This book argues that Chinas Belt and Road Initiative should be seen more as a geopolitical project and less as a global economic project, with China aiming to bring about a new Chinese-led international order. It contends that Chinas international approach has two personas an aggressive one, focusing on a nineteenth century-style territorial empire, which is applied to Taiwan and the seas adjacent to China; and a new-style persona, based on relationship building with the political elites of countries in the Global South, relying on large scale infrastructure projects to help secure the elites in power, a process often leading to lower democratic participation and weaker governance structures. It also shows how this relationship building with elites leads to an acceptance of Chinese norms and to changes in states geopolitical preferences and foreign policies to align them with Chinas geopolitical interests, with states thereby joining Chinas emerging international order. Overall, the book emphasizes that this new-style, non-territorial empire building based on relationships is a major new development in international relations, not fully recognized and accounted for by international relations experts and theorists.
