamous railway initiative can teach us about global dominance. In 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled what would come to be known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—a global development strategy involving infrastructure projects and associated financing throughout the world, including Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. While the Chinese government has framed the plan as one promoting transnational connectivity, critics and security experts see it as part of a larger strategy to achieve global dominance. Rivers of Iron examines one aspect of President Xi Jinping’s “New Era”: China’s effort to create an intercountry railway system connecting China and its seven Southeast Asian neighbors (Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam). This book illuminates the political strengths and weaknesses of the plan, as well as the capacity of the impacted countries to resist, shape, and even take advantage of China’s wide-reaching actions. Using frameworks from the fields of international relations and comparative politics, the authors of Rivers of Iron seek to explain how domestic politics in these eight Asian nations shaped their varying external responses and behaviors. How does China wield power using infrastructure? Do smaller states have agency? How should we understand the role of infrastructure in broader development? Does industrial policy work? And crucially, how should competing global powers respond?

This book offers critical insights into the China-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) from an EU perspective. It analyzes the political, cultural, and diplomatic effectiveness of Xi's efforts to expand socio-cultural ties and build new trade corridors between Europe and the Far East, and sheds light on the lasting success and influence of China-led economic programs. The book is divided into three parts. The first part provides an overview of the various dimensions of the BRI initiative, including the challenges and opportunities of the EU-China trade relationship, China's geopolitical interests, and foreign policy approaches. The second part analyzes BRI cooperation from the perspective of the business sector, while the third part presents case studies that examine the impacts and responses of various European countries to the BRI.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), officially unveiled in 2013, is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature foreign and economic policy initiative to achieve improved connectivity, regional cooperation, and economic development on a trans-continental scale. This book reviews the evolving BRI vision and offers a benefit-risk assessment of the BRI’s economic and geopolitical implications from the perspective of Asian stakeholder countries, using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Among the value added of the book is first an online perception survey of opinion leaders from Asian participating countries on various aspects of the initiative. To our best knowledge, the survey is the first of its kind. Second, the book presents the simulation results of a computable general equilibrium model of the world economy to estimate the potential macroeconomic impacts of the BRI as a whole and those of its constituent overland and maritime economic corridors. Third, the book makes ten key evidence-based policy recommendations on how to enhance the prospect of a successful and mutually beneficial BRI 2.0 to both China and stakeholder countries.

Silk Road was once the most important economic-cultural tie connecting the Eurasian countries before the rise of the West. In September 2013, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the initiative to jointly build the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, which is abbreviated as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This book analyzes the BRI through the approach of political economy and establishes the analytic framework of BRI from historical and comparative perspectives. It clearly displays the strategic considerations, future vision, constructing framework, governmental actions, latest achievements, multiple opportunities and potential risks of BRI. As China's grand national development strategy and international cooperation initiative, the BRI will largely shape China's domestic and foreign policies in the Xi Jinping era. The book is the first academic monograph on the BRI and it enables readers to comprehensively understand this initiative and its implications to China, Eurasia and the world. Contents: Reflections on the Ancient Silk Road The "Modern Silk Road" between China and the Middle East Understanding China's Belt and Road Initiative in the New Era Cooperation Framework of Building the Belt and Road Development Opportunities of the Belt and Road Initiative Government Actions on Building the Belt and Road New Developments of Building the Belt and Road Risk Management in Building of the Belt and Road Readership: Academics, policy-makers, professionals, undergraduate and graduate students interested in China's Belt and Road Initiatives, China's domestic and foreign policies in Xi Jinping Era. Keywords: China;The Belt and Road Initiative;Silk Road;One Belt and One Road;Political Economy;EurasiaReview: Key Features: First monograph on China's Belt and Road Initiative Comprehensive and in-depth studies Rich first-hand materials