Narrating China's belt and road initiative
| Published date | 01 May 2019 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12662 |
| Author | Jinghan Zeng |
| Date | 01 May 2019 |
Narrating China’s belt and road initiative
Jinghan Zeng
Lancaster University
Abstract
This article studies the formation process of China’s belt and road initiative (BRI) –the most important Chinese foreign policy
initiative under Xi Jinping. It argues that the BRI was put forward as a broad policy idea that was subsequently developed with
relatively concrete content. During this process, the shifting international landscapes have gradually driven the BRI from a
periphery strategy into a global initiative. By examining the case of Jiangsu Province, this article also shows how Chinese local
governments have actively deployed their preferred narratives to influence and (re-)interpret the BRI guidelines of the central
government in order to advance their own interests. As a result, this produces a variety of competing, ambiguous and contra-
dictory policy narratives of the BRI within China, which undermines the Chinese central government’s monopoly on the BRI
narratives. This leaves the BRI as a very vague and broad policy slogan that is subject to change and open to interpretation.
In this regard, the existing analyses –that consider the BRI as Beijing’s masterplan to achieve its geopolitical goals –pay insuf-
ficient attention to the BRI’s domestic contestation and overstate the BRI’s geopolitical implications.
Policy Implications
•The mainstream analyses of the belt and road initiative (BRI) overstate Beijing’s capacity and the geopolitical threat of the
BRI. We should have an accurate understanding of the BRI to set out the best policy positions. The policy approach that
encourages active engagement with the BRI should receive more recognition as the BRI is much less threatening than
many suggest.
•International actors such as governmental and corporate agencies should understand and take advantage of their poten-
tial in shaping the development and local practices of the BRI given the BRI’s vague nature and lack of a clear blueprint.
•International actors should pay more attention to Chinese local and subnational actors as they have a higher level of dis-
cretion than expected and their interests can sometimes override that of the central agencies in Beijing. When it comes to
specific business cases at the local level, Chinese state-owned enterprises and provinces –rather than the central agencies
in Beijing –are the decisive players.
•The Chinese central government needs to make considerable efforts in coordinating its domestic actors and the BRI. Given
the scale of the BRI, the Chinese central government needs to set up a specific department in charge of the BRI to ensure
central coordination and external contact. Internationally, many external actors too would benefit from a specific depart-
ment to contact with regard to the BRI.
Belt and road initiative: Beijing’s masterplan to
achieve China’s geopolitical dominance?
Under Xi Jinping’s leadership, China has put forward a series
of significant diplomatic initiatives. The most notable is the
‘Belt and Road Initiative’(BRI), comprising the Silk Road Eco-
nomic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road, which
was first proposed during Xi’s state visits to Kazakhstan and
Indonesia in September and October of 2013, respectively.
The BRI involves large-scale investment and infrastructure
projects which aim to promote connectivity and cooperation
between China and the rest of the world. In order to build a
more favourable international environment to promote the
BRI, China has deployed substantial resources to construct
and disseminate its strategic narratives concerning the BRI.
Under the state’s call to ‘tell a good BRI story’, a large num-
ber of conferences have been organized and various delega-
tions have been sent abroad. China Daily, for example, even
published a series of online videos, in which the BRI has
become a bedtime story for foreign children (China, 2017).
Chinese official propaganda points to positive connotations
such as ‘win-win’and ‘common development’.
Yet, those narratives have been widely challenged on the
international stage. Instead of a ‘win-win’narrative, that of a
‘zero-sum’game tends to dominate the mainstream analy-
ses of the BRI. Many international analysts point to the
geopolitical nature of the BRI, implying China’s expansion-
ism is a challenge to the US-led global order. The BRI is
widely seen as China’s ambitious global strategy to build a
Sino-centric world order (Callahan, 2016; Leverett and Wu,
2017; Miller, 2017). Many argue that the BRI is China’s Mar-
shall Plan (Chen, 2014; Shen, 2016), but possibly much more
ambitious; according to this view, China is able to leverage
its economic strength to achieve geopolitical dominance.
Some also revisit the historical origins of the Silk Road and
Chinese history to argue that the BRI reflects China’s goal of
reviving the ancient tributary system in which the Middle
Kingdom dominates (Durani, 2016).
Collectively, those analyses point to a well-designed grand
strategy of the Chinese central government to advance
Global Policy (2019) 10:2 doi: 10.1111/1758-5899.12662 ©2019 University of Durham and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Global Policy Volume 10 . Issue 2 . May 2019 207
Research Article
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