How to Participate in China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2023?

Chi­na’s Belt and Road Ini­tia­tive (BRI) is a mas­sive glob­al infra­struc­ture project that aims to con­nect Asia, Europe, Africa and beyond through a net­work of roads, rail­ways, ports, pipelines and oth­er facil­i­ties. Launched in 2013 by Pres­i­dent Xi Jin­ping, the BRI has been described as the “project of the cen­tu­ry” by Chi­nese offi­cials and as a “debt trap” by some crit­ics. The BRI has also been seen as a strate­gic chal­lenge to the Unit­ed States and its allies, who have expressed con­cerns about Chi­na’s grow­ing influ­ence and inter­ests around the world.

How­ev­er, the BRI is not a mono­lith­ic or sta­t­ic plan. It is a flex­i­ble and evolv­ing frame­work that allows for dif­fer­ent lev­els and forms of par­tic­i­pa­tion by var­i­ous coun­tries and regions. The BRI is also open to col­lab­o­ra­tion and coöper­a­tion with oth­er inter­na­tion­al ini­tia­tives and orga­ni­za­tions, such as the Euro­pean Union’s Con­nec­tiv­i­ty Strat­e­gy, the African Union’s Agen­da 2063, and the Unit­ed Nations’ Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment Goals.

In this arti­cle, we will explain what the BRI is, what are its ben­e­fits and risks, and how you can par­tic­i­pate in it in 2023. We will also answer some fre­quent­ly asked ques­tions about the BRI.

What is the BRI?

The BRI is a broad vision of region­al and glob­al con­nec­tiv­i­ty that encom­pass­es two main com­po­nents: the Silk Road Eco­nom­ic Belt and the 21^st Cen­tu­ry Mar­itime Silk Road. The Silk Road Eco­nom­ic Belt refers to a land-based cor­ri­dor that con­nects Chi­na with Cen­tral Asia, South Asia, West Asia, Europe and Africa through six eco­nom­ic cor­ri­dors. The 21^st Cen­tu­ry Mar­itime Silk Road refers to a sea-based route that links Chi­na with South­east Asia, Ocea­nia, the Indi­an Ocean, the Mid­dle East and Africa through sev­er­al mar­itime coöper­a­tion zones.

The BRI also cov­ers five areas of coöper­a­tion: pol­i­cy coör­di­na­tion, infra­struc­ture con­nec­tiv­i­ty, trade facil­i­ta­tion, finan­cial inte­gra­tion and peo­ple-to-peo­ple exchanges. The BRI aims to pro­mote com­mon devel­op­ment, mutu­al ben­e­fit and win-win coöper­a­tion among par­tic­i­pat­ing coun­tries and regions. The BRI is guid­ed by the prin­ci­ples of exten­sive con­sul­ta­tion, joint con­tri­bu­tion and shared benefits.

The BRI is not a fixed or rigid plan. It is a dynam­ic and inclu­sive plat­form that wel­comes new ideas and pro­pos­als from var­i­ous stake­hold­ers. The BRI is also not lim­it­ed to phys­i­cal infra­struc­ture. It cov­ers a wide range of sec­tors and fields, such as ener­gy, dig­i­tal econ­o­my, health care, edu­ca­tion, cul­ture, tourism, agri­cul­ture, envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion and security.

What are the benefits of the BRI?

The BRI offers many poten­tial ben­e­fits for par­tic­i­pat­ing coun­tries and regions. Some of the main ben­e­fits are:

• Infra­struc­ture devel­op­ment. The BRI can help address the huge infra­struc­ture gap in many devel­op­ing coun­tries and regions, espe­cial­ly in Africa and Asia. Accord­ing to the Asian Devel­op­ment Bank (ADB), Asia alone needs $1.7 tril­lion per year until 2030 to meet its infra­struc­ture needs. The BRI can pro­vide financ­ing, tech­nol­o­gy and exper­tise for build­ing roads, rail­ways, ports, air­ports, pow­er plants, pipelines and oth­er facil­i­ties that can boost eco­nom­ic growth, trade and connectivity.
• Trade expan­sion. The BRI can facil­i­tate trade among par­tic­i­pat­ing coun­tries and regions by reduc­ing trade bar­ri­ers, enhanc­ing cus­toms coöper­a­tion, improv­ing trans­port effi­cien­cy and low­er­ing logis­tics costs. The BRI can also cre­ate new mar­kets and oppor­tu­ni­ties for busi­ness­es of dif­fer­ent sizes and sec­tors. Accord­ing to a World Bank study (PDF), the BRI could increase glob­al trade by up to 6.2 per­cent by 2030.
• Finan­cial inte­gra­tion. The BRI can pro­mote finan­cial inte­gra­tion among par­tic­i­pat­ing coun­tries and regions by expand­ing cross-bor­der invest­ment flows, strength­en­ing finan­cial coöper­a­tion mech­a­nisms, diver­si­fy­ing financ­ing sources and instru­ments, and sup­port­ing local cur­ren­cy set­tle­ment. The BRI can also fos­ter finan­cial sta­bil­i­ty and resilience by enhanc­ing risk man­age­ment capac­i­ty and coör­di­na­tion among rel­e­vant authorities.
• Peo­ple-to-peo­ple exchanges. The BRI can enhance peo­ple-to-peo­ple exchanges among par­tic­i­pat­ing coun­tries and regions by increas­ing cul­tur­al, edu­ca­tion­al, sci­en­tif­ic, tech­no­log­i­cal, tourism and sports coöper­a­tion. The BRI can also fos­ter mutu­al under­stand­ing, trust and friend­ship among dif­fer­ent civ­i­liza­tions, cul­tures and reli­gions. The BRI can also sup­port human devel­op­ment and social wel­fare by improv­ing health care, edu­ca­tion, pover­ty reduc­tion and envi­ron­men­tal protection.

