The Belt and Road Initiative and China–US strategic competition

Considered a counterbalance to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the G7 countries recently launched the Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative, as an alternative channel for aiding lower income countries with infrastructure development. To better understand the strategic competition between Washington and Beijing, this essay analyzes how the Belt and Road Initiative influences China–US competition, especially in the Indo-Pacific region and in the field of digital economy. It also focuses on the B3W initiative, providing a preliminary analysis of the Biden administration’s use of B3W to compete with the Belt and Road Initiative. Through an in-depth investigation of interactions between Washington and Beijing over the Belt and Road Initiative, this essay also helps reveal the nuanced dynamics and characteristics of US–China strategic competition in the context of the digital era. Finally, it argues that international development should not be a zero-sum game in which developing countries facing urgent infrastructure and growth concerns must choose between China and the US. © 2021, The Institute of International and Strategic Studies (IISS), Peking University.