Science and Education Publishing Journal of Behavioural Economics Finance Entrepreneurship Accounting and Transport 2376-1334 4 3 2016 9 29 Background and Strategic Significance of the 'Belt and Road Initiative' of China 49 53 EN Zhu Ruixue School of International Business, Dalian Minzu University, Dalian, China Liu Xiuling Cai Li JBE2016432 10.12691/jbe-4-3-2 2016 5 6 2016 8 16 2016 9 27 Chinese President Xi Jinping raised the initiative of jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road in 2013 (hereinafter referred to as the Belt and Road). The paper aims to analyze the background and the significance of China's 'Belt and Road Initiative'. And it finds out that the 'Belt and Road Initiative' has profound international and domestic background and it has strategic significance to China's geopolitical and economic security, energy security, RMB internationalization, economic transformation and upgrading, etc.