Against the prevailing narrative of the The Belt and Road as a top-down strategy to spread China’s geopolitical influence, there is the BRI’s impact through its first decade as emanating «from the middle out and bottom up» via transport-enabled corridors traversing a large number of regions within and across national territories.

The recent months have refuted expectations that relations between Moscow and Beijing were «fragile» and demonstrated a common strategic vision and willingness to support one another in addressing complex foreign policy challenges.