BUS371: China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a Mega Transcontinental Project that Stretches from Asia to Europe to South America: Doing Business with China Assignment, SUSS, Singapore

Question 1

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a mega transcontinental project that stretches from Asia to Europe to South America. Although the BRI is focused on infrastructure building, the project has been extended to the information technology and healthcare sectors. Indeed, China’s relations with the world will be increasingly dynamic and complex. Doing business with China will continue to evolve in exciting, albeit unexpected ways.

(a) Assuming the role of a strategist in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) of Singapore, you are to prepare a report on the strategic economic and political implications of the BRI on Singapore. Analyse how and to what extent the BRI would affect Singapore’s core interests. In your answer, be sure to consider the following prompts:

• What is the BRI about?
• What are Singapore’s core interests?
• How and to what extent does the BRI impact Singapore’s core economic and
political interests?

(b) Sceptics have remarked that the BRI is nothing more than ‘debt-trap diplomacy. Do you agree? Why or why not? Provide examples to illustrate and support your argument.