China’s Belt and Road Initiative is presented as President Xi’s vision to launch Asia into a new era of prosperity through interconnectedness, trade and development. Critics on the other hand see the project as China’s new strategy to tie the economies of the region closer to China. They argue that Chinese infrastructure investments are increasing other countries economic dependence on China, which translates into Chinese power over them. I argue that in a global economy the relationship between economic dependence and political power is not as direct and seamless as often depicted.

Nikolaj K. Andersen is a PhD Fellow at Aarhus University's Department of Political Science where he researches China's economic foreign policy. He holds an MA in International Studies and a BA in History of Ideas, both from Aarhus University.

Email: Andersen@ps.au.dk

Web: http://pure.au.dk/portal/en/persons/nikolaj-k-andersen(f140e8df-72e0-48ed-a8d2-b8a774ac7590).html