The fifth anniversary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was recently marked in Beijing. This 900 billion US dollar transcontinental development project was launched in the autumn of 2013 when President Xi Jinping proposed the building of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road—the two main segments of the ambitious economic cooperation campaign. The first one refers to a half-dozen land corridors connecting China with Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, the Middle East and, from there, Europe. The second one is a sea route linking Asia, Africa and Europe.
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