The Chinese Way

Abstract

Beijing has geopolitical, economic, and geostrategic ambitions for the Belt and Road. First, it wants to harness the Belt and Road to legitimize China’s developmental model of political authoritarianism and state capitalism worldwide. Africa, and large economies such as Kenya and Ethiopia, represents a key venue for the expansion of China’s model. China also seeks to drive the global expansion of China’s state-owned enterprises and private corporations and to offshore China’s overcapacity in heavy industries on its path to full economic development and modernization. Finally, Beijing aims to harness the Belt and Road to alleviate its geostrategic vulnerabilities. But there are challenges facing the Belt and Road. China’s model will only gain long lasting legitimacy if the initiative produces tangible economic development for foreign countries. In Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Maldives, and across Asia, China’s economic and geostrategic aims face entrenched business and political interests, changing politics, conflict, and varying economic capacities to shoulder new debt.