ONE BELT, ONE ROAD AS A BASIS FOR THE FORMATION OF A NEW NETWORK OF GLOBAL TRANSPORT CORRIDORS: OPPORTUNITIES AND CONTRADICTIONS

Elena A. Zaostrovskikh 

Institute of Economic Research, Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Khabarovsk

Abstract: China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been called the world’s largest infrastructure program of the 21st century. Since its launch, the BRI has changed significantly in terms of scale, stakeholders, investment sectors, and continues to evolve, including in the current unstable situation when the political and economic conditions of the world order are changing. The article examines the key blocks of the BRI initiative: participating countries, financial instruments, and transport infrastructure. Some opportunities and contradictions in the implementation of the BRI initiative are considered.

Keywords: economic corridor, participating countries, infrastructure projects, international cooperation, China

One of the ambitious ideas is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. However, the basic principles, structure, priority areas and cooperation mechanisms of the BRI were formulated after 2015. The BRI promises to change the economic and strategic relations for much of Central Asia and the Middle East. Moreover, the BRI is expected to unite about 70 countries, which together account for up to 65% of the world’s population and a third of the world’s GDP. It is expected that the development of trade and attraction of investment will increase income growth in countries located along the BRI corridors. If the BRI is completed, transport projects will reduce travel time along economic corridors by 12% and increase trade volume by 2.7-9.7%. It is believed that if the BRI initiative is successful, it will accelerate the process of transition from the post-1991 unipolar world to a multipolar world [1].

12 years have passed since the announcement of the BRI, and at the moment it is difficult to judge the success of the initiative, since the economies of the participating countries are at different levels of development. Nevertheless, some researchers see new opportunities for the development of trade relations, mutually beneficial cooperation, and improvement of the well-being of the population [2; 3]. Others note that this initiative should be treated with great caution, since unestimated risks may be significantly greater than the obvious benefits [4; 5]. 

Purpose of the Belt and Road Initiative

In general, the Belt and Road Initiative is a long-term transcontinental development strategy based on international transport corridors to expand global economic cooperation and integration into the international transport space [6]. 

Economic corridors. The goal of the BRI is to create sustainable transport and economic ties between China and the capacious economic markets of Asia, Europe, and Africa through two components: the Silk Road Economic Belt, which includes six land transport corridors; the Maritime Silk Road of the 21st century, which consists of three maritime transport corridors, Fig. 1.

While the Silk Road Economic Belt focuses on the Central Asian countries as gateways for China’s diversified land routes to Western markets, the Maritime Silk Road focuses on the seven countries and their seaports, for the Maritime Silk Road, seven countries and their seaports are of key importance, which are sea “gates” for foreign trade activities and in the future can become hub ports of the second level of the world sea route [9]. The use of these corridors will create a multimodal transport infrastructure that will link industrial clusters into a single production and distribution chain.

Moreover, provided that the construction of a railway from Rovaniemi (Finland) to Kirkenes (Norway) is carried out, the Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel is constructed and a railway is built connecting the port of Piraeus (Greece) with Central and Eastern Europe, then a single transport ring of the BRI will be formed, which will not only connect the Mediterranean Sea with the Arctic Ocean, but will also provide access to The Pacific and Indian Oceans [10].

Given its vast geographic reach and economic scale, the development of the BRI is an important event in the formation of a new network of global transport corridors.

Objectives and tasks. Initially, the BRI was presented as a concept [11] aimed at improving transport links and deepening cooperation on a multi-continental scale. Subsequently, BRI focused on five main blocks: policy coordination; connectivity of objects; promotion of unimpeded trade; expansion of financial cooperation; deepening social and cultural exchanges.

While initially BRI was presented as a concept, then later specific measures and steps emerged. The main documents were: 2017 Vision for Maritime Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative [12] aimed at synchronizing development plans and promoting joint actions of countries along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road; 2018 “China’s Arctic Policy” white paper [13] aimed at conducting scientific surveys of navigation routes, creating ground monitoring stations, conducting research on climate and environmental changes in the Arctic, and providing navigation forecasting services. The main documents regulating the target block of the project were the 2021 “China’s International Development Cooperation in the New Era” white paper [14] and the 2023 “The Belt and Road Initiative: A Key Pillar of the Global Community of Shared Future” white paper [15], which postulated ways to eliminate the root causes and obstacles hindering the development of the participating countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new challenges to the BRI initiative. To a large extent, the changes that arose were associated with disruptions in supply chains [16]. The main focus of the BRI has shifted towards the formation of the Digital Silk Road, the Green Silk Road, and the Health Silk Road. The BRI initiative, previously characterized as a transport and logistics project, now involves deepening cooperation of participating countries in the field of digital economy and innovative development through interaction within the Digital Silk Road [17]. 

Participating countries. The BRI is presented as an open agreement that all countries can join. As part of this initiative, tangible macroeconomic results were achieved – in 2025, 147 countries and 32 international organizations became participants in the BRI and signed more than 200 documents and agreements on cooperation with China [8]. It is noteworthy that 116 of the 147 participating countries are not located along the BRI corridors, but at the same time are actively cooperating in the field of modernization and construction of transport infrastructure. The initiative’s high attractiveness to the international community is explained by the Chinese government’s demonstration of its financial viability, confirmed by real projects.

Overall, there are different positions regarding joining the Belt and Road Initiative: developing countries are predominantly positive about this initiative and are actively participating; countries with developed economies, as a rule, take a neutral or negative position. One of the most dynamically developing regions in terms of participation in the BRI is Africa, or more precisely, the countries located on the east coast – Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Djibouti. Major powers either rejected the BRI or take a neutral position [18]. Russia has not yet confirmed the signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation with China, but expresses support and synchronizes its own integration and transport projects taking into account China’s actions in the long term, considering options for “coupling” its projects with the Chinese initiative [19]. Some countries have withdrawn from the Chinese initiative relatively recently: Panama in 2023 due to the threat of China taking full control of the Panama Canal, and Italy in 2025 due to political pressure from the G7. 

As a result, the countries participating in the BRI are predominantly developing countries and, accordingly, the creation of adequate infrastructure is a top priority for the global future development within the framework of this initiative. 

Infrastructure projects. The uniqueness of the BRI projects lies in their scale and vast geographical scope. In total, China’s public spending on the implementation of BRI projects is expected to reach $1.053 trillion [8]. The central element is the network of six corridors of the Silk Road Economic Belt, coupled with large infrastructure projects.

In addition, the infrastructure projects of Africa within the framework of the “China-Africa Economic and Trade Cooperation” white paper are major [20]. The African Railway Network Development Project aims to connect disparate and outdated sections into a single modern system. Key projects also include the construction and modernization of railways and roads of the Economic Corridors – New Eurasian Land Bridge Corridor, China – Central Asia – West Asia, China – Myanmar – Bangladesh – India. The modernization of the New Eurasian Land Bridge Corridor made it possible to create a traditional railway route between China and Europe bypassing Russia. The Mombasa-Nairobi Railway with a length of 592 km was put into operation [15].

In the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor, the China-Laos Railway has improved the reliability of transportation. The Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed ​​Railway, a flagship project of China-Indonesia cooperation under the BRI, has reached a service speed of 350 km/h. The construction of the first phase of the China-Thailand railway has begun.

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