Belt and Road Initiative

Extracted Attributes

• Type

  Global infrastructure development strategy

• Scope

  Investments in over 140 countries and international organizations

• Comparison

  Compared to the American Marshall Plan

• Components

  Six land corridors (Silk Road Economic Belt), Maritime Silk Road (21st Century Maritime Silk Road)

• Criticisms

  Human rights violations, environmental impact, debt-trap diplomacy, neocolonialism, economic imperialism

• Key Leader

  Xi Jinping

• Launch Date

  2013-09

• Stated Goals

  Enhance regional connectivity, foster a brighter future, promote coordinated economic, social, and eco-environmental development, address root causes hindering development, boost self-driven development

• CDB Commitment

  $250 billion to fund BRI projects

• Alternative Names

  One Belt One Road, New Silk Road, OBOR

• Initiating Country

  People's Republic of China

• Geopolitical Context

  Cornerstone of Xi Jinping's foreign policy, central component of 'Major Country Diplomacy' strategy, aims for China to assume greater leadership role in global affairs

• Infrastructure Focus

  Road, rail, energy, digital, port infrastructure (also skyscrapers, bridges, airports, dams, coal-fired power stations, railroad tunnels)

• Global Representation

  Almost 75% of world's population, over half of world's GDP (among participating countries)

• Target Completion Date

  2049

• Primary Financing Sources

  China Development Bank (CDB), Export-Import Bank of China (China EXIM), state-owned commercial banks

• Potential Economic Impact (World GDP)

  Increase world GDP by $7.1 trillion per annum by 2040

• Potential Economic Impact (GDP Growth)

  Grow GDP of East Asian and Pacific developing countries by an average of 2.6% to 3.9%

• Potential Economic Impact (Trade Cost)

  Cut global trade cost by 1.1% to 2.2%

• Potential Economic Impact (Trade Flows)

  Boost trade flows in 155 participating countries by 4.1%

Timeline

• The strategy, initially named 'Silk Road Economic Belt', was announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping during an official visit to Kazakhstan. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, DBPedia, Web Search Results)

  2013-09

• The Belt and Road Initiative was launched by President Xi Jinping. (Source: Summary, Web Search Results)

  2013

• The initiative was incorporated into the constitution of the Chinese Communist Party. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2017

• The initiative was incorporated into the Constitution of China. (Source: DBPedia)

  2018

• The Belt and Road Initiative Green Development Coalition (BRIGC) published the Green Development Guidance, emphasizing international best practices in environmental risk management. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2020-12

• President Joe Biden, in collaboration with the G7, launched the Build Back Better World Initiative (B3W) as an infrastructure investment program conceived to compete with BRI. (Source: Web Search Results)

  2021

• Target completion date for the Belt and Road Initiative, coinciding with the centennial of the People's Republic of China's founding. (Source: Summary, Wikipedia, DBPedia)

