Belt and Road Initiative
The Belt and Road Initiative, also known as the One Belt One Road and sometimes called the New Silk Road, is a global infrastructure and economic development strategy of the government of the People's Republic of China.
The initiative was launched by Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping in 2013 while visiting Kazakhstan. It aims to invest in over 150 countries and international organizations through six overland economic corridors and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. The BRI is central to Chinese foreign policy, promoting trade connectivity and China's leadership role in global affairs. As of 2025, participating countries account for nearly 75% of the world's population and over half of global GDP, based on aggregated membership and international economic datasets. The initiative is widely described as having the potential to enhance global trade, connectivity, and economic growth, particularly in developing economies. At the same time, it has been associated with concerns regarding environmental impact, human rights and governance standards, debt sustainability, and the dual-use nature of certain infrastructure projects.
History
Initial foreign investments
Global Chinese investment dates all the way back to the 1950s, shortly after its socialist reform from 1949 to 1952, with projects in North Korea, Vietnam, and numerous African countries. Under the leadership of CCP chairman, Mao Zedong, African independence movements prompted China's interest in the region, accounting for 58% of its economic aid between 1956 and 1969. China funded primarily agricultural projects through companies like the China Merchants Group and China Resources Corporation, for which each built foreign branches. China made these investments alongside tactics of diplomacy to improve Sino-African relations for the sake of future economic cooperation.Fueled by isolationist political motivations, these investments were relatively small. China's self-reliant aims generally left it incapable of any sizable foreign investment. However, following the 1966-1976 Chinese Cultural Revolution, severe economic shortages incentivized a change. Border tensions with the Soviet Union furthermore worried China, as apparent in Chinese Foreign Minister, Huang Hua's 1977 statement, saying that China needed to win the favor of the United States to avoid "revisionist Soviet social-imperialism," which he believed made the USSR China's "archenemy." Other Chinese officials and allies held similar beliefs. Estimates found that in 1979, China's GDP per capita was $271.20 USD, ranked 162 globally, with foreign exchange reserves at a mere $840 million USD. Just two years later, Chairman of the CPPCC, Deng Xiaoping announced the adoption of the Open Door Policy in December 1978. The policy aimed to open China's economic doors, transitioning the country into a market-based economy, which was considered critical for economic growth.
China's policy of channeling its construction companies abroad began with former CCP General Secretary Jiang Zemin's Go Out policy. Xi Jinping's BRI built on and expanded this policy as well as built on Jiang's China Western Development policy.
2013 Silk Road Economic Belt announcement
Xi announced the BRI concept as the "Silk Road Economic Belt" on 7 September 2013 at Nazarbayev University in Astana, Kazakhstan In October 2013 during a speech delivered in Indonesia, Xi stated that China planned to build a "twenty-first century Maritime Silk Road" to enhance cooperation in Southeast Asia and beyond.Objectives
The Belt and Road Initiative addresses an "infrastructure gap" and thus has the potential to accelerate economic growth across the Asia Pacific, Africa and Central and Eastern Europe, according to a report from the World Pensions Council.The initial focus has been infrastructure investment, education, construction materials, railway and highway, automobile, real estate, power grid, and iron and steel. Already, some estimates list the Belt and Road Initiative as one of the largest infrastructure and investment projects in history, covering more than 68 countries, including 65% of the world population and 40% of the global gross domestic product as of 2017. The project builds on the old trade routes that once connected China to the west, Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta's routes in the north and the maritime expedition routes of Ming dynasty admiral Zheng He in the south. The Belt and Road Initiative now refers to the entire geographical area of the historic "Silk Road" trade route, which has been continuously used in antiquity.
The stated goals of the BRI were officially presented for the first time in a 2015 document, the Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Belt and Road. It outlined six economic corridors for trade and investment connectivity would be implemented.
The BRI develops new markets for Chinese firms, channels excess industrial capacity overseas, increases China's access to resources, and strengthens its ties with partner countries. The initiative generates its own export demand because Chinese loans enable participating countries to develop infrastructure projects involving Chinese firms and expertise. The infrastructure developed also helps China to address the imbalance between its more developed eastern regions and its less developed western regions.
