Going west came to mean “One Belt,” otherwise known as the “Eurasian Land Bridge,” which enables China to expand its economic clout and its influence and relevance through Central Asia, the Middle East, and Russia and into Europe. These land connections would also offset one of China’s great strategic fears—about the U.S. Navy and the “Malacca Dilemma.” Going west would, in the words of a Chinese general, provide China with a “strategic hinterland and international space.”