  2049

Belt and Road Initiative

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI or B&R), known in China as the One Belt One Road and sometimes referred to as the New Silk Road, is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the government of China in 2013 to invest in more than 150 countries and international organizations. The BRI is composed of six urban development land corridors linked by road, rail, energy, and digital infrastructure and the Maritime Silk Road linked by the development of ports. BRI is both a geopolitical and a geoeconomic project. Chinese Communist Party (CCP) general secretary Xi Jinping originally announced the strategy as the "Silk Road Economic Belt" during an official visit to Kazakhstan in September 2013. "Belt" refers to the proposed overland routes for road and rail transportation through landlocked Central Asia along the famed historical trade routes of the Western Regions; "road" refers to the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road – the Indo-Pacific sea routes through Southeast Asia to South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It is considered a centerpiece of Xi Jinping's foreign policy. The BRI forms a central component of Xi's "major-country diplomacy" strategy, which calls for China to assume a greater leadership role in global affairs in accordance with its rising power and status. As of early 2024, more than 140 countries were part of the BRI.: 20  The participating countries, including China, represent almost 75% of the world's population and account for more than half of the world's GDP.: 192  The initiative was incorporated into the constitution of the Chinese Communist Party in 2017. The general secretaryship describes the initiative as "a bid to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future." The project has a target completion date of 2049, which will coincide with the centennial of the People's Republic of China (PRC)'s founding. Numerous studies conducted by the World Bank have estimated that BRI can boost trade flows in 155 participating countries by 4.1 percent, as well as cutting the cost of global trade by 1.1 percent to 2.2 percent, and grow the GDP of East Asian and Pacific developing countries by an average of 2.6 to 3.9 percent. According to London-based consultants Centre for Economics and Business Research, BRI is likely to increase the world GDP by $7.1 trillion per annum by 2040, and that benefits will be "widespread" as improved infrastructure reduces "frictions that hold back world trade". CEBR also concludes that the project will be likely to attract further countries to join, if the global infrastructure initiative progresses and gains momentum. Supporters praise the BRI for its potential to boost the global GDP, particularly in developing countries. However, there has also been criticism over human rights violations and environmental impact, as well as concerns of debt-trap diplomacy resulting in neocolonialism and economic imperialism. These differing perspectives are the subject of active debate.

Web Search Results

• China's Massive Belt and Road Initiative

  China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), sometimes referred to as the New Silk Road, is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects ever conceived. Launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, the vast collection of development and investment initiatives was originally devised to link East Asia and Europe through physical infrastructure. In the decade since, the project has expanded to Africa, Oceania, and Latin America, significantly broadening China’s economic and political influence. [...] ## What are China’s plans for its New Silk Road? President Xi announced the initiative during official visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia in 2013. The plan was two-pronged: the overland Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road. The two were collectively referred to first as the One Belt, One Road initiative but eventually became the Belt and Road Initiative. [...] In 2021, President Joe Biden, in collaboration with the Group of Seven (G7), launched the Build Back Better World Initiative (“B3W”) an infrastructure investment program conceived to compete with BRI. Though some supporters say B3W acts as a complement to BRI, many acknowledge that its lack of financing prevents it from acting as a serious challenger to China’s initiative. One year after B3W was announced, commitments under the initiative totaled only $6 million, and it had been renamed the

• Ten years of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

  In September 2013, China’s President Xi announced the One Belt and One Road Initiative (OBOR). Initially, few observers paid it much attention. A decade later, the English name has evolved to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) (though in Chinese, ‘yi dai yi lu’ still translates to ‘One Belt One Road’). The BRI has emerged as one of the world’s most ambitious and debated development initiatives. As of now, 148 countries have signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with China regarding the [...] Significant regulatory changes came under way in China in 2020. In December 2020, the Belt and Road Initiative Green Development Coalition (BRIGC) published the Green Development Guidance with support from various Chinese ministries that emphasised the importance of adhering to international best practices in environmental risk management. It also published a ‘traffic light system” that provided an ambitious environmental evaluation framework for all types of overseas projects regarding their [...] | | | --- | | This is a Joint Working Paper published by Green Finance & Development Center at FISF Fudan University and Griffith Asia Institute at Griffith University. | Map of countries of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) - by December, 144 to 148 countries had signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with China to cooperate under the BRI framework

• The Belt and Road Initiative: A Key Pillar of the Global Community of ...

  A path to openness. The BRI represents an open and inclusive collaborative process that transcends national borders, ideological differences, developmental disparities, social system variations, and geopolitical conflicts. It is not aimed at designing a new international system, but rather supplementing and improving the existing mechanisms. All parties involved uphold the core values and fundamental principles of the multilateral trading system. Together, participants will establish an open [...] In alignment with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the BRI promotes coordinated economic, social, and eco-environmental development. Its aims are to address the root causes and obstacles that hinder development and boost the self-driven development of participating countries. It strives to achieve lasting, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, integrating sustainable development principles into project selection, implementation and management. Following international [...] The BRI is a public road open to all, not a private path owned by any single party. It is free from geopolitical calculations. It does not aim to create an exclusive club, nor does it target at any party. It does not form cliques based on specific ideological standards. It has no intention of establishing military alliances. Countries from Eurasia, Africa, the Americas, and Oceania are all welcome to participate in the initiative, regardless of their political system, historical background,

