The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which China launched in 2013 with the aim of revitalizing East-West trade along the historical Silk Road route, has covered 2/3 of the world’s population and global gross domestic product with the participation of 155 countries in 10 years and projects carried out in more than 70 countries. created a sphere of influence containing more than half of the revenue.
Connectivity projects in infrastructure, transportation, energy, communications and other fields carried out within the scope of the initiative have become the basis of China’s global strategy as a “rising power” by increasing its influence on the Eurasian continental mass and the sea routes traversing the south of Asia.
The initiative, positioned as a “development project” that aims to balance the development differences between Asia and Europe resulting from the lack of infrastructure and weak commercial connections and to increase economic interactions, is the Marshall Plan, which aims to reconstruct Europe after the Second World War and integrate it into the new global economic order led by Washington. It is also described as “China’s Marshall Plan” in reference to .
The initiative is also seen as China’s response to the threat of containment, a move to increase its global influence against the dominant power, at a time when the United States has abandoned Eurasia in its global power strategy and shifted its focus to the Indo-Pacific region.
The land and sea trade routes built in partnership with China within the scope of the “Belt and Road” create alternative routes for Chinese export products to reach world markets, creating an economic area that is not dependent on or under the control of the USA, the less developed countries of the world called the “Global South”. It allows it to establish direct contact with its regions and emerging markets.
One Belt and One Road
The Belt and Road Initiative was first announced during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia in 2013. The initiative, originally called “One Belt and One Road”, consisted of land and sea legs.
The land leg, called the “Silk Road Economic Belt”, aimed to revitalize East-West trade on the historical Silk Road routes with land and railway transportation networks passing through Central Asia.
The sea leg, called the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”, aimed to connect Southeast Asia and South Asia to the Middle East, Africa and from there to the Mediterranean and Europe through sea lines traversing the Western Pacific and the Indian Ocean.
The roads trodden by the Italian traveler Marco Polo and the Arab traveler Ibn Battuta, and the horizons on which the Chinese sailor Cing Hı sailed, would come to life again in the modern age.
The Belt and Road Initiative, which has become the signature project of Chinese leader Xi, was included in the party statute at the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which governs the country, in 2017.
While 2049, the 100th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China, was determined as the target date for the completion of the project, the project became the cornerstone of China’s national strategy in the 21st century.
6 main land routes
The Belt and Road Initiative consists of 6 main land routes and the Maritime Silk Road.
The first route from China to Europe is called the “New Eurasian Land Bridge” (NELB). It creates a railway transportation network that starts from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwestern China, from the north of the Caspian Sea to the west of Russia via Kazakhstan, and from there to Eastern Europe and Germany.
The second route, called the “China-Central Asia-West Asia Corridor” (CCAWAC), is based on an alternative axis in the same direction, starting from the city of Xi’an in the north of China to Xinjiang, then passing through Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to the Caucasus with the Caspian Sea connection. It defines the line that crosses Turkey and extends to the Balkans and Central Europe.
On the other hand, as an alternative to this line, a branch connecting to Turkey from the south of the Caspian Sea via Afghanistan and Iran is also planned.
Turkey serves as the main connection point for both branches of the corridor. The route also overlaps in terms of its objectives with the Caspian “Central Corridor” Project, which aims to improve Turkey’s trade connections with Central Asia and China.
Pakistan corridor is of key logistical importance
The third route, called the “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor” (CPEC), is the axis to which China attaches the most strategic importance within the scope of the Belt and Road and has made the most investments in the recent period.
The CPEC Project, which aims to connect the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China to the Arabian Sea through the ports of Gwadar and Karachi by traversing Pakistan in a northeast-southwest direction, is at the heart of the Belt and Road Initiative.
In this context, the size of highway projects, port and free zone constructions exceeded 70 billion dollars as of 2020. The projects are aimed to make Pakistan a key logistics base for transporting Chinese manufacturing products to the world.
On the other hand, Turkey’s “Development Road Project”, which aims to provide connections starting from the Persian Gulf to Anatolia and then to Europe, also has the potential to be integrated into this route.
The route is strategically important for Beijing as it gives China access to the Arabian Sea bypassing India.
As a matter of fact, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) Project, announced by New Delhi with the support of the USA at the G20 Summit held in India this year, was interpreted as a strategic alternative to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
Connections to Siberia, Himalaya and Indochina
The Belt and Road Initiative aims to increase not only routes crossing continents, but also land connections with the Himalayan and Siberian regions around China, which are difficult to access due to geographical reasons.
The China-Russia-Mongolia Economic Corridor (CRMEC) aims to connect northern China from the Mongolian steppes to Russia’s Siberian territories. The projects supported by the investment fund established by the Chinese and Russian governments are aimed to increase regional integration.
The route, called the “Trans-Himalayan Multidimensional Connectivity Network” (THMCN), aims to create an economic corridor between the two countries by increasing the transportation networks between China’s Tibet Autonomous Region in the north of the Himalayas and Nepal. It is emphasized that the project, announced during President Xi’s visit to Nepal in 2019, aims to transform Nepal from a “landlocked country to a land-connected country”.
