China's BRI as a Manifestation of Geoeconomic Strategy

China’s #BRI is one of the key manifestations of #China’s goal to #reestablish the fabled #‘Silkroute’ which historically had an important expression in China’s long-standing #economic significance in #Asia. In the context of long-run economic restructuring, an expanding material geoeconomics influence, and the development of a more self-confident and externally oriented policy agenda, it is no coincidence, that China’s leaders, especially #xijinping, have been talking about this possibility which potentially incorporates direct and indirect sources of influence.

According to the?official data, as of January 2023, 151 countries and international organizations have taken part in the Initiative through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), representing more than a third of the world`s GDP and two-thirds of the world`s population altogether.

Rationally speaking, #BRI has the full potential to achieve considerable #economic and #political gains for China and many of them have been explicitly acknowledged in China’s official?policy communique, for example, the expansion of China’s export markets, the reduction of trade frictions such as tariffs and transportation costs and the promotion of the #Renminbi (RMB)?as an international currency. China’s growing economic stature has enabled it to transit from a grand strategy that merely sought its economic goals to one that benefits it to leverage its growing economic power in achieving unreachable #foreignpolicy goals.

China’s economic rise has also given China’s leaders generally, and #xijinping, in particular, much greater potential agency. Chinese leaders are keen to use it to restore their former dominant status at the forefront of international diplomacy and great power politics and especially in its region which is widely supported by both the #leadership of the PRC and by the population more generally. It cannot be denied that China’s enhanced #geoeconomic influence and rising power are giving it an upper hand to pursue these ambitions much more rapidly which had hardly been possible a decade ago or two.

Though predictable implications and consequences of #BRI cannot be fully judged, its possible trajectory is already becoming clear. China has both the state capacity and the practical experience in making such a project a reality. It has both the material source and the key agencies, such as the National Development and Reform Commission (NRDC), that have developed detailed plans for the successful implementation of specific aspects of the BRI. It is therefore important to emphasize that despite the shift to a more market-oriented economy, Beijing and its developmental agencies continues to play a major role in the overall coordination of economic development while projecting #softpower in the form of geoeconomics.