A Walk to China

The idea of walking from Europe to China may seem improbable in an age of high-speed trains and digital connectivity, but it is possible to take a path on foot from Rome to Kashgar, China, which Google Maps estimates would take over 200 days. The idea is not a new one, of course. The ancient Silk Road was a constellation of shifting trade corridors, with access dependent on imperial stability, local alliances and border controls. The same forces that shaped those ancient paths – trade, conflict and diplomacy – are still at work today. A journey along a modern version of the Silk Road offers a lens through which to view today’s fractured Eurasian landscape and the region’s geopolitics.

We have mapped two routes, and each tells a story of contested infrastructure and competing visions of international order. Roads and railways are built not only for movement but for influence. A single energy or transport corridor can become a diplomatic battleground, helping explain why countries along the route often hedge between offers of investment, promises of security and expectations of alignment.

Walking is slow and embodied; we are susceptible to climate and exposed to terrain. In looking at our map, we should be mindful that where lines are drawn can be arbitrary, but who gets to draw them, who can travel them safely, and who benefits from them in the long run are politically motivated. As Eurasian transit corridors multiply and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Global Gateway investment projects collide, the question is no longer merely how Europe and Asia will connect, but on whose terms.

Our journey begins in Rome, the heart of an ancient empire and historic trade centre. Two overland routes to China are possible, equidistant but fraught with their own complications for European travellers.

The Southern Corridor

The Italian ports of Trieste and Genoa have both signed BRI-linked memoranda of understanding in recent years, although Italy has since withdrawn from the BRI. The route from Rome then passes through the Western Balkans – Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia – countries for whom EU membership beckons and Chinese investment and Russian influence compete for primacy. Here, infrastructure financing is geopolitically strategic: the construction of railways, motorways and energy corridors has become a form of political virtue signalling. The road then continues through Bulgaria and Turkey, both frontier NATO members, before crossing into Iran, where some European tourists have recently fallen foul of the ruling regime and found themselves incarcerated for spying. From there, the route to China crosses into Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan – fossil-fuel-rich Central Asian states that are navigating their own future between Chinese economic power, Russian military legacies and growing interest from Gulf and South Asian actors.

The Northern Corridor

The Northern Route is less circuitous but potentially more dangerous for Europeans to travel. Leaving the NATO zone through Austria and Hungary, we cross the current fault line fracturing Eastern Europe: the war in Ukraine has turned the northern overland path into a potential death zone. Depending on travel restrictions, our journey could take us across either Poland, the Baltic states or Ukraine before entering Russia, which is unavoidable along the northern corridor. Kazakhstan is the last country to be traversed before we reach our destination of Kashgar. Often seen merely as a transit corridor between East and West, the country has gained in strategic importance, as it is rich in rare earths and other raw materials critical for the global green transition. With the European Union and other actors vying for a share, Kazakhstan is emerging as a vital partner in energy supply.

The Scramble for Eurasia

For Eurasia, connectivity has become a political project, shaped by unequal power, strategic intent and layered histories. China’s Belt and Road Initiative has laid tracks, roads and cables across dozens of countries, turning infrastructure into diplomacy by other means. Both Russia and China continue to expand their corridors via Kazakhstan into Mongolia, framing this development as part of a broader Eurasian integration effort that bypasses the West.

Eight years after the launch of the BRI, the European Union introduced its own strategy: Global Gateway. Focused on transport, energy and digital connectivity, this initiative reflects the EU’s geopolitical awakening, a shift from a traditional development assistance model towards an interest-based investment approach, where partnerships are built on mutual benefit. Of course, pulling this off in practice and overcoming all the practical obstacles will be another matter; it will not only require strong coordination among many actors, but also the endurance and spirit of adventure characteristic of the Silk Road’s ancient travellers.