A Debate at the beginning of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): Impact on Shaping Responses of European Nations

Abstract

The purpose of the research article is to examine responses of the European countries on the Chinese project, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its impact on shaping EU policies. The BRI intends to foster trade and financial relations between Europe and the Middle Kingdom 1 by incorporating a network of economic hubs and commerce-friendly infrastructure. It supports setting up of ports, highways, railways, airports, transit zones and energy pipelines to bring interconnection between Asia, Africa Europe and Eurasia. The magnificent Initiative would have financial, security, and geo-political consequences for each one of those nations engaged with it and even beyond. Chinese specialists guarantee that this project will be useful for every interested country, and some anticipated that it would help in thriving European economy in the long term.

This paper highlighted that there is a space for European states to choose better options in this emerging scenario. Moreover, experts on the European Union and its member states’ policies are calculating the benefits and challenges carried by the BRI and expected to see the Union to utilize all their bargaining capability to get better agreements with China at the negotiation table.