For developing countries, the BRI is appealing because of the opportunities it offers to alleviate their economic disadvantages relative to Western countries. The BRI offers them infrastructure development, financial assistance, and technical assistance from China. The increase in foreign direct investment and increased trade linkages also increases employment and poverty alleviation for these countries.
While some countries, especially the United States, view the project critically because of Chinese government influence, others point to the creation of a new global growth engine by connecting and moving Asia, Europe and Africa closer together.
In the maritime silk road, which is already the route for more than half of all containers in the world, deep-water ports are being expanded, logistical hubs are being built, and new traffic routes are being created in the hinterland. The maritime silk road runs with its connections from the Chinese coast to the south, linking Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, and Jakarta, then westward linking the Sri Lankan capital city of Colombo, and Malé, capital of the Maldives, and onward to East Africa, and the city of Mombasa, in Kenya. From there the linkage moves northward to Djibouti, through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, thereby linking Haifa, Istanbul, and Athens, to the Upper Adriatic region to the northern Italian hub of Trieste, with its international free port and its rail connections to Central Europe and the North Sea.
As a result, Poland, the Baltic States, Northern Europe, and Central Europe are also connected to the maritime silk road and logistically linked to East Africa, India and China via the Adriatic ports and Piraeus. All in all, the ship connections for container transports between Asia and Europe will be reorganized. In contrast to the longer East Asian traffic via north-west Europe, the southern sea route through the Suez Canal towards the junction Trieste shortens the goods transport by at least four days.
In connection with the Silk Road project, China is also trying to network worldwide research activities.
Simon Shen and Wilson Chan have compared the initiative to the post-World War II Marshall Plan. It is the largest infrastructure investment by a great power since the Marshall Plan.
China intentionally frames the BRI flexibly in order to adapt it to changing needs or policies, such as the addition of a "Health Silk Road" during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Health Silk Road is an initiative under China's Belt and Road Initiative aimed at enhancing public health infrastructure and fostering international cooperation in healthcare. Initiated as part of China's broader strategy to engage in global health governance, the HSR seeks to improve healthcare facilities, enhance disease prevention, and strengthen healthcare cooperation across participating countries. The initiative includes the construction of healthcare facilities, such as hospitals in Pakistan and Laos, and collaborative programs with global organizations like the World Health Organization. Academic Shaoyu Yuan finds that while the HSR contributes to health sector improvements in participating nations, it also prompts discussions regarding the long-term debt sustainability and the transparency of project execution. As the HSR expands, it exemplifies China's role in global health diplomacy, reflecting a complex interplay between development goals and geopolitical strategy.
Initiative name
The official name for the initiative is the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road Development Strategy, which was initially abbreviated as the One Belt One Road or the OBOR strategy. The English translation has been changed to the Belt and Road Initiative since 2016, when the Chinese government considered the emphasis on the words "one" and "strategy" were prone to misinterpretation and suspicion, so they opted for the more inclusive term "initiative" in its translation. However, "One Belt One Road" is still the reference term in Chinese-language media.International relations
The Belt and Road Initiative is believed by some analysts to be a way to extend Chinese economic and political influence. Some geopolitical analysts have couched the Belt and Road Initiative in the context of Halford Mackinder's heartland theory. Scholars have noted that official PRC media attempts to mask any strategic dimensions of the Belt and Road Initiative as a motivation, while others note that the BRI also serves as signposts for Chinese provinces and ministries, guiding their policies and actions. Academic Keyu Jin writes that while the BRI does advance strategic interests for China, it also reflects the CCP's vision of a world order based on "building a global community of shared future".China has already invested billions of dollars in several South Asian countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to improve their basic infrastructure, with implications for China's trade regime as well as its military influence. This project can also become a new economic corridor for different regions. For example, in the Caucasus region, China considered cooperation with Armenia from May 2019. Chinese and Armenian sides had multiple meetings, signed contracts, initiated a north–south road program to solve even infrastructure-related aspects. A 2025 academic review of China's role in the Middle East interprets the BRI as not only an infrastructure program but also a diplomatic instrument for expanding Chinese influence through soft power. It notes that China utilizes digital projects, cultural exchange, and educational initiatives to project influence while maintaining strategic ambiguity in regions like the Gulf.