context: 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative), China’s largest international initiative to date, which is written into the PRC's Constitution as core foreign policy.
On 12 January, People’s Daily published an article on expanding BRI’s ‘circle of friends’. This year, it states, China renewed MoUs on BRI with the Philippines and Turkmenistan. To date, a total of 151 countries and 32 international organisations have signed more than 200 cooperation documents on the joint construction of the BRI with China. Citing a World Bank 2019 report, the article explains, that if all transportation infrastructure projects under BRI are implemented, by 2030 this is expected to generate US$1.6 tn in annual revenue for the world. The piece then emphasises that BRI originated in China but ‘its opportunities and achievements belong to the world’. To prove this thesis it presents the following data
- from 2013 to 2021 China’s cumulative trade in goods with BRI countries was nearly US$11 tn
- two-way investment exceeded US$230 bn