This new volume empirically examines the most recent development of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the two most important initiatives launched by President Xi Jinping as China tries to emerge as a global power.

Part IThe BRI/AIIB and China’s Global Reach1 China’s Belt-Road Initiative as the Signature of President Xi Jinping Diplomacy: Easier Said than Done2 In the Shadow of Strategic Rivalry: China, America, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment BankPart IIThe BRI/AIIB and China’s Domestic Politics3 Fragmentation and Mobilization, Domestic Politics of the Belt and Road in China4 Rhetorical legitimation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank: evidence from Chinese state media 5 Beijing’s Pivot West: The Convergence of Innenpolitik and Aussenpolitik on China’s ‘Belt and Road’? 6 From “Lamb Kebabs” to “Shared Joy”: cultural appropriation, ignorance and the constrained connectivity within the “One Belt, One Road” Initiative 7 Interwoven destinies: the significance of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to the China Dream, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the Xi Jinping Legacy Part IIIInternational Responses to the BRI/AIIB8 Problematic Prognostications about China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRT): Lessons from Africa and the Middle East9 Beijing’s ‘Going Out’ Strategy and Belt and Road Initiative in the Sahel: The Case of China’s Growing Presence in Niger10 Iran and the Belt and Road Initiative: Amid Hope and Fear11 Domestic Politics as Fuel for China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative: The Case of the Gulf Monarchies12 China’s Maritime Silk Road and Small States: Lessons from the Case of Djibouti.13 India’s Pragmatic Foreign Policy toward China’s BRI and AIIB: Struggling for Relative and Absolute Gains