Preface The Silk Road Economic Belt(the‘Belt’) component of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China in 2013 is an ambitious vision that has evoked enthusiasm among many stakeholders. Among other objectives, the Belt intends to promote infrastructural development and connectivity, and stimulate economic integration across the Eurasian continent. Europe is an integral part of China’s transcontinental vision, and the European Union(EU) has its own vested interests in the Belt—as the EU–China Connectivity Platform demonstrates. Beyond direct economic engagement, the Belt could also function as an entry point for deeper cooperation between the EU and China on a range of issues related to global and regional governance. However, the EU first requires a more comprehensive understanding of the Belt’s strategic implications in their totality—and how they might relate to its own security and foreign policy objectives. There remain concerns and uncertainties as to why China has proposed the Belt, whether it potentially serves a geopolitical agenda, and how it will interact with economic and political dynamics in the many fragile and developing states through which it passes. There are also questions as to how the Belt will interact with local security dynamics and regional geopolitics. To date, very little international discourse has focused on answering these important questions, and it is precisely this gap in analysis that made SIPRI initiate this project in cooperation with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung(FES). The first section of this report describes what the Belt essentially is, as well as the drivers and interests that led China to initiate it. It places the Belt in the context of China’s own evolving security interests and aspirations. The second section delves into perceptions of the Belt and its interactions with security dynamics in two selected regions that are integral to the Belt’s vision and road map: Central and South Asia. The third and concluding section turns its sights on the EU and assesses the compatibility of the Belt with the EU’s foreign and security interests, both in general and in these specific regions. Based on this, an analysis is provided of whether, and in which domains, the EU could possibly engage in cooperation with China and regional actors within the context of the Belt. This policy report is the culmination of a year’s work of extensive research and analysis on a novel, vast and still-evolving Chinese vision. The authors have gone to great lengths to explore the issues. In addition to secondary sources in English, the authors utilized Chinese and Russian primary sources, and spoke with 156 experts, including academics, journalists, policy advisors and policymakers, at a total of 84 institutes in 12 cities in 7 countries throughout Eurasia. These conversations took place in countries along the main corridors of the Belt, starting in China and gradually moving west to the seat of the EU in Brussels. The offices of the FES in Beijing, Astana, Islamabad, Moscow and Brussels facilitated many of the meetings and organized policy workshops. Evidently, these conversations greatly contributed to this report. We hope that stakeholders in the EU, as well as Chinese and other Belt stakeholders, will find this policy report an illuminating read. SIPRI and the FES would like to express their sincere gratitude to all the interlocutors who met with the authors and shared their valuable insights. Dan Smith, Director, SIPRI Jürgen Stetten, Head, Department for Asia and the Pacific, FES February 2017