Introduction. Responses to China’s Belt and Road Initiative
China’s new Silk Roads, launched in 2013 by Xi Jinping and redubbed the Belt and Road Initiative (bri) in 2016, have transformed Chinese foreign policy. The plan to build an intercontinental infrastructure that will boost China’s international connectivity is a testament to Xi’s determination to remake the country’s western neighbourhood. Research on the bri aims primarily at understanding the strategic intentions behind the project. Our study analyzes how it has been received in five non-Western countries impacted by the bri. In India, Russia, Indonesia, Ethiopia, and Djibouti, the bri features prominently in the political discourse, whether from a perspective of appropriation or resistance. Intentions aside, our approach explores the dynamics underlying the new global multipolarity.