China’s Digital Silk Road could prove to power a digitally focused economic recovery. But economic potential needs to be balanced with security concerns when assessing opportunities arising from this initiative.

It is impossible to predict the full environmental impact of the Belt and Road Initiative, so it is critical that Chinese authorities take full advantage of every opportunity to consciously build a greener Belt and Road.

The United States is neighbor to all countries in the world, and including it in the Belt and Road development would promote American interests as well as contributing to global growth and stability. China should take active steps to win the support of the US government and enterprises as well as its people.

China is not the only Asian country looking to the ancient Silk Road as a path to greater economic and political influence. Both Japan and South Korea have their own, albeit more modest, versions of Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative. While Seoul and Beijing have expressed public interest in collaborating along the Silk Road, Tokyo remains silent. Will the BRI be a driver for greater integration in Northeast Asia, or will these three nations prefer to follow their own paths eastward?

A closer look at the Maritime Silk Road plan suggests that materializing the ambitious initiative is facing several challenges due to grievances with some stakeholders in the Indo-Pacific. If China wants to materialize the initiative, it has to return to its so-called “Peaceful Rise.”

As the international economic environment is rather complicated, B&R will involve enormous investments, long construction cycles and slow payback, with various risks and challenges. Many projects are well underway, however, from Indonesia to Central Asia, and more and more countries and regions are aligning with the B&R strategy and China’s commitment to mutual benefit.

Connectivity is a shared interest for China and Southeast Asia, and the Maritime Silk Road represents part of the continuing efforts to highlight this. Southeast Asia is important for China’s neighborhood and periphery diplomacy; hence the management or resolution of regional concerns represents a continuing challenge for Chinese foreign policy.

After the tribunal’s categorical ruling on the South China Sea, China’s new strategy could be to lower the temperature by reframing the issue away from rocks, sand and physical territory. It could then seek to reframe the issue around the potential multilateral benefits of China’s Maritime Silk Road concept.

EU engagement in Central Asia has been reactive than proactive. U.S. withdrawal in Afghanistan, and the amalgamation of EU expertise and the Chinese financial power may significantly help mitigate the effects of poverty in Central Asia. Yet, at this stage these prospects are detached from the reality and embody rather normative aspirations.