Belt and Road Initiative and its Impact on ASEAN Economic Integration

As of 2020 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is to cover 115 countries and international organizations among which there are ASEAN member states. According to the plan, member-states of the organization are becoming the first beneficiaries of Chinese initiative. This paper aims to study the impact BRI on ASEAN economic integration. It includes perceptible effects and possible implications of BRI implementation for ASEAN members separately and as an economic community. The analysis shows that BRI complements ASEAN development paradigm and national development strategies not only on paper but also in practice. A number of BRI-related projects already attract investments and create new working places helping ASEAN countries to tackle poverty problems thus narrowing ASEAN development gap. It is also proved in the paper that ASEAN Economic Community goals cannot be successfully achieved without proper cooperation with China on the issue of BRI implementation, but this cooperation should be performed on ASEAN-China track, not bilateral ones to avoid risks to ASEAN centrality.