Changing Expectations for the Belt and Road Initiative

This week, 3 CSIS experts discuss the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China’s global strategy to be at the center of global economics through infrastructure, trade, and energy projects.  In the years since BRI was launched, definitions and expectations for BRI projects and financing have changed. In April, over 3 dozen countries met in China for the second Belt and Road summit, which was posed answer some of the new project concerns which have arisen, including local impacts, environmental concerns, debt, and lack of transparency.   Jon Hillman (CSIS Reconnecting Asia Project) joins Jane Nakano and Nikos Tsafos (CSIS Energy and National Security Program) to look at the importance of energy projects in the BRI, changing expectations from BRI partners, and what defines a successful BRI project for China.