Although One Belt One Road may have been a hazy concept when first launched, it has become the most visible means of waging a contest over global governance and selling the narrative that Beijing seeks to build “a community of common destiny for mankind.” The multi-dimensional One Belt One Road remains opportunistic, politically driven, and evolving. Understanding One Belt One Road requires appreciating both its haphazard nature and its ambition. But that does not make the project as a whole any less threatening to U.S. Freymann, by contrast, sees Beijing acting haphazardly and pragmatically. Some observers have compared One Belt One Road to a “Trojan Horse,” depicting it as a highly strategic enterprise for expanding China’s dominance. Abroad, the Chinese regime refers to One Belt One Road with the more benign-sounding name “Belt and Road Initiative.” This language serves to emphasize China’s peaceful re-emergence and highlight its role as a dispenser of public goods to less developed countries.īut what lies beneath this rhetoric? In his outstanding book, One Belt One Road: Chinese Power Meets the World, China scholar Eyck Freymann deciphers Beijing’s opaque plan and jumbled pronouncements by focusing on its multi-billion-dollar proposed port projects in Greece, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. It also enables the regime to unify China’s disparate economic and foreign policy activities under one harmonious slogan that resonates with the public. It alludes to the imperial tributary system that placed China at the center of world power. At home, “One Belt One Road” carries powerful metaphoric and rhetorical weight. To understand Xi’s One Belt One Road, we must place it in the context of China’s contemporary domestic politics, historical identity and international public relations efforts. With such an approach, the Biden administration can make good on its vow to “out-compete” China. This means preventing the rise of an illiberal world order by promoting open commerce, fair rules for the digital space and freedom of the seas. Instead, the United States should compete on its own terms with an asymmetric foreign assistance strategy that draws on its natural strengths. Indeed, Chinese President Xi Jinping calls it “a project of the century.” But for Washington to respond head-on, trying to match it port-by-port or road-by-road, would simply allow China to set the agenda.

Beijing’s One Belt One Road project is an aggressive attempt to expand Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific.

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