The impacts of the belt and road initiative on China's regional policies

The study aims to answers the questions of whether the Belt and Road Initiative, which was announced by the Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, has changed China's foreign policy or not, if it is, what kind of changes and differences have been occurred between China's new and previous foreign policy after the initiative was launched. While seeking answers to these questions it is necessary to examine the Chinese foreign policy problems because the initiative was proposed as a solution of these problems. Because of a country's foreign policy cannot be independent from its domestic policy, China's internal problems were also examined in the study and it was seen that the initiative was developed as a solution of these problems, too. The answer of how China is trying to solve its internal and external problems by using the initiative is the fundamental question of the study. In the study, economic and political dimensions of the initiative were examined and focused on the answer of how China's national interests in different regions affect its policies in these areas. As a result, two things can be said. First, the initiative has caused changes in China's foreign policy and second, China aims to become a global political actor and solve its foreign policy problems by creating political and economic influence on the states parties by using the initiative.