The Chinese Belt and Road Initiative and Possible Repercussions to BRICS and Brazil

Facing Complexity under Uncertainty

Abstract

This paper focuses on the study of the Belt and Road Initiative and its eventual impacts on the BRICS project, especially regarding the potential logistical integration it evokes. In this sense, the initiative is very open to the inclusion of several countries that are willing to adapt to the models of cooperation and financing means that China proposes. The objective is to estimate, observing the main routes of the initiative, possible impacts on the BRICS development and corresponding ties. The scope of the initiative and its effect in South America is also the subject of this article, although taking an off-the-land route.

At this point, we wish to observe the nature of this Chinese foreign policy and how much it affects China's expansion and its relations with BRICS partners. However, to understand the Chinese motivations of this initiative, a study of the origins of Chinese foreign policy tendencies and the search for a new international identity is essential. Mapping the initiative in light of the BRICS windows of opportunities in the main focus of the paper, that presents the hypothesis of the expansion of the Chinese influence, including within BRICS, based on the route project, but aligned with the historical path it represents.

Keywords: Belt and Road; Brazilian-Chinese Relations