How China is implementing the Belt and Road Initiative

However, the BRI is not a novel concept. It draws inspiration from the historic Silk Road, a network of trade routes that for more than 1,500 years connected China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe. The Silk Road fostered creativity and multiculturalism by facilitating the trade of goods, concepts, religions, and technologies between other civilizations.

How the BRI is being facilitated

China is putting the BRI into practice by making investments in a number of industries in the participating nations and regions. In the October 16, 2023 press conference by the SCIO, Cong Liang, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission stated that to finance the BRI projects, there have also been joint initiatives with multilateral organizations like the Silk Road Fund and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). With the BRI partners, China also wants to improve policy cooperation, trade facilitation, financial integration, and interpersonal interactions.

154 nations had signed official documents on BRI collaboration with China as of September 2023, according to the official Belt and Road Portal website maintained by the Chinese government. Major BRI projects include the following:

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a 3,000 km long infrastructure and energy project with a 2020 estimated value of $62 billion, aims to connect China's Xinjiang region with Pakistan's Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea.

The China-Europe Railway Express is a network of freight trains that connects China with various European cities such as London, Madrid, Hamburg, and Warsaw.

Kenya's capital Nairobi and its largest port Mombasa are linked by the $3.8 billion Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). It is the biggest infrastructure project Kenya has ever undertaken and is a crucial component of a larger scheme to connect Kenya with its neighbours in East Africa.

China provided $160 million to build the Morodok Techo National Stadium in Cambodia. The Southeast Asian Games will be held there in 2023; it is the biggest stadium in Cambodia.

What it means for the participating nations

The BRI may have an effect on a few variables through its implementation. Trade, investment, growth, and development in the member nations and areas might all be boosted by the BRI. Additionally, it might open up new markets, possibilities, and employment for millions of people. 

Estimations made by the Journal of Shipping and Trading, project that the BRI might result in a 25% decrease in road transport margins, a 5% decrease in sea transport margins, as well as a significant decrease in the time it takes for BRI countries to import goods because of the trade facilitation measures that go along with it. According to other projections made in the business column of the Chinese publication, the Beijing Review, the total exports of BRI nations could rise by $5 billion to $135 billion, depending on the trade cost reduction assumptions.

According to the Foreign Policy Research Institute, politically, this might strengthen China's sway and position as a world leader. Additionally, the Global Times reports that it can encourage communication, cooperation, and trust between other nations and areas. It might, however, also lead to rivalry and conflict between some of China's neighbours and competitors. According to observations made by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India and China continue to be involved in border conflicts and have frequently battled for strategic dominance in the global and regional order.

UNESCO reports that the BRI could encourage intercultural dialogue, variety, and civilizational fusion. Additionally, it might promote the global dissemination of ideologies, principles, faiths, and technology. 

According to the Asia Europe Journal, the participating nations' and regions' energy, transportation, and infrastructure systems might advance significantly. However, the BRI’s aid in the shift to a low-carbon and environmentally friendly economy has been contradictory. According to the State Council Information Office (SCIO) website managed by the Chinese government, there have been actions made as part of the BRI’s contribution to positive environmental change. For instance, scientists at the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography work with Kenyan scientists at the Sino-Africa Joint Research Centre to help address the desertification challenge in Kenya and northern African countries.

On the other hand, the Council on Foreign Relations reports that a significant portion of BRI’s energy financing has gone toward non-renewable resources.  According to the World Bank, it’s estimated that BRI transport infrastructure could increase carbon dioxide emissions by 0.3 per cent worldwide.

Reactions from the rest of the world

On October 18, 2023, at the opening ceremony of the BRI forum in Beijing, UN Secretary-General António Guterres made the following statement in support of the BRI: "Developing countries will need massive support for a fair, equitable, and just energy transition towards renewables while providing affordable electricity to all. Belt and Road investments can help drive this progress, and support developing economies as they make the shift from planet-killing energy sources towards clean, renewable energy.”

Similarly, Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, speaking to 1,000 delegates representing over 130 countries at the third Belt and Road Forum held in Beijing, said that he concurred with Xi Jinping, the president of China, that the Belt and Road initiative "folds logically inside multilateral efforts" to boost international collaboration.

According to ORF, Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, who had previously been a vocal opponent of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), now supports the massive undertaking and applauds President Xi's ‘forward-thinking’ Belt and Road Initiative. In his Op-ed for the Global Times about China - Pakistan relations published on January 28, 2022, he wrote, “For us in Pakistan, relations with China are the cornerstone of our foreign policy enjoying support across the political spectrum. I can say with great confidence that our people fully understand the real value of this friendship and enthusiastically contribute to its splendour and glory.”

Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, has declined to support or join it. China's engagement in projects in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which India claims as its own, breaches India's sovereignty and territorial integrity. According to the DW, New Delhi is sceptical of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which it considers a regional security threat. Furthermore, India views China and Pakistan as the biggest security challenges in the region.

U.S. President Joe Biden has been a vocal opponent of the BRI and has put forth his own competing plan, the Build Back Better World (B3W) to counter China's initiative. At the eighteenth G20 summit held in New Delhi, President Joe Biden announced an India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), which seeks to counter China’s inroads through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by linking India, the Arabian Gulf, and Europe.