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Buckle up for the Belt
and Road (B&R) Initiative
WHAT IMPACT WILL THE B&R INITIATIVE HAVE ON
CHINESE CORPORATIONS GOING ABROAD AND OVERSEAS
CORPORATIONS WANTING TO DO BUSINESS WITH CHINA?
It’s a confusing name, but it could turn
out to be the largest infrastructure
project with close to one trillion dollars
being invested across the globe.
The much-talked-about Belt and Road
(B&R) initiative is a massive infrastructure
and economic development plan put
forward by President Xi Jinping. At
an estimated investment cost of up to
U.S. $8 trillion, the initiative centers on
connectivity and cooperation between
China and Eurasian countries via the
overland “Silk Road Economic Belt”
(SREB) and the oceangoing “Maritime
Silk Road” (MSR).
Since its announcement in 2013, the
B&R initiative has garnered a huge
amount of interest in China and across
the globe. Countless governments,
Chinese corporations, and overseas-
based corporations have all expressed
a willingness to get involved in this
massive infrastructure plan, which will
be built to ease connectedness and
better facilitate global trade. When
pieced together, the B&R initiative will
be one of the largest trade collaboration
schemes the world has seen for many
years. No corporation, be they China
or overseas based, can afford to ignore
this mammoth step change for future
global investment and trade.
B&R has been offered as an innovative
mode of cooperation in global
governance against the backdrop of
a worsening economic situation and
simmering geopolitical problems
worldwide. The strategy underscores
China’s drive to take a larger role in
global affairs and its wish to synchronize
economic activity with other countries.
Chinese corporations now comprise a
larger part of the commercial universe.
The composition of the Fortune Global
500 list exemplifies this change in
corporate geography. In fact, the
number of Chinese firms on the list
climbed from 43 in 2010 to 103 in 2016,
making China’s representation second
only to that of the United States.
Among the world’s billion-dollar firms,
around 900 are from the Greater China
region.
Having grown to a considerable size
at home, many Chinese corporates, be
they state-owned enterprises (SOEs)
or privately-owned enterprises (POEs),
are expected to use the B&R initiative as
a strategic platform to further expand
their commercial presence and activity
globally in the form of either organic
growth or via mergers and acquisitions.
But, what does the future hold?
WHAT OCCUPIERS WANT
The $8 trillion question: “What is the Belt and Road initiative?”
The B&R could become
either a source of great-
power competition or a
force for stability.
SHAUN BRODIE
Senior Director, Head of Occupier
Research, Greater China
48 The Occupier Edge