Routledge Handbook of China's Belt and Road Initiative in Eurasia

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Mher D. Sahakyan (China-Eurasia Council for Political and Strategic Research, Armenia) Kevin Lo (Hong Kong Baptist University)

Routledge Handbook of China's Belt and Road Initiative in Eurasia

Mher D. Sahakyan (China-Eurasia Council for Political and Strategic Research, Armenia), Kevin Lo (Hong Kong Baptist University)

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English

Routledge
15 September 2025

Regional studies; Globalization; EU & European institutions; Political economy; Business & management

This handbook critically analyses and examines the impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) geostrategy in Eurasia. Over the last decade, the BRI contributed to China becoming an economic and political superpower, but the Russo–Ukrainian War brought seismic geopolitical and geoeconomic impacts and a new struggle between great powers. Covering the impact of the BRI and the positions of other great, middle, and small powers, the ten parts explain the geopolitical and geoeconomic dynamics along the Silk Road Economic Belt’s six major economic corridors, implementing case studies on Europe, South Caucasus, Central Asia, Russian Far East, Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia.

Expert scholars from East, West, North, and South engage with BRI concepts to create a book that will be of interest to policymakers, businesspeople, scholars, and students of area studies, cybersecurity and digitalisation, economics, security studies, the politics of international trade, foreign policy, global governance, and international organisations.

Edited by: Mher D. Sahakyan (China-Eurasia Council for Political and Strategic Research Armenia), Kevin Lo (Hong Kong Baptist University)
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 453g
ISBN: 9781032840956
ISBN 10: 1032840951
Pages: 580
Publication Date: 15 September 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , Undergraduate , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Table of Contents PART I 1. Introduction of the Belt and Road Initiative in the Eurasian Continent MHER D. SAHAKYAN and KEVIN LO PART II Silk Road Economic Belt 2. Rebuilding Eurasian Interconnectivity: China-Central Asia-West Asia Economic Corridor MHER D. SAHAKYAN 3. Evolution of the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor: Weighing functionality and rhetoric CONNOR JUDGE 4. BRI's New Eurasian Land Bridge Economic Corridor: retaining its edge in an age of confrontation? CHRIS B. WENSINK 5. Understanding Bangladesh–China–India–Myanmar Economic Corridor in the Era of Multipolar World Order 2.0: Perspectives from Bangladesh SHANJIDA SHAHAB UDDIN and RAIAN HOSSAIN 6. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in Multipolar World Order 2.0: Perspectives from India JOSEPH MOSES 7. China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor in the era of Multipolar World Order 2.0: A case study of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation JINRUI LIU PART III Digital and Space Silk Roads 8. The security dimension of the Digital Silk Road: from Netpolitik to Digitalpolitik PAULO AFONSO B. DUARTE, ANTÓNIO TAVARES, NASIM MOSAVI and FERNARDO PAULO LOPES AMORIM 9. Sino-Russian Cybersecurity Cooperation in a Multipolar World Order: Implications for the Digital Silk Road GRACE X. YANG 10. China’s Starry Constellations with Russia and the Global South: The Space Silk Road Analysed TIMNA MICHLMAYRand JAN ŽELEZNÝ PART IV Environmental Governance and Critical Raw Materials 11. Environmental Governance of China's Belt and Road Initiative KEVIN LO 12. Belt and Road Initiative’s impact on Critical Raw Materials in Eurasia: The case of the EU GINA PANAGOPOULOU PART V Geopolitical Dynamics 13. Unpacking Chinese Communication about the Belt and Road Initiative: Moral Realist Project in a World Order 2.0 ÉRIC POMÈS AND MATTHIEU GRANDPIERRON 14. China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the US Indo-Pacific Strategy: A Qualitative Comparative Analysis CHAOTING CHENG 15. From Obama to Biden: The United States Position on BRI under the “China Threat” Narrative CHANG LIU and WANG JIATE PART VI Central Asia and the Russian Far East 16. Multipolarity, the Rise of China, and Kazakhstan's Emergence as a Middle Power JESSICA NEAFIE 17. The Belt and Road Initiative in Central Asia: Opportunities and Challenges for Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan JILDIZ NICHARAPOVA 18. India and China's initiatives in Central Asia: Neither rivalry nor collaboration MAHESH RANJAN DEBATA 19. Social Innovation Projects in Belt and Road Initiative Countries: Case Studies of Uzbekistan and China BAKHROM RADJABOV 20. Chinese Investment in the Russian Far East: Problems and Prospects OLGA ZALESSKAIA PART VII South Caucasus 21. Beyond the West-Russia Dichotomy: Case Studies on the Hedging Strategies of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia MAXIMILIAN OHLE 22. The International North-South Transport Corridor and the Belt and Road Initiative in the South Caucasus YEGHIA TASHJIAN PART VIII Middle East 23. The Belt and Road Initiative and China–GCC Relations: Strategic Partnerships in a Multipolar World Order 2.0 STEVEN WRIGHT 24. Prospects for New Infrastructure Cooperation between China and the Gulf Countries Under the Belt and Road Initiative CHUNCHU ZHANG 25. Iran's Look East Policy and the Energy Silk Road: The Energy Partnership of Iran and China TAMAS DUDLAK PART IX Europe 26. Navigating the Silk Road in Central and Eastern Europe ZDENĚK ROD, TOMÁŠ KOLOMAZNÍK, RICHARD STRAKA, AND MIROSLAV PLUNDRICH 27. Towards a Shared Future: Upgrade of Strategic Partnership between China and Serbia within the BRI framework NENAD STEKIĆ 28. Belt and Road Initiative 2.0 or a brand-new approach? The impact of communication in the Italian case study GIORGIO CARIDI PART X Conclusion 29. Conclusion: A Research and Policy Agenda for the Belt and Road Initiative KEVIN LO and MHER D. SAHAKYAN

