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.

To conquer the European automotive market, China is not only developing its exports, but also investing locally, with a consequent reorganization of its supply chains