China: Is Belt and Road a trap?

BEIJING'S ambitious development strategy, the Belt and Road Initiative, which involves land and sea connections from China to Europe linking dozens of countries on three continents, is enthralling in its scope and bewilders the imagination.

While presented in 2013 as a project that will stimulate economies and enhance trade, it will also significantly heighten China's own geopolitical status. As Henry Kissinger has said, the Belt and Road Initiative "is a quest to shift the world's centre of gravity".

China recently announced that since 2013, it has invested more than US$60 billion in countries along the Belt and Road. In 2017, direct investment reached US$14.36 billion, or 12 per cent of China's total outbound investment.