BROADER TOTAL QUALITY LESSONS FOR CHINA'S BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE (BRI)

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is the largest transcontinental transport, trade, socio-economic, and digital linkage network the world has ever seen. When President Xi first launched the project in Kazakhstan in September 2013, it hardly received any attention in the West, not least the United States. It has since been embraced by more than 150 countries, largely in the Global South. On the one hand, it has brought diverse peoples and nations closer together, meeting some of their critical shortages of utilities, transport, and other socio- economic linkages such as education, health, technical skills, and digital networks. On the other, there have arisen blowbacks on account of lack of transparency, corporate governance, fair competition, and a perceived “debt-trap”. It has also sparked off West-inspired initiatives, led by the United States, to counter China’s growing BRI influence, such as the Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment (PGII) and the Indo-Pacific Framework for Prosperity (IPEF). At the 3rd BRI Form on 17 and 18 October 2023, marking the Initiative’s 10th anniversary, Beijing revamped the BRI’s global strategy towards smaller and greener projects with better transparency, accountability and partnership with a wider range of stakeholders, with deliverables in improved livelihood, skills, transparency, accountability, and national development. On a grander scale, there are important lessons to learn in terms of Total Quality Management, including the 5-S of “Structurise, Systematise, Sanitise, Standardise, and Self-discipline”.