US Strategic Narratives of China’s Belt and Road Initiative Narrative Contestation in the Era of Returning Great Power Rivalry

List of figures

List of abbreviations

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 Approaches of studying US-China relations: theories and methods

2 Chinese claims of the BRI: a promise for cooperation or strategic ambition?

3 Constructing the rivalry: representing the BRI as an economic threat

4 Defending hegemony: constructing the BRI as a strategic and security challenge

5 Competing visions: political counter-narratives to the BRI

Conclusion

Appendix: timeline of the BRI and its alternatives

References

Index

Biography

Shihui Yin received her PhD from the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on US-China relations, strategic narratives, elite networks, and the politics of global order, with particular interests to the Belt and Road Initiative and great power competition.

"This incisive yet readable study offers the most comprehensive and critical scholarly analysis to date of how the United States has interpreted, constructed, and contested China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Integrating critical constructivist and poststructuralist approaches, it traces the evolution of US strategic narratives across economic, security, technological, and political domains. Drawing on extensive documentary and discursive sources, the book reveals a multilayered elite narrative ecosystem through which US actors and partners – many of which also aided China’s integration into the world system after Mao’s death, now collaboratively shape negative responses to China’s growing global influence, illuminating profound implications for international order. The US and West may not be as powerful as once they were, but they are not yet down and out, and are fighting for position in an increasingly multipolar world."

- Inderjeet Parmar, Professor of International Politics, Department of International Politics, Associate Dean (Research), School of Policy and Global Affairs, City St George’s, University of London

"This is not a book about the BRI as such. But this is why it is so useful and important. It is instead a book about how the BRI has been conceptualised by influential actors to reinforce a specific idea of the nature of China’s rise; and its something of an understatement to say that this is not a particularly positive view of the consequences of China’s initiatives and objectives."

- Shaun Breslin, Professor of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick

"This book contributes to the ongoing debate about China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) by focusing how the United States has responded to this enormous infrastructure project through the use of strategic narratives. Its empirically rich analysis highlights an aspect of the international politics surrounding the BRI that has hitherto been given limited attention. The book should be of great interest to anyone interested in the BRI and US-China relations."

- Karl Gustafsson, Swedish Defence University

“In this timely book, Shihui Yin examines how US foreign policy elites have constructed narratives about China’s Belt and Road Initiative in an era of intensifying great power competition. The study offers a systematic analysis across economic, security, and political dimensions, and shows in a convincing way how these narratives are shaped within broader networks of policy elites and international actors. Drawing on key insights from constructivist and poststructuralist perspectives, the book will be of value to scholars, students, and policy observers interested in global order and strategic rivalry.”

- Linus Hagström, Professor of Political Science, Swedish Defence University

"In this rigorous and timely contribution to strategic narrative research, Yin traces the evolution of U.S. narratives of China’s Belt and Road Initiative across economic, security, and political domains. The book skilfully demonstrates how the USA has sought to shape global perceptions of China’s rise. Yin’s study of great power rivalry is an essential reference for scholars and practitioners of international relations." 

- Alister Miskimmon, Queen’s University Belfast