Deconstructing China's Belt and Road Initiative: Notes from the Field

• In Event: Autocratic Institutions

Abstract

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposes a wide-ranging global network of infrastructure and development projects. Accordingly, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s flagship economic program has the potential to reshape international politics and the regional economic order. However, aside from buzzy headlines and Western allegations of debt-trap diplomacy, the BRI is woefully understudied. This paper uses over 125 semi-structured interviews of Southeast Asian elites, undertaken over three years, to examine the structural microfoundations of China’s BRI and its impacts on recipient states. As such, this project generates entirely novel empirical data on Southeast Asian elite opinion towards Chinese investment and development projects. This research identifies the prominent role of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in shaping recipient country perceptions and political systems. Additionally, this research has revealed three key observable domestic political structure and policy changes in response to Chinese economic statecraft. In conjunction, this project sketches a clearer picture of the political impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative on recipient states and its potential effects on world order.

Author

• Merlin Boone, United States Military Academy