APPROACHING CHINA’S BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE: A STUDY OF DEBT-TRAP DIPLOMACY VERSUS ECONOMIC PROSPERITY

This thesis examines whether China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is promoting economic development or downfall in the form of debt-trapping to 4 participating economically emerging countries. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the world's largest infrastructure program, launched by the Chinese government in 2013. Since its inception, Chinese financial institutions and businesses have financed and constructed a wide range of global projects. I utilize qualitative and quantitative methods in the form of primary and secondary sources and data on economic growth rates and debt accumulation rates to explore the effects of the BRI in participating countries. There was no uniform consequence of the BRI, but rather characteristic-dependent effects that varied across cases. Further, my analysis does not suggest an overall trend of debt-trapping. By understanding the impact of the BRI in these countries, we can better recommend how countries carrying similar characteristics to participating countries should approach the BRI.