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Prosperity I.
General Overview
The extent to which the BRI increases economic prosperity in recipient nations has been a major source of contention. For China, comparisons between the BRI and Silk Road not only imply a shared structure for commercial trade, but a cooperative culture of “mutual benefit”.119 Improvements to material prosperity are crucial to the success of the BRI itself: a project intended to foster sustainable, long-term economic development. For external commentators, the BRI’s ambitions also mirror the post-1945 international order, where the Marshall Plan helped promote dollar internationalisation and boost American hegemony.120 Scholars are divided on the initiative’s economic impacts, particularly given the early stages of many projects, as well as its large geographical reach.
II.
Sustainable Development Goals
According to Xi Jinping, the BRI would achieve a “win-win” situation for both China and recipient nations, helping to shift China’s manufacturing and industrial surplus into countries which are fiscally constrained.121 BRI initiatives are theoretically multi-lateral and market-oriented, with aims such as improving “infrastructure connectivity, financial partnership, and unimpeded trade”.122 These align closely to the UN development goals of improving infrastructure (9.1), boosting financial connectivity (8.10), and promoting trade between regions (8.1) This section will build on this research, and use Goals 8 and 119 Weidong Liu, The Belt and Road Initiative : A Pathway towards Inclusive Globalization (China Perspectives Series 2019) 120 Ibid. 121 Piotr Łasak and René W h van der linden, The Financial Implications of China's Belt and Road Initiative : A Route to More Sustainable Economic Growth (Palgrave Pivot 2019) 122 Irina Ionela Pop, 'Strengths and Challenges of China’s “One Belt, One Road” Initiative' (Centre for Geopolitics & Security in Realism Studies (CGSRS), 09 February ) <http://cgsrs.org/publications/46> accessed 1 October 2021
