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Fabio Massimo Parenti: Understanding the Global Shift China’s Development and The Belt
and Road Initiative

development of internal China and boosting national interconnection and with
neighboring countries; while the second, from 2000 up to now, has guaranteed
support for Chinese investments abroad, operated by national champions (Parenti
2018). The BRI is, therefore, a consequence of the successes obtained in the past
years at domestic level and many investments, which we could define today related
to the BRI, actually took place before its official launch in 2013 (e.g., think about
the Chongqing-Duisburg railway or Piraeus port). With the BRI, President Xi
Jinping continues therefore what other leader generations have prepared for,
promoting continuity within a constant process of reforms and innovation (Xi
2017a).

BRI and EU: Economic Trends and Strategies

In the current international context, the public and private actors of various state
powers are before fundamental strategic choices, at least to the extent that they
assume the actual unfolding of a transition from a unipolar to a multi-polar world.
Here we examine an emblematic case: the meaning and the influence of the Belt and
Road Initiative in the redefinition of the relations between Europe and Asia, and
their impact on the international order. Europe and the Mediterranean basin may
decide to preserve their geopolitical position, remaining under US-NATO prevalent
influence, or look and act in favor of a new Eurasian integration. With a focus on
China.

It should be remembered that in the last 15 years trade and investment between the
China and Europe have grown steadily in both directions, especially since the years
of the crisis. Machinery, transport, food and raw materials are the main products of
the China-EU trade (almost doubling in six years, reaching 550 billion dollars).
China has thus become the second largest European trading partner, while the EU is
the first Chinese partner (Brugier 2017).

Although Europe is in a position of trade deficit with China, it is also true that it has
recorded significant surpluses in both services and investment stocks. Looking at
many years, it can also be noted that overall, European exports are constantly
increasing and there is a tendency to rebalance their respective balance of payments.

If we focus on the implementation of the BRI, it is clear that there is still enormous
potential for Chinese investments in Europe - and vice versa - which have become
differentiated geographically and by sector (infrastructure, tourism, football,
telephony, etc.). We have various types: specialized (for example, Huawei and
Lenovo) and diversified (such as Fosun or Wanda), in research and development
activities and in the organization of academic, scientific and cultural forums. There

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