China`s Footprint in Southeast Europe: Constructing the "Balkan Silk Road"
China`s Footprint in Southeast Europe: Constructing the "Balkan Silk Road"

Summary/Abstract: President Xi Jinping’s “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) was officially launched in 2013. It is a Eurasian grand strategy that seeks to expand and secure maritime routes and road infrastructure networks for China from Asia across Africa to the Middle East and Europe. Beijing's vision of BRI has geo-economic implications that are potentially vast and long-term. They can shift commercial and geo-economic axes of entire continents. The Balkan Silk Road represents the link that connects China with Greece, Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries in the region. The level of engagement by Chinese state-owned companies, political leaders, diplomatic representations and lending institutions in Central, Eastern and Southeast Europe is gradually redefining the relationships between China and the European continent. Especially in Southeast European countries, China is identifying trade and Investment opportunities with the construction of the Balkan Silk Road. The infrastructure projects in highway construction, railways and Bridge building form the backbone of these activities while Chinese banks provide the lending facilities. China‘s growing footprint in the region will gradually challenge established international actors such as Russia, Turkey and the European Commission.

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