The Militarization of the Belt and Road Initiative

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Published: Dec 29, 2020
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/hapscpbs.26501
Keywords:
International Relations China USA EU BRI Economy Trade Trade War Competition Policy
Themistoklis Z. Zanidis
Rutgers University; Hellenic Association of Political Scientists
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9770-2505
Abstract

This paper focuses on the potential militarization of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative which is expected to change the current balance of power in the Indo-pacific Region, Africa, Central Asia, Middle East, Europe and South America. Inevitable, such an extensive and expensive investment program, which of great economic and political importance to China, is considered to be the indicator of the country's global ambitions. Simultaneously, the military dimension of the BRI is also extremely important for China as enables it to gradually become a reliable security partner at least for developing initiative member states which do not have the resources to provide security to these infrastructures in their own territory. This is also crucial for Beijing's competitors, the European Union and especially the United States which realize that via the BRI China will able to project military power in an extended geographical area way greater than the China Sea. Undoubtedly, for the Westerners, BRI and its potential militarization is a threat to their cohesion and global dominance.

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Author Biography
Themistoklis Z. Zanidis, Rutgers University; Hellenic Association of Political Scientists
Themistoklis Z. Zanidis is political scientist/international relations specialist. He has a BA in Cultural Studies (concentration Hellenic Civilization) from the Hellenic Open University and a MSc in International and European Studies from University of Piraeus (concentration Strategic Studies). Furthermore, he is a graduate student of MA in Political Science (United Nations and Global Policy Studies) at Rutgers University in United States. He is Research Intern at the Institute of International Relations (I.DI.S.) on the field of Strategic Culture of Greece and Turkey and Analyst at the Center for International Strategic Analyses (KEDISA).
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