From Superficial Convergence to Strategic Divergence: Global Gateway vs. BRI from a strategic perspective

This article examines how two major global connectivity initiatives—the EU’s Global Gateway and China’s Belt and Road Initiative—articulate similar superficial expressions while embodying fundamentally divergent strategic logics. As global infrastructure and connectivity emerge as arenas of strategic competition, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has attracted global attention and made significant, albeit contested, progress. In response to this, the EU introduced the Global Gateway in 2021, aimed at providing a viable alternative model grounded in transparency, sustainability, and democratic values. A comparative analysis grounded in the logic of grand strategy shows that the two initiatives have shared narratives on inclusive connectivity, sustainability, global challenges, and multilateralism etc. Yet, it reveals a core paradox: surface-level convergence does not lead to a strategic alignment. This paradox reflects a process of strategic branding—in which both China and the EU adopt overlapping narratives to position themselves as legitimate global actors responding to shared challenges in this area, while at the same time pursuing divergent underlying strategic logics. This paper reveals that such divergence is not incidental but rooted in deeper structures: contrasting role conceptions, strategic cultures, and modes of authority. These findings suggest that beneath the surface of shared global ambition and language lies a deeper contest over how strategy like connectivity is envisioned, practiced, and instrumentalized in a multipolar world.