Abstract
Acute US rivalry with China includes strong efforts to counter Chinese challenges to US interests within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This article goes beyond earlier assessments and identifies and explains the wide range of reasons behind these American efforts and the implications for US–China competition. In particular, the study goes beyond examining US commercial competition with China to assess the serious implications of the BRI for the existing US-backed free market economic order and US-supported international governance. The timeframe used in this assessment is the period from the start of the BRI to 2020. The methodology of the assessment relies on and synthesizes findings of a variety of recent foreign studies on China’s statecraft to offer a largely qualitative examination on how China’s statecraft in the BRI works against US interests economically, strategically and in global governance. The study concludes that the BRI legitimates China’s predatory growth model, and fosters corruption, authoritarian rule, unsustainable lending, and dependence China used by Beijing to leverage and control recipient countries. It foresees no easy way for the US to counter these adverse Chinese-directed developments.
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Sutter, R. (2023). Why America Opposes the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In: Duarte, P.A.B., Leandro, F.J.B.S., Galán, E.M. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Globalization with Chinese Characteristics. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-6700-9_30
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