![Xi Jinping delivers a speech.](https://i0.wp.com/reconasia.csis.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/xi_speech_g20-scaled-e1619726168186.jpeg?fit=2000%2C1333&ssl=1)
A Silk Road for the Twenty-First Century?
Many of the proposed projects will be delayed or never built, but those that are will transform the region.
China’s flagship foreign policy effort could reshape the world’s digital, trade, and transport networks and political ties for decades to come.
Many of the proposed projects will be delayed or never built, but those that are will transform the region.
While the Belt and Road Initiative has the potential to fund valuable new transit infrastructure, it also risks stirring domestic political competition, fueling networks of graft and rent-seeking, and not fulfilling its transformative potential.
If decades of torrid growth have been the opening scene on Asia’s economic stage, the region’s reconnecting—through new roads, railways, and other infrastructure—could be the next act.
Obstacles Formidable but not Insurmountable