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Article published In:
Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 22:1 (2023) ► pp.87–106

Revealing China’s diplomatic narratives of the Belt and Road Initiative

ORCID logo | Queensland University of Technology

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a well-acknowledged central economic and diplomatic policy of the Chinese government, which was proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2013. By using content analysis and interviews, this paper analyzes Chinese President Xi’s speeches from 2013 to 2020 about the BRI, as well as official statements of the Chinese central government. It identifies at least five competing diplomatic narratives of the BRI. Different from repetitive literature that explores either the economic or political implications of the BRI, this paper contributes by exploring the original story that the Chinese government tries to tell the world. It concludes that initially, the narrative of the BRI has not been portrayed well from the Chinese side.

Keywords: Belt and Road initiative, diplomacy, narrative, China
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Interpretations of the BRI
  • 3.Sample and interviewee selection
  • 4.Revealing the diplomatic narratives of the BRI
    • 4.1China’s constantly evolving and indeterminate scheme: The first academic view
      • Planning issues
      • Financial sustainability
      • Corruption
    • 4.2China’s attempt to transcend geopolitics: The second academic view
    • 4.3China’s domestic economic and political policy: The third academic view
    • 4.4China’s plan for global economic development: The fourth academic view
    • 4.5China’s positive cultural and historical exchanges: The fifth academic view
      • Zhang Qian and Zheng He
      • An Indonesian saying
      • Tianxia
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 1 November 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.22005.jia
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