China and the Twenty-First-Century Silk Roads: A New Era of Global Economic Leadership?

Abstract

Amid heightened uncertainty in the wake of Washington’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership in early 2017, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is drawing increased attention and scrutiny. Xi Jinping’s defense of economic globalization at the 2017 World Economic Forum meeting and China’s hosting of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in May 2017 attest to Beijing’s growing determination to assume an increased global economic leadership role. Against the backdrop of China’s call for a “new great power relationship” with the United States and its quest for “national rejuvenation,” Chap. 2 outlines how and to what extent the BRI might herald the emergence of a new global economic order. Is it reflective of a new era of geoeconomics or is it merely a disguise for a deeper geostrategic move?