Ten years after its launch in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has emerged as “the largest infrastructure and development project in human history”. Despite a range of policy makers and researchers debunking Belt and Road Initiative activities as “debt-trapping”, Western and allied groups have continually stoked fears and misunderstandings of what the BRI is and the role it is playing in the world.In this issue of Dongsheng Explains, we look at the BRI, its historical development, the implications for the countries involved, and the debt-trap narratives.