The Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic Towards Belt Road Initiative of China in Europe Region: Development Studies Approach

Abstract

— The previous study of the Belt Road Initiative of China (BRI) in Europe tends to be a minor discussion among scholars. The Eastern European Countries which are partners of China in BRI deemed it is a non-strategic choice for China to start engaging in this region. The major countries in Europe also feel less attracted toward BRI since they already had it all, especially in infrastructure programs which makes another several roads, highways, and railways seem wasteful. At this point, there's a recommendation for China to shift its orientation to other regions. Then, The Covid-19 became a significant threat toward actors around the world. It also brought a huge damage to various sectors, including transportation of logistics globally. Many cooperation has been suspended or even being canceled since the uncertainty of the future condition. This will also affects the implementation of BRI projects. This research seeks the impact of pandemic toward BRI in Europe Region. A qualitative method has been chosen as the research method with secondary data collection type, such as official government documents, journals, papers, and databases. By using Paulo's concept of international cooperation from a development studies perspective, this research result shows that Covid-19 has become a strategic opportunity for China to provide crucial public goods for Europe and the rest of the world. This opportunity is then utilized massively by the China’s government to approach not only small countries, but also major countries in Europe within the BRI scheme. Within a few months of the pandemic, some European Countries have a certain degree of dependency toward China with its vaccine and other public health supported products. China becomes the closest supplier for them. The high rates of Covid-19 cases nowadays, not only maintains the alertness among these countries, however also there's another potential chance of BRI maneuvering in different sectors besides health which could help China get closer to its goal.