The Belt and Road Initiative, when first unveiled by Xi Jinping in 2013, was envisioned as even bigger and grander than America's Marshall Plan. Famously referred to as the 'New Silk Route', it proposed an overland 'Silk Road Economic Belt' connecting China with Europe through Central Asia and the 'Maritime Silk Road' that the Chinese claim existed in ancient times across the Indian Ocean. The BRI would not only restore China's glory as a global trading nation, but also establish its status as the world leader, overtaking the United States.