belt and road initiative

• Since October 2023, 151 counties have signed onto projects or indicated an interest in doing so
• 5.1 billion combined population of all countries involved
• $41 trillion combined GDP of all countries involved
• $2.8 trillion in trade between China and member countries in 2021
• $1 trillion total value of investment and construction projects
• Xi Jingping (Beijing Forum, 2017): 'Fundamental issue of development…achieve economic integration and interconnected development and deliver benefits to all'
• Estimated that developing countries of Asia will collectively require $26 trillion in infrastructure investment to sustain growth (Asian Development Bank)
• Myanmar and Pakistan ranked 149th and 161st out of 191 countries in terms of the (UN) Human Development Index in 2021
• 90% of all countries classified as 'low income' or 'lower middle income' are member countries (World Bank)
• China's loans to these counties have tripled in the past decade, reaching $170 bn by the end of 2020
• China-Pakistan Economic Corridor


  3,000 kilometre corridor, intended to connect the land-based economic belt with the maritime road
• An important loop in the larger chain of the Belt and Road Initiative - Chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission
• Formation of separatist groups in Baloch who are against the initiatives of unfair exploitation of resources in their mineral rich region
• 26th of April, 2022: a suicide attack outside Karachi University killed three Chinese taff and their Pakistani driver
• Xi Jingping announced a two pronged plan: the overland Silk Road Economic Belt and the Maritime Silk Road. This vision encompassed:

  • Network of railways, energy pipelines, highways, and streamlined border crossings. 
  • ‘Break the bottleneck in Asian connectivity’ - Xi Jingping. 

  Funding economic zones and encouraging countries to embrace tech offerings, such as 5G network powered by Huawei
• The Original Silk Road

  A trade network throughout countries known today as Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan etc. 

  • Arose during the westward expansion of China’s Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE). 
  • Extended more than four thousand miles to Europe. 
• Hambantota Port Project: $307 million loan at 6.3% interest
• By 2015, 95% of Sri Lanka's government revenue was going towards servicing it's debt. Later government initiated debt renegotiations with China culminated in the 70% equity stake in the port for 99 years
• Hambantota an example of Sri Lanka 'selling its sovereignty': infrastructure developments are creating economic dependencies, which are exploited for strategic purposes.
• • China's projects operate in isolation, though their success hinges on wider networks that contribute to larger debt levels. This requires states to accept some Chinese infrastructure financing but not all proposed projects
•  The $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has been underway for a decade
• Investment-starved Pakistan has so far reportedly attracted direct investments worth US$25.4 billion from China. (Lowey Institute)
• Pakistan’s external debt has increased to $100 billion, with one-third owed to China.
• Pakistan has so far averted the risk of default on its foreign debt obligations by signing a $3 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund when its program was due to expire on 30 June. This only came after a tense eight months of negotiations