To Join or Not To Join? How Chinese Firms View the Belt and Road Initiative Ka Zeng Department of Political Science University of Arkansas kzeng@uark.edu Xiaojun Li Department of Political Science University of British Columbia xiaojun.li@ubc.ca Abstract: China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is often regarded as a push to expand the country’s influence overseas. However, introduced amidst domestic economic slowdown in late 2013, the BRI is also a domestic investment drive, in which domestic firms are encouraged to go abroad in search of new markets and investment opportunities. While domestic firms are likely to play a leading role in the BRI, there has been surprisingly little systematic analysis of their perceptions of the BRI. We undertake such a task in this study using a unique survey that explores both Chinese firms’ decision making about participation in the BRI as a function of firm-level and host-country characteristics and the firms’ perceived benefits and challenges from BRI participation. The results confirm some conventional wisdom but also reveal a number of surprising findings. Keywords: China; Belt and Road Initiative; foreign investment; trade; state-owned enterprise