Due to China’s border dispute with India in the Himalayas and other disputes between the countries in the region, it is not currently considered that the route will expand to include other countries in the region.
The aim of the corridor, called the “China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor” (CICPEC), is to contribute to their common development by connecting relatively underdeveloped regions such as Yunnan province and Guanxi Chuang Autonomous Region in southwestern China with the economic centers of neighboring Indochina countries and Southeast Asian countries.
The route runs from southwestern China along the Indochina Peninsula to Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, then to Singapore and Malaysia.
The route called “Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Economic Corridor” (BCIM) similarly aimed to integrate southwestern China with the Indian subcontinent via Myanmar, but it was shelved due to India’s objections and its boycott of the Belt and Road.
Maritime Silk Road
The “Maritime Silk Road” (MSR), which is the sea leg of the Belt and Road Initiative, starts from the southern coast of China to Hanoi (Vietnam), Jakarta (Indonesia), Singapore, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), passes through the Strait of Malacca and Colombo. (Sri Lanka) and Male (Maldives), traversing the Indian Ocean to Mombasa (Kenya) and Djibouti on the African coast, crossing the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, creating a sea route opening to the Mediterranean.
In the Mediterranean, Greece’s Piraeus Port and Italy’s Trieste Port stand out as the distribution points for the route’s European connections.
Is it a tool of sovereignty?
The Belt and Road Initiative is also interpreted as a geo-strategic tool designed by China to increase its international political and economic influence.
Referring to British geographer and politician Halford John Mackinder’s thesis that the power that controls the mainlands will dominate the world, analysts evaluate that China is embarking on a move towards world domination by increasing its influence in the Eurasian continental mass against the relative superiority of the USA and its Western allies in the seas.
Chinese academics, on the other hand, accept that the “Belt and Road” serves China’s strategic interests, but argue that it does not have goals similar to colonialism. In this view, collaborations based on equal partnership reflect the vision of a world order based on common economic development.
The Beijing administration sees the Belt and Road Initiative as a new international cooperation paradigm and road map for all countries to achieve common development and prosperity, not designed according to the geopolitical interests of a narrow circle.
“New road map of development”
The State Council, which functions as the cabinet in China, stated in its policy document titled “Belt and Road Initiative: The Key Pillar of the Global Community Sharing a Common Future”, published on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the initiative, that “Belt and Road” is “not a strategy belonging to a single country”. He emphasized that it “goes beyond geopolitical games”, “aims at economic integration and linked development” and “creates a new paradigm of international cooperation”.
The document states that many infrastructure projects have been carried out within the scope of the initiative in the last 10 years, and that railways, roads, pipelines, dams, power plants, communication networks and other basic service facilities have been built in the participating countries, and that the initiative is based on joint participation and sharing of profits. It was underlined that the countries are equal participants, business partners and stakeholders.
In the document, which is argued that China proposes the “Belt and Road” as a response to the changing global situation and the expectations of the international community, and that it prioritizes the future and the general interests of humanity, it is stated that “Belt and Road, inspired by the power of the ancient Silk Road routes, the spirit and wisdom of the Silk Road, will be implemented only by China.” It aims at the development of not only the world but also the development of the whole world and the creation of a better world.” evaluation was made.
It was emphasized in the document that “Belt and Road” is based on global connectivity and connected development approach against the tendencies to reverse globalization, and it was stated that “balanced, coordinated, inclusive and benefits-sharing global development is prioritized”.
The document underlined that the “Belt and Road” creates great potential for economic development by connecting the developing East Asian economic ring at one end with the developed Western European economic ring and the countries in between at the other end, and strengthens close economic cooperation with African and Latin American countries.
Reached 2/3 of the world’s population in 10 years
While 155 countries participated in the Belt and Road Initiative in 10 years, the projects carried out in more than 70 countries spread over a geography covering 2/3 of the world’s population and half of the global gross product.
The initiative has created a significant momentum in China’s foreign trade in the last 10 years. Between 2013 and 2022, the trade volume between China and participating countries reached 19.1 trillion dollars, with an average annual increase of 6.4 percent.
While bilateral investments for BRI amounted to 380 billion dollars, 240 billion dollars of which were Chinese investments.
The initiative also created its own investment and financing channels. China created the Silk Road Fund (SRF) to finance the project. As of August 2023, $22 billion has been invested in 75 projects from the fund.
China also led the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to provide international financing for infrastructure projects around the world, especially the Belt and Road Initiative. The number of members of the bank, which was established by 57 countries under the leadership of China with 100 billion dollars of equity capital in 2014, increased to 109 with the participation of 52 new countries in the following years.
To date, AIBB has approved a total of $43.6 billion in loans for 227 projects within the scope of the Belt and Road. The development loans provided by the bank surpassed even the World Bank in some years.
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