Mher D. Sahakyan is a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University. He is the director of the China–Eurasia Council for Political and Strategic Research in Armenia and the founder of the Eurasian Research on Modern China and Eurasia conference. Mher was an AsiaGlobal Fellow at the Asia Global Institute of the University of Hong Kong (2020/2021 and 2022). He was a 2024 LEWI Visiting Fellow at the David C. Lam Institute for East–West Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University. Mher holds a doctorate in international relations from China’s Nanjing University. He is the Editor of Routledge Handbook of Chinese and Eurasian International Relations, China and Eurasian Powers in Multipolar World Order 2.0: Security, Diplomacy, Economy and Cybersecurity, and the co‑editor of China and Eurasia: Rethinking Cooperation and Contradictions in the Era of Changing World Order, published by Routledge in 2024, 2023, and 2021. Kevin Lo is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Geography and Acting Director of the David C. Lam Institute for East–West Studies of Hong Kong Baptist University. He earned his PhD in Geography from the University of Melbourne. He is an Editor‑in‑Chief of the Journal of Asian Energy Studies, an international peer‑reviewed journal dedicated to interdisciplinary research on all aspects of energy studies in Asia. He has won several major competitive grants from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong and has published in many leading journals, including Global Environmental Change, Political Geography, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Energy Policy, Energy for Sustainable Development, Environmental Science & Policy, Cities, Habitat International, and Journal of Rural Studies.

Reviews for Routledge Handbook of China's Belt and Road Initiative in Eurasia

""Amid geographically non-congruous arrangements gaining traction as a way of readjusting to the evolving power transition in the world, the Belt and Road Initiative continues to be a bellwether of ‘reglobalisation’. In its avatar 3.0, this ‘project of the century’ continues to encompass more than it old and new economic value, along with cultural, political, space, and security dynamics. The Routledge Handbook of China’s Belt and Road Inititiative in Eurasia demonstrates well how the Initiative facilitates the transformation of Asia into Eurasia and beyond, thus making this a multinetworked and multialigned ecosystem. It also underlines the BRI’s relevance as a global phenomenon despite the new political realities in the United States and the noise about China’s economic slowdown. Finally, in an era of ‘corridorisation’, the Handbook contributors reinforce the mantra: “It doesn’t matter whether the cat is black or white, so long as it catches mice.” - Dr Narayanappa Janardhan, Director, Research and Analysis, Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy, Abu Dhabi ""Dr. Mher D. Sahakyan and Dr. Kevin Lo united scholars from different parts of the world to present all voices from East, West, North, and South. The authors analyzed the Belt and Road Initiative’s corridors, providing recommendations on the further development of the initiative. The authors have introduced case studies on Central Asia, the Middle East, the South Caucasus, Europe, and other regions to bring facts in detail. Among the key topics of the Routledge Handbook of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Eurasia, are chapters on the Digital and Space Silk Road, environmental Governance, and Critical Raw Materials. Authors’ interviews with practitioners and scholars from different Eurasian states also bring credibility to this work. According to this research, the Belt and Road Initiative in a Eurasian continent under a Multipolar World Order 2.0 is an essential building blok, and it will be more crucial to global geopolitics, peace, and development. As this study suggests, China and Eurasian countries can utlise opportunities and resolve the challenges within and beyond the BRI. In my opinion, the features of this new Handbook are consistent with the substances of the conjunction of global initiatives, which brings additional opportunities for further research. There is no doubt that in a Multipolar World Order 2.0 the Routledge Handbook of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Eurasia, which represents the collaboration among and beyond Eurasian academic boundaries or nationalities, will provide scholarly welfare and inspiration for global readers, bringing new ideas and research."" - Zheng Yuntian (Professor at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China, director of the World Socialism Institute in RUC)