The Belt and Road Initiative and its Implications for China-Europe Relations

Abstract

The EU brought out a Global Strategy for foreign and security policy in June 2016, which indicates European efforts to reflect on and reshape its grand strategy. Meanwhile, China is also conducting an in-depth assessment of the international order under transition, and strives to rebalance its own national development and foreign policies. Beijing is pursuing a connectivity-oriented grand strategy. The peaceful rise of China depends on whether China and other economies can fully leverage each other’s development opportunities, and become stronger by taking advantage of increasing interconnectedness in the world. The One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative is a key element of such a grand strategy and will have far-reaching implications for China-Europe relations.

Keywords:

• One Belt
• One Road
• China
• Europe
• Silk Road

Acknowledgements

The article is part of a joint research project co-sponsored by China Development Research Foundation and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington DC.

Notes

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² For example, as the biggest steel producer and consumer in the world, in 2015 China's total crude steel capacity stood at 0.8 billion tons, its production accounting for almost 50 percent of world steel production. Zhongguo Gongxinbu：2015 nian Gangtie Hangye Yunxing Qingkuang ji 2016 nian Zhanwang [PRC’s Ministry of Information and Industry: National Steel Industry in 2015 and Outlook for 2016, 6 February 2016], http://www.miit.gov.cn/n1146285/n1146352/n3054355/n3057569/n3057572/c4636541/content.html

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⁵ President Xi’s Speech at Arab League Headquarters, Cairo, 21 January 2016, http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2016xivisitmiddleeast/2016-01/22/content_23191229.htm.

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⁹ Verlare and van der Putten, ‘One Belt, One Road’.

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²⁵ Szczudlik-Tatar, “Silk Road as a Tool”.

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