Brussels has rebranded and repositioned its connectivity and infrastructure initiatives. But Global Gateway will need to maintain the right balance between pursuing strategic interests and offering improved conditions to partner countries.

After 10 years, China’s Belt and Road Initiative has done little to achieve its original aim of better integrating the People’s Republic’s western periphery. That might change in its second decade, with Beijing paying more attention to routes that circumvent Russia.

To successfully answer the challenge of China’s Belt and Road Initiative with its new connectivity strategy, the EU needs to form a clearer picture of where and how the BRI is succeeding.

China seeks to cement a multi-polar world order in which no other state can “interfere” with what it sees as “internal affairs.” Such a world would be incompatible with the EU’s values and political identity.