The BRI is not about transcontinental connectivity. It would be shortsighted to believe that as China’s domestic economy continues to struggle, it will prioritize investment in an idealistic vision underpinned by little economic or strategic purpose. It is time that schematic maps reflect this.

American experts helped Myanmar push back on multibillion-dollar port deal in new strategy to counter China’s Belt and Road influence.

As EU dependency relationships adjust to changes occurring in geopolitics and world commerce, member states will explore deals with China and Russia at the expense of Washington’s preferred global order.

China’s increasing prominence in Djibouti and other African nations is the latest signal that China sees Africa as holding strategic promise for the Belt and Road Initiative.

Italy signs on to become part of China's BRI by the end of March.

While Washington battles over the Green New Deal, China has been on the cutting edge of green finance and is even providing a model for the European Union. Even so, crucial questions remain.

A Chinese mine in Morococha. Peru brings into focus some of the challenges that come with China’s vision of expanding its global investments.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative has come under fire for its white elephant projects – ‘never-to-be-recovered’ infrastructure projects that provide little value to recipient states. Rather, infrastructure investments have to be focused on quality and impact rather than mere quantity and volume – otherwise, the impacts of such investments will be marginal.

Through the use of rhetorical narratives, the American “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” is intended to be an alternative to China’s Belt & Road Initiative, emboldening counterproductive geopolitical competition in the region.

Free of value-based conditions or demands for political reform, Chinese investment in the Balkans is simultaneously opening European markets and securing like-minded political allies.