CHAPTER 2: China and the “Belt and Road” Initiative: What Is It All About?

Essentially, the “One Belt, One Road” Initiative (also referred to as “The Belt & Road”) is an immensely ambitious development campaign aimed at modernizing infrastructure and better connecting China with the EU, but it is not limited to this, as explained in this chapter. Many other facets in fact compose this ambitious project. China is preparing to play a bigger role at the international stage and to gain a leading position in introducing new policies not only aimed at granting China a linear development, but also directed at stimulating global economic growth if its leadership will be able to properly implement the so-called “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” which are initiatives first introduced by President Xi Jinping in 2013 during his visit to Kazakhstan and Indonesia, respectively, and which are now referred to jointly as the “Belt, and Road” Initiative, or the “B&R.” This Initiative has continued to expand in its scope and now includes promotion of enhanced policy coordination across the Asian continent, financial integration, trade liberalization and people-to-people connectivity…