Discussion of the Belt and Road Initiative usually encompasses the likelihood of it changing global trade patterns, while less attention has been paid to the environmental impact of such a massive infrastructure development plan. However, the BRI provides a unique opportunity to raise the standards of environmental protection around the world.

As the Belt and Road Initiative enters its fifth year, the expansive initiative may find itself confronting five particular challenges.

Participating countries knew exactly what they were getting themselves into.

Can China overcome its legacy of corruption in its Belt and Road project?

China’s grandiose plans for its Belt and Road Initiative are hitting walls.

As the European Union proposes a strategy for increased connectivity across the continent, both China and the U.S. will utilize the proposal to advance their own goals.

The Belt and Road Initiative will help build a community of shared destiny of mankind in the new era.

China’s economic exceptionalism is now being threatened by a perfect storm of existing stresses – namely, the domestic debt build-up – and new complications, including US trade barriers, the geopolitical pushback against China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and tightening monetary conditions, particularly in the United States.

For all the fears and complaints about the Belt & Road, it at least offers Africans opportunity.

China actually does more good for Africa than most other countries and organizations you could name.