Through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China is expanding its scope of action in strategic areas such as the Arctic and Panama, creating a network of interconnections that support its rise as a global superpower. These projects should allow the Beijing government
to increase its economic and political influence and access
strategic resources essential to redraw the current
global geostrategic structure.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has now branched out across all continents and represents a significant geostrategic achievement for China, functional to its global rise, focused on the two directions evoked, in particular, by the new American presidency: the Arctic and Panama.
The huge project, called ‘One Belt, One Road’ and inspired by the ancient Silk Roads, was launched by Xi Jinping in 2013. In just over two decades, it has become one of the most impressive plans in the globalised world. It has produced new strategic and geographical opportunities for world trade, but also new geopolitical, economic and environmental challenges. The People’s Republic of China (PRC), when it was at the peak of its economic growth, tried to connect in this way a large number of states, which in 2025 will reach 149, in an extensive network of routes that wind from Asia through Europe and Africa and reach
the American continent.

A container ship of the Chinese Cosco Shipping Lines. To create an extensive network of routes. Shutterstock/Wolfgang Jargstorff

Through these corridors, several resources have been allocated that guarantee the expansion of Chinese global trade, which has produced a notable degree of control of large geographical areas, strategically fundamental to ferry the Middle Country towards new horizons. Faced with the blockage of some of the main corridors, in a time characterised by the closure of national borders and the “militarisation” of cybersecurity, the Beijing government has increasingly made its presence felt in the Arctic, and then pushed as far as the Panama Canal, a crossroads of world trade, to ensure a place in the new great game
that is emerging in 2025.
China’s attention has been focused on the Arctic since 2017, when the Polar Belt and Road was launched, which branches into two directions: the Northeast Passage, along the Russian coast, and the Northwest Passage through Canada. These corridors allow the seizure of opportunities linked to global warming, which has changed the environmental and atmospheric conditions of the Arctic ice cap, which has gone from 7 million km2 to 4.6 million, a value destined to decrease even further. The retreat of the ice is making previously impassable maritime routes navigable, which now allow the passage of the most important global trade flows with a saving of a number of days compared to traditional routes.

Icebreaking vessel in the Arctic. China’s attention has been focused on the Arctic since 2017, when the Polar Belt and Road was launched. Shutterstock/maks_ph

For this reason, China has launched several icebreakers in just a few years: the Xue Long 2, the Zhong Shan Da Xue, the Ji Di and the new-generation Tan Suo San Hao, which will enter service in 2025, making clear China’s ambitions at a commercial, scientific, diplomatic and military level. This dense network of new connections allows the PRC to invest significant resources in maritime infrastructure and scientific research projects, seeking connections with the eight countries of the Arctic Council (Russia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the United States) since 2018, when it defined itself as a Near Arctic State, despite the 1,500 kilometres that separate the
Middle Country from the Pole.
The Beijing government, in view of global competition and in addition to logistical and commercial considerations, is mainly targeting communication infrastructures, since the submarine fibre optic cables positioned in the Arctic allow for an increase in transmission speed and lower latency (total round-trip data transmission time). The strategic partnership with Russia, especially after the invasion of Ukraine, has accelerated this path, allowing the PRC to conclude a large number of military, trade and technological cooperation agreements and gain access to rich natural resources, especially oil, gas and rare minerals, essential to support the country’s economic growth.

A convoy in the Arctic Ocean. The retreat of the ice is making maritime routes navigable. Shutterstock/knyazev Vasily

With other modalities, Xi Jinping has turned towards Central America, with a diplomatic offensive supported by significant investments that, between 2005 and 2020, have reached 130 billion dollars in important projects, acquiring strategic and geopolitical advantages, diversifying its energy basket, in an area rich in resources and of vital importance for world trade. The Beijing government has contributed to the development of logistics infrastructure, in particular dams and ports, imposing the breaking of diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, still officially recognised by Guatemala and Belize, as well as by some Caribbean states. Beijing’s offensive led to the entry of Panama, a crossroads of world traffic, into the Belt and Road Initiative in 2017, followed by Uruguay, Chile, Trinidad and Tobago, Bolivia, Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Barbados.

Container ship Cosco is passing through Gatun Locks, part of the Panama Canal. 123rf

The growing Chinese presence in the Canal has raised concerns for American national security and has accelerated the strengthening of containment policies, leading to Panama’s withdrawal from the BRI in February 2025, made official by President José Raul Mulino, despite lively Chinese protests. The grand new game reaching Central America from the Arctic is destined to intensify, making competition between medium and large powers increasingly harsh, in a difficult historical moment, due to systemic opposition, in which the rules of international coexistence seem to be crumbling. In this context, China must deal with increasingly widespread environmental problems linked to the often-devastating impact that infrastructure linked to the BRI has on local ecosystems.
The future prospects of the Belt and Road Initiative, in continuous evolution, are therefore linked to a delicate balance between economic expansion and geopolitical responsibility, which will allow China, having overcome its status as a hybrid superpower, to navigate the complex dynamics that will define the new strategic spaces. (Open Photo: Chinese flag and container ship. Shutterstock/FOTOGRIN)

Elisabetta Esposito Martino/CgP