Foreign Affairs published on 7 February 2023 an article titled "China Hasn't Given Up on the Belt and Road" by Matt Schrader and J. Michael Cole, both with the International Republican Institute.
China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) infrastructure program became an important part of its foreign policy. Major financing cutbacks are, however, changing the focus of the initiative. While China is not giving up on it, the BRI has become "a less splashy, less expensive model of engagement predicated on cultivating ties more organically in fields such as trade, telecommunications, green energy, and academia." The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the lowest funding to African governments since 2004, although the shift in focus of BRI had started even earlier.
