China’s Belt and Road Initiative: an opportunity or threat to the UK? - Ben Zhang China’s One Belt and One Road (OBOR) or Belt and Road(BRI) Initiative is a development strategy which interlinks trade opportunities and infrastructure projects in Eurasia (combined continental landmass of Europe and Asia) and the Pacific. The BRI, often described as the 21st century silk road, was proposed by Chinese President Xi in 2013. Since, the project has attracted 65 countries to participate in, covering 60% of the world’s population. A projection investment of $1 trillion (mainly in infrastructure and transport links) has the potential to accelerate industrialisation and to drive economic growth through trade, especially in emerging countries. According to President Xi’s vision of the BRI: promoting investing and trade opportunities, growing interaction would increase connectivity in Asia, Europe and Africa. Along the side with the BRI, China will increase further its “sphere of influence” by creating a global platform for economic and political cooperation. Historically, the UK relied on trading within its large overseas empire. China and Britain have built their trading partnerships ever since the first opium war in 1839. After exiting the European Union Trade Bloc, Britain is looking for free trade agreements. British Prime minister Boris Johnson has expressed his interest in this initiative. The UK could use the BRI as a trade opportunity to explore benefits of the massive Chinese market. In order to assess the effects of the BRI on the UK, it is important to recognise some of the Chinese objectives. This can lead us to predict how outcomes of this project will affect Britain economically and politically on a long and short run. The BRI is the largest foreign policy imposed since the US-led Marshall Plan, which was introduced post-World War II to revive the war-thrashed economy in Europe. At this moment, the world remains uncertain whether China intends true altruism or just purely driven by an imperial incentive. Understanding China’s objectives would help us to foresee the effects and evaluate its influence on the UK. On a global scale, the Chinese promises mutual benefits the countries involved, however, China hasn’t purely invested in the BRI in search of economic gains. Some “hidden” strategic objectives behind the initiative aims at consolidating China’s regional leadership in Asia whilst also increasing its political status on a global scale. Yet the Chinese government will not reveal its strategic plans directly to the public. In many ways similar to the Marshall plan, both contain “hidden” strategic aims.
How will the BRI increase China’s economic sphere of influence?
First of all, president Xi intends to use the BRI as a strategy to boost China’s domestic and Industrial exports. By the end of the WWII, the U.S. had a high industrial capacity, however, overcapacity caused the stagnation of U.S. economic growth. The U.S. looked for oversea markets for exportation of American goods to tackle this problem. In recent years, Chinese GDP growth has slowed down; causing widespread overcapacity in the 7
