Traversing the Belt and Road: The World According to China and China According to the World

Authors:
Min Ye is Professor of International Relations at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.
Jorge Heine is Honorary Professor at the Institute of International Studies of the University of Chile and Non-Resident Fellow at The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
Grant Rhode is a research fellow at the Boston University Center for the Study of Asia.
Andrew Wilson is John A. van Beuren Chair of Asia-Pacific Studies and Professor of Strategy & Policy at the United States Naval War College.

About the book: Is China’s signature global strategy a boon to world development or a channel for control? Traversing the Belt and Road brings together leading voices from China and across the globe to examine the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) a decade after its launch. Spanning Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Africa, these essays highlight the diverse patterns and evolving dynamics across both the land-based and maritime Silk Roads. The volume’s findings—that while the BRI has facilitated development convergence in many regions, it has also intensified geopolitical competition and posed new governance challenges—are both encouraging and sobering.

Engaging with key debates in world development and great-power rivalry, this book unpacks the BRI’s adaptive nature and highlights its shift toward green and digital globalization. The wide range of methods employed—including comparative case studies, historical inquiry, statistical modeling, and field-based research—show how local agency, institutional variation, and global dynamics have shaped outcomes on the ground. An indispensable resource for scholars, students, and policy analysts, Traversing the Belt and Road offers a timely and empirically grounded perspective on China’s global ambitions—and the roadblocks in its path.