Mapping continental ambitions

On August 3, in his first visit to the Asia-Pacific region, new U.S. secretary of defense Mark Esper called out several examples of aggressive conduct by China, including “using predatory economics and debt-for-sovereignty deals.” The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has created some conflicts between recipient governments and international institutions in the past. Perhaps the latest and starkest example is in Pakistan, where a wave of BRI projects was followed by this summer’s bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

When the $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was announced in 2015, it should have been easy for ...

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a $1 trillion flagship foreign policy effort of Chinese President Xi Jinping, could reshape global networks of trade, transport, and political ties within and between countries for decades to come. But six years since ...