Introduction: Belt and Road Initiative

Abstract

China’s New Silk Road Project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is no distant vision but already a reality. The freight train railway between China’s Chongqing and Germany’s Duisburg became operational in 2012, and the Western Europe-Western China Highway from Lianyungang (China) to St. Petersburg (Russia) was completed in 2018. The maritime cargo exchange between China and Europe has been increasing for decades. And this already working infrastructure system will further flourish in the future. The future scope of the BRI and the final routes still offer room for speculation. But the genesis of this millennium project, the required preconditions in the political, economic, and security realms, the younger history—the groundwork has already been done. This book provides the prequel to China’s New Silk Road success story.