BRI.2.0 : cosmetic repairs or a change of course?

At the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in April 2019, China began to directly address some of the criticisms of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) practices, and started to emphasize the needs of local communities, economic and environmental sustainability, and mutual understanding among all parties and people involved in BRI projects. China also began to stress the importance of international law principles and common practices, and a multilateral approach to the implementation of BRI. Together with its pledge, made in September 2018, to waive debts for selected least developed African countries, there is now talk of a ‘BRI 2.0’. However, is this BRI 2.0 fundamentally different from its original version? This article starts with a brief examination of the notion of BRI and its development in the last six years. It then reviews the various criticisms levelled against the BRI and its practices. This is followed by an analysis of recent responses from China to various concerns and misgivings. In its analysis, this article examines the BRI in a geopolitical context and argues that much more fundamental changes are needed for the ‘BRI 2.0’ to gain genuine support from Western developed nations.