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.

Transit time and possible transport China’s trade with the Global South is growing significantly, driven on the one hand by the China Plus One strategy and on the other by the development of new markets. But many challenges remain.