The Strategic Rationale for European Engagement in China’s Belt and Road Initiative
In this Brief, Viking Bohman and Christer Ljungwall argue that Europe has clear strategic gains to make from adopting a more proactive approach toward China's Belt and Road Initiative.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) provides an opportunity for China to remedy some of its most significant geostrategic vulnerabilities and steer capital-poor countries on to a development path that could transform them into a support structure for the Chinese economy.
If the European Union (EU) adopts a proactive approach and insists that China respect EU unity and live up to criteria of transparency, sustainability and economic reciprocity, the BRI will provide opportunities for both economic gain and the promotion of democracy and free market models.
