Against the prevailing narrative of the The Belt and Road as a top-down strategy to spread China’s geopolitical influence, there is the BRI’s impact through its first decade as emanating «from the middle out and bottom up» via transport-enabled corridors traversing a large number of regions within and across national territories.

After a bumpy year, 2023 could prove to be even more challenging for global goods trade with consumer demand faltering, oversupply returning, and the energy and subsequent inflation crisis persisting. But the supply chain pain is expected to ease and shipping a container will be cheaper