China’s Belt and Road: An Evolving Network

This chapter consolidates the accretive imagery presented by the proponents and managers of Beijing’s dynamic BRI vision, to enable an appreciation of the enterprise’s variegated, eclectic, even diffuse, nature. For an understanding of the physical manifestations of BRI’s ‘final’ impression as espoused by Xi Jinping, the CPC Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC), the State Council and the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the chapter focuses on the Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) undertaking, reviewing the narrative’s variations and modifications refined by successive Chinese leaders since 1994. It finally examines longitudinal SREB/MSR connectors in an empirical preview of BRI’s purposes and prospects.