By – Abhishek Verma and Team ORCA

The Belt and Road (BRI) initiative, erstwhile referred to as the ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR), has been one of the most debated infrastructure development ventures of the 21st century. Xi Jinping’s mammoth and ambitious venture has multiple dimensions and a complex array of implications. The initiative has been the lynchpin of the Chinese foreign policy under Xi and is closely connected to his ‘strongman’ international image As Xi prepares for a third term in office amidst the highly uncertain post pandemic economic order, the BRI project could yet face its biggest hurdles. This issue brief will seek to answer this question, connecting it to the broader implications of what the BRI post-Xi would look like.