As many regions along the Belt and Road have long been struggling with terrorist attacks, crimes, wars, and corruption, political risks pose important challenges for infrastructure projects and transnational investment. The objective of the article is to contribute to the identification of different types of political risks along the Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and the visualization of their micro-level spatial distribution based on the Global Database of Events, Language, and Tone (GDELT) datasets from October 2013 to May 2018. By adopting the bivariate Moran’s I model to compare the distribution of political risks along the Belt and Road and that of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) investment and construction projects based on data from the China Global Investment Tracker (CGIT), the article also generates an overall political risk profile for Chinese BRI projects. Our findings show that a particularly high percentage of Chinese BRI projects are distributed in regions with high political risks. This research has important implications for the discussion and study of the BRI. First, by combining geographic spatial statistical analysis and political science conceptual frameworks, we point out the necessity to query the BRI from interdisciplinary perspectives grounded in empirical research. Second, the research delivers to researchers, academics, practitioners, consultants and policy makers interested in the BRI the latest insights into the risks and challenges along the Belt and Road. Third, it advocates policies and strategies conducive to identifying, assessing and mitigating political risks in investment along the Belt and Road and to strengthening the sustainable development of the BRI.

Along with China's growing presence and influence in the Middle East, there are many misconceptions about Sino-Middle Eastern relations. This article unravels two questions: How has China understood the role of the Middle East in recent years? How has China framed its own role in the region? To address these questions, the article examines the reports of Sino-Middle Eastern relations in Chinese official media, and articles written by Chinese diplomats and scholars. Based upon content analysis, we find that neither the role of the Middle East nor the role of China itself has fundamentally changed in Chinese narratives. Although China has realized the necessity to adjust its role in the region, such idea is still abstract, immature, and ambiguous. The fact that China often proposes new diplomatic concepts before filling it with concrete substance is a root of the gulf between overseas and Chinese perceptions on Sino-Middle Eastern relations.