ABSTRACT
In 2013, as President Xi Jinping rose to the leadership of the world’s second-largest economy, he signalled a bold shift in China’s global strategy. In Xi’s new vision, China was ready to rejoin the ranks of the world’s leading powers, touching every corner of the globe with its economic might. While Beijing has vigorously denied that there is any strategic geopolitical motivation behind the BRI, most analysts view the effort as having parallels with the United States’ Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe following the Second World War. In contrast to the Marshall Plan, which was funded by US grants to recipient governments, the BRI has been primarily funded through long-term loans, the terms of which generally have not been disclosed. While the BRI was cast in triumphalist terms in Chinese domestic media and by many recipient governments, a counter-narrative was developed by critics of China, both in the West and in Asia.
