Pondering the BRI’s Alleged New Roads

“Pondering the BRI’s Alleged New Roads,” an Op-Ed by Dr. Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, Executive Director of the Mr. & Mrs. S.H. Wong Center for the Study of Multinational Corporations, challenges the latest conventional wisdom about the state and future of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). For some, the BRI is on the way to being derailed. For others, the BRI is shifting to a smaller, greener, and more beautiful future. As for the former, aside from pointing out that the BRI’s progress has often been exaggerated, the Op-Ed highlights that many of the international and domestic economic and political factors that fueled the BRI in the past will be operative in the future. It also notes that these drivers may produce a BRI that is not small, green, or beautiful. Finally, it stresses that there are many countries pulling the BRI forward. This far from just a top-down initiative.

This publication originally appeared as Jean-Marc F. Blanchard, “Pondering the BRI’s Alleged New Roads,” East Asian Forum, November 24, 2023, https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2023/11/24/pondering-the-bris-alleged-new-.... Copyright remains with the original holders.