• Countries of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

  The following table provides an overview of the countries of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The field income group is according to the World Bank categorization. Countries without a date of MoU denotes that we could not find independent information about the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding to become an official “country of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). [...] the Belt and Road Initiative. [...] >> you can download the full Excel (.xls) file of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) country list here and use with proper citation. File:.xlsx icon.svg - Wikimedia Commons ### Recommended citation: Nedopil, Christoph (2025): “Countries of the Belt and Road Initiative”; Shanghai, Green Finance & Development Center, FISF Fudan University, www.greenfdc.org

• Findings | China's Belt and Road: Implications for the United States

  Road Forum, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lauded BRI’s “immense potential,” praised it for having “sustainable development as the overarching objective,” and pledged the “United Nations system stands ready to travel this road with you.”127BRI can thus be seen as an integral element of a broader strategy to bolster China’s geopolitical influence and international standing.128 [...] BRI is predominantly financed by debt, with most projects backed by two state-run policy banks, the China Development Bank (CDB) and the Export-Import Bank of China (China EXIM), and some state-owned commercial banks.63CDB, the world’s largest provider of development finance, has committed $250 billion to fund BRI projects.64 [...] 62Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman, “Jakarata-Bandung High-Speed Railway Project Delayed Amid Pandemic,” <em>Jakarta Post</em>, April 15, 2020. 63Gabriel Wildau and Nan Ma, “In Charts: China’s Belt and Road Initiative,” <em>Financial Times</em>, May 10, 2017, “Aid Procurement and the Development of Local Industry: A Question for Africa,” Brookings Institution Global Economy and Development Working Paper 88, June 2015.

• Country

  People's Republic of China

• Instance Of

  Q185451

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, or B&R), formerly known as One Belt One Road (Chinese: 一带一路) or OBOR for short, is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government in 2013 to invest in nearly 150 countries and international organizations. It is considered a centerpiece of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping's foreign policy. The BRI forms a central component of Xi's "Major Country Diplomacy" (Chinese: 大国外交) strategy, which calls for China to assume a greater leadership role for global affairs in accordance with its rising power and status. It has been compared to the American Marshal Plan. As of August 2022, 149 countries were listed as having signed up to the BRI. Xi originally announced the strategy as the "Silk Road Economic Belt" during an official visit to Kazakhstan in September 2013. "Belt" is short for the "Silk Road Economic Belt," referring to the proposed overland routes for road and rail transportation through landlocked Central Asia along the famed historical trade routes of the Western Regions; whereas "road" is short for the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road", referring to the Indo-Pacific sea routes through Southeast Asia to South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Examples of Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure investments include ports, skyscrapers, railroads, roads, bridges, airports, dams, coal-fired power stations, and railroad tunnels. The initiative was incorporated into the Constitution of China in 2018. The Xi Jinping Administration calls the initiative "a bid to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future." The project has a target completion date of 2049, which will coincide with the centennial of the People's Republic of China (PRC)'s founding. Numerous studies conducted by the World Bank have estimated that BRI can boost trade flows in 149 participating countries by 4.1 percent, as well as cutting the cost of global trade by 1.1 percent to 2.2 percent, and grow the GDP of East Asian and Pacific developing countries by an average of 2.6 to 3.9 percent. According to London-based CEBR consultants, BRI is likely to increase the world GDP by $7.1 trillion per annum by 2040, and that "benefits will likely to be widespread", as global trade increases from increasing infrastructure that reduces "frictions that hold back world trade". CEBR also concludes that the project will be likely to attract further countries to join, if the global infrastructure initiative progresses and gains momentum. Supporters praise the BRI for its potential to boost the global GDP, particularly in developing countries. However, there has also been criticism over human rights violations and environmental impact, as well as concerns of debt-trap diplomacy resulting in neocolonialism and economic imperialism.