Challenges and Adaptability: The State of BRI Corridors and Pilot Zones in Southeast Asia after the COVID-19 Pandemic

My thesis project examines China's Belt and Road Initiative's (BRI) progress and adaptations after the COVID-19 global pandemic, particularly focusing on pilot zones and economic corridors in Southeast Asia. The pandemic brought unprecedented challenges, including supply chain disruptions and geopolitical shifts, necessitating China's strategic reassessments and adaptations in BRI projects. Utilizing case studies of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor, the Dara Sakor Pilot Zone in Cambodia, and a newly developed comprehensive BRI action plan in Nepal, my paper analyzes how these BRI infrastructural initiatives have adapted to the post-pandemic geopolitical and economic landscapes. My research employs a neorealist analytical framework, considering the international system's changing economic and geopolitical conditions since the pandemic as a structural constraint. Under the framework, I assess China's strategic recalibrations of the Belt and Road Initiative. Through comparative case analysis, my project provides a nuanced understanding of the BRI's current status and future trajectories amidst global upheavals associated with the pandemic. The findings highlight the challenges faced by ongoing projects and the emerging opportunities as China seeks to maintain and expand its influence through these strategic infrastructural investments. My thesis uniquely demonstrates China's strategic focus on BRI projects in Southeast Asia compared to suspended funding for other regions, underscoring the region's strategic importance. As a rational actor under the structural constraints of the post-pandemic international system, China is repositioning the BRI to its traditional sphere of influence—its neighboring countries and Southeast Asia to maximize gains under the structural constraints of the international system.