Publication

This bulletin looks at China's Silk Road (SR) Economic Belt plan, together with the 21st century Maritime Silk Road concept, and what these initiatives say about Beijing’s main economic interests. The author argues that the area covered by the SR, spanning from Southeast Asia to the Mediterranean, shows that the the plan is part of a comprehensive domestic and foreign policy strategy as well as a response to the US strategic pivot to Asia. He also contends that the SR plan may be more appealing to some countries than alternative cooperation proposals offered by the US or the EU, and looks at the implications of the plan for Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Poland.