ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to link China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with the rise of Asia in the context of inclusive, sustainable and all-rounded development of the whole of Asia. The chapter contextualizes the BRI in the scheme of connecting the various sub-regions of South Asia, Central Asia, West Asia and Southeast Asia to Europe and Africa. As global trade, investment and capital flows are undergoing profound changes, it has become necessary to tap the domestic demand potential of Asian countries and form new economic growth points that can withstand Western economic shocks. The infrastructure-building and institutional innovation involved in the BRI is conducive to enhancing the business environment as well as the Asian industrial and supply chains. With a Chinese perspective, the chapter provides a depiction that the BRI will be most useful in helping countries in the hinterland, especially resource-scarce countries in Central Asia, South Asia and West Asia, which may not have benefited from Western-led globalization. Therefore, this initiative by China can address the serious imbalance of development across Asia.
