Slogan of “Belt and Road Initiative”

Abstract

This chapter studies the concept of “Belt and Road Initiative”. Many international analyses consider it Beijing’s grand strategy to achieve regional dominance, reflecting China’s geopolitical ambition. This chapter argues that this view is mistaken. By studying how the concept is gradually established in China and how other actors respond to this establishment, this chapter shows that the “Belt and Road Initiative” is a multifunctional political slogan. It was put forward as a slogan to assert the leadership status of Xi Jinping and China. In order to accommodate the interests of key domestic and international stakeholders, it was introduced and kept as an extremely vague idea that was subject to change. The domestic and global responses to this slogan have gradually driven it from its original design of peripheral diplomacy to a global initiative, making it highly inconsistent at different times. In the domestic arena, the development of the “Belt and Road Initiative” has produced a high level of domestic contestations. While most Chinese domestic actors enthusiastically support the “Belt and Road Initiative”, they have taken advantage of its conceptual vagueness to advance their own interests. This has produced intense competition among domestic actors including a variety of diverse and competing “Belt and Road Initiative” narratives that the central agencies in Beijing have struggled to coordinate. This chapter argues that all of these have added complication and confusion to the concept and undermined Beijing’s global promotion efforts.