Launched in 2013, the ‘One Belt, One Road Initiative,’ subsequently redubbed in English as the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) is perhaps the most ambitious international and intercontinental infrastructure project since the Marshall Plan.

Under the BRI, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) under President Xi Jinping seeks to connect the continents of Asia and Europe by land (belt) and sea (road). To realize these objectives, it has already financed hundreds of billions of dollars worth of construction projects in developing countries in Africa and Asia.

Indeed, under the rubric of the BRI, China is