Belt and Road

Description

China’s Belt and Road strategy is acknowledged to be the most ambitious geopolitical initiative of the age. Covering almost seventy countries by land and sea, it will affect every element of global society, from shipping to agriculture, digital economy to tourism, politics to culture. Most importantly, it symbolises a new phase in China’s ambitions as a superpower: to remake the world economy and crown Beijing as the new centre of capitalism and globalisation. 

Bruno Maçães traces this extraordinary initiative’s history, highlighting its achievements to date, and its staggering complexity. He asks whether Belt and Road is about more than power projection and profit. Might it herald a new set of universal political values, to rival those of the West? Is it, in fact, the story of the century? 

Reviews

‘China’s emerging mastery of the Eurasian trade zone is described in visionary, granular detail.’ — The Wall Street Journal

‘Maçães . . . is one of our chaotic times’ most fertile brains . . . across Asia things are on the move, in large part because of Chinese ambition, and he is right to be excited about it.’ — The Times

‘Stimulating.’ — The Economist

‘In Belt and Road, Bruno Maçāes sees the reach and influence of the West diminishing over the next thirty years.’ — The Financial Times

‘A timely output … It will be helpful to China scholars as well as students who are keen to understand and undertake research in this area.’ — Asian Affairs Journal

‘A masterful overview of China’s Belt and Road project . . . it’s a fascinating, intriguing and terrifying story, and Maçães tells it superbly.’ — The American Interest

‘The author has an engaging, animated writing style . . . recommended reading for those who are curious about who will rule the world when the US empire recedes.’ — The Jordan Times

‘This is a remarkably insightful and comprehensive review of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, with all its implications for economic development as well as for the reshaping of the global order. America and Europe: take note! This is essential reading for us all.’ — Stephen Green, former chairman of HSBC, chair of Asia House, London

‘This book shows the impressive and ambitious planning of a project that would redraw the map of the global economy to put China at the centre with a transnational industrial strategy of value chain dominance.’ — Kori Schake, Deputy-Director General of the International Institute of Strategic Studies and author of Safe Passage

‘Bruno Macaes writes with great felicity on the expansive Chinese effort to transform the global order. His insights capture a critical moment in the evolution of world politics.’ — C. Raja Mohan, Director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore

‘Bruno Macaes describes a changing world order with great verve and clarity. Belt and Road is a vital compass for this change, describing how the formation of ‘Eurasia’ and the creation of world changing trading routes reset the allocation of economic and political influence.’ — Paschal Donohoe TD, Minister for Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, Ireland

Author(s)

Bruno Maçães holds a doctorate in Political Science from Harvard University. He is a former minister of European affairs in Portugal. In that role he represented his country in Brussels during the eurozone crisis, the first Russo-Ukrainian war and Brexit. He has published four books since 2018, mostly focused on geopolitics, China, Russia and technology: Belt and Road; History Has Begun and Geopolitics for the End Time, all published by Hurst; and The Dawn of Eurasia. In 2019 he was a fellow at Renmin University of China. Since 2020 he has been a fellow at the Wilfried Martens Centre for European Studies in Brussels. As a risk consultant, he has advised some of the largest companies in the world on geopolitics and technology.