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This book examines the progress and reception of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in key subregions of Asia, Africa and Europe.

Through its exploration of the patchwork of distinctive sub regions of each continent, the book analyses how well the BRI accommodates sub regional variation as it attempts to integrate Asia, Africa, and Europe under Chinese auspices. Individual chapters focus on how developing subregions experience BRI relations with China, while others focus on how liberal powers seek to compete with China’s BRI agenda. The contributions also gauge the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the BRI in regional settings and point to its future implications.

Offering a panoramic view of the vast mosaic of Asian, African, and European sub regions targeted by the BRI, this book will be of interest to scholars and students of International Relations and Global Political Economy as well as Chinese politics and those with an interest in the Belt and Road Initiative more broadly.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Introduction

1. Making sense of the Belt and Road Initiative
David Arase

Part 2: BRI in Asia

2. South Korea response to the BRI: Hedging amidst change and continuity in the international system
Hyo-sook Kim

3. The Belt and Road Initiative and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations: Interactions and Impact before and after COVID-19
Sang Chul Park

4. Slippery Road Ahead: BRI, China and Southeast Asia amid COVID-19 Pandemic
Xue Gong

5. Patterns of China’s BRI Ingress in South Asia: Implications for Regional Order
Jabin Thomas Jacob

6. China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Central Asia
Mher Sahakyan

7. China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the Middle East and Iran
Mher Sahakyan

Part 3: BRI in Europe

8. The End of China’s Affair with Central and East Europe
Emilian Kavalski

9. The European Union’s Response to the Belt and Road Initiative
Margot Schüller

Part 4: BRI in Africa

10. BRI vs. AAGC, FOIP and Africa’s Agenda 2063
Pedro Miguel Amakasu Raposo de Medeiros Carvalho

11. China-Africa Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone Project Cooperation: A Preliminary Evaluation
Chun Zhang and Yaping Zhao

12. Worlds of work in the Belt and Road—Analysing dynamics of labour in Chinese enterprises in Africa
Anand Parappadi Krishnan

13. Examination of Chinese BRI projects in Africa: An Indian perspective
Veda Vaidyanathan

14. The Roads, the Belts, and the Contemporary International Political Economic System
Kwame Nimako

Part 5: Strategic overview

15. Financial sustainability of the Belt and Road Initiative before and after Covid-19
David Bulman

16. The Belt and Road Initiative as geostrategy
David Arase

Part 6: Conclusion

17. What have we learned from this collection?
Pedro Miguel Amakasu Raposo de Medeiros Carvalho