The BRI project is a Chinese trade concept, based on the British Commonwealth. The only thing China does is copying. The CCP has a huge talent base which sees and researches everything possible to push China as an economic superpower. So it was a matter of time that they dissected the workings of the British Commonwealth and tuned it to their liking.
Feb. 27, 2021 Gravitas Plus: The Belt & Road initiative.
What is the British Commonwealth? The concept was envisioned in the Balfour Declaration at the 1926 Imperial Conference. Britain and its dominions agreed they were
"equal in status, in no way subordinate to one another in any aspect of their domestic or external affairs; though united
by common allegiance to the Crown, and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations".