Ten years and $1 trillion later, has China's Belt and Road Initiative reached a dead end?

2023 will mark the tenth anniversary of China's flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the billion-dollar push to build a network of infrastructure projects across emerging-market countries to connect large portions of the global economy to China. Now the funding is drying up; existing projects are slowing, and receiving countries are struggling to repay debt
Curated By: Madhu Kapparath
Published: Jul 6, 2023
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Image by : SAJJAD QAYYUM / AFP

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  • Ten years and $1 trillion later, has China's Belt and Road Initiative reached a dead end?
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Pakistani and Chinese workers walk into the underground site of the mammoth Neelum-Jhelum Hydropower Project in Nosari, in Pakistan-administered Kashmir's Neelum Valley. At the SCO leaders' summit recently, India again refused to support the Belt and Roads Initiative, stating that it violates India's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Under the CPEC wing of BRI, China is building construction and pipeline projects across Pakistan, but its focus has been on power plants—renewable and nuclear. Ultimately, the CPEC projects will give China access to Pakistan's deepwater ports on the Arabian Sea.