Ontological security of landlocked states and China’s Belt and Road Initiative

This paper examines how landlockedness shapes the attraction of Afghanistan, Nepal, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Using official documents, secondary literature and media sources, it argues that landlockedness influences both material interests and identity-based motivations. Geographic constraints heighten ontological insecurity, generating a desire for connectivity, recognition and agency. BRI investments thus offer more than infrastructure: they provide strategic narratives of inclusion and forward-looking development that align with these states’ identity aspirations. The BRI enables landlocked states to diversify alliances, reduce reliance on coastal powers and articulate coherent national trajectories within a shifting regional order.