China launched the “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) in 2013. To date, it has achieved considerable success while also encountering numerous challenges. In response to the achievements of the BRI, US, Indian, and Western governments and scholars have expressed significant surprise and concern. They have attempted to explain it using familiar theories and sought ways to counterbalance and overcome the BRI. The two most popular Western explanations are “Competitive Regionalism” and “Developmental Geopolitics.”

“Competitive Regionalism” emphasizes mutual competition and institutional exclusivity among different regional cooperation mechanisms. Some Western scholars, andIndian scholars, utilize this theory to analyze the BRI, arguing that the BRI constructs a “new regional network centered on China” through infrastructure and financial cooperation, forming institutional competition with Western-dominated regional structures.

“Developmental Geopolitics,” by contrast, is a theory that views development cooperation as a tool for geopolitical competition, contending that China pursues geopolitical influence expansion through the BRI using economic means. Western scholars and Indian scholars argue that China’s investments and infrastructure initiatives through the BRI aim not only at economic benefits but also at reshaping the Euro-Asian geopolitical landscape, with the BRI serving as an economic tool for China to secure geopolitical strategic space.

On the Chinese side, in recent years, some scholars have defined the BRI as a development-oriented regional economic cooperation mechanism, forming a clear theoretical distinction from the Western mainstream theories of “Developmental Geopolitics” and “Competitive Regionalism.” This distinction not only reflects differences in understanding the essence of regional cooperation against different civilizational backgrounds but also embodies ideological competition between emerging economies and existing hegemonic powers in shaping the international order. I believe this theoretical explanation by Chinese scholars can be termed “Development-Oriented Regionalism.”

Compared with Western Regionalism Theories, we can find:

Development-Oriented Regionalism Theory is A New Paradigm Centered on Common Development. Compared with existing rule-oriented regional cooperation mechanisms, the BRI exhibits development-oriented characteristics. This core characteristic lies in placing........

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