Abstract
This study intends to analyze the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war on the Belt and Road Initiative. As the Belt and Road Initiative is the President Xi Jinping's flagship foreign policy agenda, the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war on the Belt and Road Initiative are worth discussing. Although the Russia-Ukraine war is a geopolitical event, the consequences of the war on geoeconomics could be seen. Through its six economic corridors the Belt and Road Initiative sets up trade, financial, people-to-people, and digital connectivities across the world. The Russia-Ukraine war disrupted connectivities across the regions that the Belt and Road Initiative aspires to set up. Especially, China's land connection to Europe through the Northern Route stalled because of war conditions. Furthermore, the Russia-Ukraine war damaged China's political, economic, and infrastructural linkages to European countries. The course of the war between Russia and Ukraine could have drastic results on the progress of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Top2. The Belt And Road Initiative
The Belt and Road Initiative is the most ambitious and important infrastructure project, that aims to promote connectivity across the world. As of June 2022, 147 countries signed cooperation agreements that signified their participation in the Belt and Road Initiative (Nedopil, 2022). Since its start, as much as $650-$850 billion were committed within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative. It is estimated that the total investment would reach $4 trillion by 2049 (Kohli & Zucker, 2020, p. 8).
Key Terms in this Chapter
The Belt and Road Initiative: The Belt and Road Initiative is a geoeconomic strategy employed by China. It seeks to connect China with the rest of the world through infrastructure. It also aims at establishing financial, trade, digital and people-to-people connectivities.
Connectivity: It refers to degree to one node is linked to another node. The term covers geographical, financial, economic, and digital linkages.
Geoeconomics: Geoeconomics is the interplay between geography, economics, and strategy. It is employment of economics tools to advance strategic objectives.
Sanctions: Sanctions are economic penalties applied to a particular organizations or states to change their behavior.
Soft infrastructure: Soft infrastructure encompesses state institutions, laws and human capital that manage the flow on the physical infrastructure.
TEU: TEU is the standart unit, equivalent to 20-foot long container.
Logistics: Logistics describes the process of moving goods from one location to another and storing them. It is essential to the function of business as the complex supply chain requires a proper management of logistics.