Research-Note-Belt-and-Road-Initiative-Implications-for-New-Zealand

Since its incepon, the BRI has expanded to include more than 150 countries, encompassing nearly 75% of the world’s populaon and over half of the world’s GDP.9 Significant sub-projects under the BRI umbrella include the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the New Eurasian Land Bridge, the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor (CMREC), the China-Central and West Asia Economic Corridor (CCWAEC. [...] China’s foreign policy has become much more asserve in recent years, illustrated by its ‘wolf warrior diplomacy’ and growing tension in the South China Sea, the inmidaon of Taiwan and countries with relaons with it, such as Lithuania, and anger over Australia’s cricism of its response to COVID-19.14 In late 2023, Italy, a large and developed economy and the only G7 country to have joined the BRI,. [...] New Zealand and the Belt and Road Iniave Engagement and Potenal Benefits New Zealand formalised its interest in the BRI by signing a Memorandum of Arrangement (MoA) with China in March 2017.16 The MoA, signed during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit, was not a binding agreement but rather a framework to explore cooperave opportunies within the BRI’s network. [...] Relaonship with China and Implicaons of BRI Parcipaon The relaonship between New Zealand and China exemplifies the challenges of maintaining an independent foreign policy while engaging with a rising superpower.25 As economic es between the two naons have strengthened, parcularly following the signing of a Free Trade Agreement in 2008,26 New Zealand has navigated the complexies of engaging with Ch. [...] Projects like the Matala Rajapaksa Internaonal Airport, dubbed the “world’s empest airport,” exemplify the misallocaon of resources and the quesonable ulity of some BRI undertakings in Sri Lanka.44 The Sri Lankan crisis is a cauonary tale of the potenal pialls of high-stakes engagement with the BRI.