The belt & road initiative and U.S.-China competition over the global South

The Belt and Road initiative aims to facilitate cooperation in the areas of infrastructure, trade and finance between China and relevant countries. It also seeks to boost soft connectivity in terms of rules, standards and people-to-people exchange. The majority of the BRI participating countries are developing ones in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, also known as the global South. China’s efforts to advance the BRI have raised suspicion of the United States. By strengthening its ties with the global South, the United States seeks to divide and conquer between China and other developing countries, and to promote the alienation of the global South from China to realize the goal of outcompeting China. The BRI is a double-edged sword that could complicate its relations with the developing countries. China needs to recognize many difficulties faced by the global South and its pragmatic orientation of non-Western but not anti-Western, and strive to improve effectiveness and efficiency of the BRI.