China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Evolution, Opportunities, Contradictions

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has been named the world’s largest infrastructure program of the 21st century. As the BRI is implemented in practice, it demonstrates to the world its new capabilities and features, including in the light of the COVID-19 crisis. The article identifies three stages in the development of the BRI, differing in geographical coverage, variability of declared tasks, financial instruments for implementation and approaches to the development of transport infrastructure. The findings of our research show that the development of the BRI was initially determined by the establishment of commercial relations between China and countries on its periphery on the basis of five key blocks of tasks. Subsequently, the Initiative transformed into an open agreement in which any interested countries can participate, and the main focus shifted toward the formation of the Digital Silk Road, the Green Silk Road and the Health Silk Road. The BRI has achieved tangible macroeconomic results. By 2025 the Initiative covered over 70% of the world’s countries except for Australia, North America, and Western Europe. Reliable prerequisites have been created for the expansion of Chinese companies abroad, based on government financial support, significant production investments and the possibility of using improved infrastructure. Given its extensive geographical coverage and economic scale, the development of the BRI is an important event in shaping a new network of global transport corridors. However, the criteria for including infrastructure facilities in the list of projects under the BRI are still unclear. As for potential concerns of the countries involved in the Initiative, some of them include possible threats of an influx of labor from China, loss of control over strategic assets, use of less environmentally friendly technology, and increased financial dependence on China.