What are the risks of the BRI?

The BRI also pos­es some poten­tial risks and chal­lenges for par­tic­i­pat­ing coun­tries and regions. Some of the main risks are:

• Debt sus­tain­abil­i­ty. The BRI involves large-scale bor­row­ing and lend­ing for infra­struc­ture projects, which could increase the debt bur­den and vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty of some recip­i­ent coun­tries and regions, espe­cial­ly those with weak eco­nom­ic fun­da­men­tals, gov­er­nance and insti­tu­tion­al capac­i­ty. Accord­ing to a Cen­ter for Glob­al Devel­op­ment study (PDF), eight coun­tries involved in the BRI are at a high risk of debt dis­tress due to their expo­sure to Chi­nese loans. The BRI could also cre­ate debt depen­den­cy and influ­ence on some bor­row­ers by Chi­na as the main creditor.
• Envi­ron­men­tal and social impacts. The BRI could have neg­a­tive envi­ron­men­tal and social impacts on some host coun­tries and regions, espe­cial­ly those with low envi­ron­men­tal stan­dards, weak reg­u­la­to­ry frame­works and poor human rights records. The BRI could cause envi­ron­men­tal degra­da­tion, bio­di­ver­si­ty loss, cli­mate change, dis­place­ment, labor exploita­tion, cor­rup­tion and social con­flicts if not prop­er­ly planned, imple­ment­ed and mon­i­tored. The BRI could also face resis­tance and back­lash from local com­mu­ni­ties, civ­il soci­ety groups and oth­er stake­hold­ers who are affect­ed by or opposed to the BRI projects.
• Geopo­lit­i­cal ten­sions. The BRI could cre­ate or exac­er­bate geopo­lit­i­cal ten­sions among par­tic­i­pat­ing coun­tries and regions, as well as between Chi­na and oth­er major pow­ers, such as the Unit­ed States, India, Japan and the Euro­pean Union. The BRI could be per­ceived or por­trayed as a strate­gic tool or threat by Chi­na to expand its influ­ence and inter­ests in regions that are con­sid­ered as spheres of influ­ence or vital inter­ests by oth­er pow­ers. The BRI could also trig­ger or esca­late ter­ri­to­r­i­al dis­putes, mar­itime con­flicts, secu­ri­ty dilem­mas and strate­gic rival­ries among rel­e­vant actors.

How to participate in the BRI in 2023?

If you are inter­est­ed in par­tic­i­pat­ing in the BRI in 2023, there are sev­er­al ways to do so. Some of the main ways are:

• Join­ing the BRI coöper­a­tion mech­a­nisms. You can join the exist­ing or emerg­ing coöper­a­tion mech­a­nisms under the BRI frame­work, such as the Belt and Road Forum for Inter­na­tion­al Coöper­a­tion (BRF), the Silk Road Inter­na­tion­al Cham­ber of Com­merce (SRCIC), the Asian Infra­struc­ture Invest­ment Bank (AIIB), the New Devel­op­ment Bank (NDB), the Silk Road Fund (SRF), the Chi­na Inter­na­tion­al Devel­op­ment Coöper­a­tion Agency (CID­CA), etc. These mech­a­nisms can pro­vide plat­forms for dia­logue, con­sul­ta­tion, coör­di­na­tion, coöper­a­tion and financ­ing for var­i­ous stake­hold­ers involved in the BRI.
• Sign­ing bilat­er­al or mul­ti­lat­er­al agree­ments with Chi­na. You can sign bilat­er­al or mul­ti­lat­er­al agree­ments with Chi­na on spe­cif­ic areas or projects of coöper­a­tion under the BRI frame­work, such as mem­o­ran­dums of under­stand­ing (MOUs), action plans, joint state­ments, joint com­mu­niques, etc. These agree­ments can define the scope, prin­ci­ples, objec­tives, modal­i­ties and mech­a­nisms of coöper­a­tion under the BRI.
• Propos­ing or imple­ment­ing projects under the BRI frame­work. You can pro­pose or imple­ment projects under the BRI frame­work that are aligned with your own devel­op­ment needs and pri­or­i­ties, as well as with Chi­na’s vision and inter­ests. You can also seek fund­ing, tech­nol­o­gy or exper­tise from Chi­na or oth­er part­ners for your projects under the BRI frame­work. You can also par­tic­i­pate in exist­ing or ongo­ing projects under the BRI frame­work as a part­ner, con­trac­tor, sup­pli­er or beneficiary.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are some com­mon ques­tions that peo­ple may have about par­tic­i­pat­ing in the BRI in 2023:

Sources

1. Nation­al Devel­op­ment and Reform Com­mis­sion (NDRC) | Vision and Actions on Joint­ly Build­ing Silk Road Eco­nom­ic Belt and 21^st-Cen­tu­ry Mar­itime Silk Road
2. Xin­hua News Agency | Full text of Pres­i­dent Xi’s speech at open­ing of Belt and Road forum
3. World Bank | Belt and Road Eco­nom­ics: Oppor­tu­ni­ties and Risks of Trans­port Cor­ri­dors (PDF)
4. Cen­ter for Glob­al Devel­op­ment (CGD) | Exam­in­ing the Debt Impli­ca­tions of the Belt and Road Ini­tia­tive from a Pol­i­cy Per­spec­tive (PDF)
5. Belt & Road News | How to Par­tic­i­pate in Belt & Road Initiative?