European Competitiveness

Regional Policy Analysis

China’s major infrastructure investment initiative, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping with the aim to create a stable, interconnected global market with China at its centre, with fully integrated global supply-and-demand chains for a high-tech economy. It is part and parcel of President Xi Jinping’s vision of China becoming a global leader in the 21st century, seeking to solidify a new multipolar world order and expand its global influence through economic leadership. In 2021, the EU responded with its own major infrastructure investment programme in the Global South, the Global Gateway Initiative (GG), which has seen its first selection of ambitious flagship projects unfold since 2023. The following analysis frames GG as a geostrategic tool which has great potential to contribute to the European Union gain enhanced momentum in its intensifying competition with China. It examines how the EU has changed its approach towards China’s BRI over time and concludes with concrete policy recommendations for the new European Commission term (2025-2029), to make the Global Gateway Initiative the well- crafted tool it aims to be.