IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devchg/v57y2026i1p103-129.html

China's Belt and Road Initiative in Pakistan: Bureaucratic Coordination and Chinese State‐led Development Abroad

Author

Listed:
  • Hong Zhang

Abstract

This article examines China's bureaucratic approach to international development cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, focusing on bureaucratically structured policy coordination as a core mechanism. It highlights the central role of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) — China's top economic planning agency — in coordinating bilateral development agendas with partner countries. Drawing on China's development engagement with Pakistan as a critical case, the author analyses how the NDRC‐led mechanism reflects China's state‐led development logic and the integration of domestic and international development goals. While this mechanism has enabled the rapid mobilization of capital and infrastructure delivery, it also reveals institutional shortcomings, including a lack of horizontal coordination across Chinese bureaucracies, weak responsiveness to local political dynamics, and difficulties in sustaining cross‐sectoral initiatives. Based on fieldwork and documentary analysis, the article argues that China's model of bureaucratic coordination — while potentially influential in shaping global development paradigms — faces significant limitations unless it evolves greater institutional adaptability to operate effectively in complex governance environments.

Suggested Citation

  • Hong Zhang, 2026. "China's Belt and Road Initiative in Pakistan: Bureaucratic Coordination and Chinese State‐led Development Abroad," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 57(1), pages 103-129, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:57:y:2026:i:1:p:103-129
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.70039
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.70039
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/dech.70039?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Farwa Sial & Juvaria Jafri & Abdul Khaliq, 2023. "Pakistan, China and the Structures of Debt Distress: Resisting Bretton Woods," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 54(5), pages 1226-1263, September.
    2. Gregory T. Chin & Kevin P. Gallagher, 2019. "Coordinated Credit Spaces: The Globalization of Chinese Development Finance," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 50(1), pages 245-274, January.
    3. Arjan de Haan, 2011. "Will China change international development as we know it?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(7), pages 881-908, October.
    4. Denghua Zhang & Graeme Smith, 2017. "China’s foreign aid system: structure, agencies, and identities," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(10), pages 2330-2346, October.
    5. Khalid Ikram, 2011. "Revitalizing the Planning Commission: Some Recommendations," Working Papers id:3586, eSocialSciences.
    6. Alves, Ana Cristina & Gong, Xue & Li, Mingjiang, 2023. "The BRI: A new development cooperation paradigm in the making? Unpacking China’s infrastructure cooperation along the Maritime Silk Road," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    7. Yingyao Wang, 2021. "Policy articulation and paradigm transformation: the bureaucratic origin of China’s industrial policy," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 204-231, January.
    8. Bräutigam, Deborah & Tang, Xiaoyang, 2014. "“Going Global in Groups”: Structural Transformation and China’s Special Economic Zones Overseas," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 78-91.
    9. Safdar, Muhammad Tayyab, 2025. "The BRI in Pakistan’s power sector: From initial success to structural challenges," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muhammad Tayyab Safdar, 2026. "Structural transformation within a neo-liberal state architecture: evidence from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 517-539, June.
    2. Nicholas Jepson & Oyuna Baldakova, 2024. "Chinese State Capital as a Partner for Resource-Based Structural Transformation? The Belt and Road Initiative and Downstream Linkages in Bolivia and Kazakhstan [¿El capital estatal chino como socio para la transformación estructural basada en recu," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 36(3), pages 718-745, June.
    3. Xia, Ying & Chen, Muyang, 2023. "The Janus face of stateness: China's development-oriented equity investments in Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    4. Shahar Hameiri & Lee Jones, 2025. "International Development Financing in the Second Cold War: The Miserly Convergence of Western Donors and China," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 56(1), pages 3-30, January.
    5. Petar Sorić, 2020. "“Normal†growth of the Chinese economy: new metrics based on consumer confidence data," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(2), pages 1740-1746.
    6. Bidisha Lahiri & William A. Darity, 2024. "Global North–South Reparations: Demand‐side and Supply‐side Policies with a Dynamic View of International Trade and Finance," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 55(4), pages 672-699, July.
    7. Hong Liu & Celia Lee & Chris Alden, 2022. "The Dynamics of Governance and Sustainable Development Goals in the Global South," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 13(S1), pages 5-10, April.
    8. Vito Amendolagine & Andrea F. Presbitero & Roberta Rabellotti, 2025. "Chinese infrastructure lending in Africa and participation in global value chains," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 161(1), pages 7-48, February.
    9. Buckley, Peter J. & Rammal, Hussain G. & Tang, Ryan W., 2026. "Hybrid regimes and international business: Exploring the interplay between democracy and authoritarianism in the belt and road initiative," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    10. Lang Xu & Chongxi Shen & Jihong Chen, 2025. "The impact of the Maritime Silk Road Initiative on the carbon intensity of the participating countries," Maritime Economics & Logistics, Palgrave Macmillan;International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME), vol. 27(2), pages 331-349, June.
    11. Qing Qin & Churen Sun, 2023. "Empirical Research on the Impact of China’s Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zones on the Development of Host Countries in the Global Value Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-24, March.
    12. J. Alexander Nuetah & Xian Xin, 2019. "Has China’s Investment Pattern in Sub-Saharan Africa Been Driven by Natural Resource Quest?," Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, Emerging Markets Forum, vol. 11(3), pages 215-231, September.
    13. Lu, Yangsiyu & Springer, Cecilia & Steffen, Bjarne, 2024. "Cofinancing and infrastructure project outcomes in Chinese lending and overseas development finance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    14. Zahra Abdulhadi Shukra & Ying Zhou & Lingling Wang, 2021. "An Adaptable Conceptual Model for Construction Technology Transfer: The BRI in Africa, the Case of Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-19, March.
    15. Varga, Mihai, 2022. "Getting the “basics”? The World Bank’s narrative construction of poverty reduction in China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    16. Tom Goodfellow & Zhengli Huang, 2021. "Contingent infrastructure and the dilution of ‘Chineseness’: Reframing roads and rail in Kampala and Addis Ababa," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(4), pages 655-674, June.
    17. Cheng, Si & Wang, Banban, 2023. "Impact of the Belt and Road Initiative on China's overseas renewable energy development finance: Effects and features," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 1036-1048.
    18. Yaechan Lee & Saori N. Katada, 2026. "Developmental or Liberal? How Japan and South Korea Diffuse Hybrid Financial Market Norms," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 57(4), pages 789-811, July.
    19. Bei, Leticia Jin, 2019. "Where does the dragon’s gift go? Subnational distribution of China’s aid to Sub-Saharan Africa from 2007 to 2012," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101349, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    20. Fwaga, Sammy Oketch & Chakrapani, Deepa & Tefera, Girum Abebe, 2025. "Investment Policy Reforms and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows : A Case Study of Ethiopia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11264, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:57:y:2026:i:1:p:103-129. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0012-155X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.