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Although China's Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have already been widely known, they are under-studied, and the existing literature is missing certain topics such as the study of official discourses on these SEZs. What this study attempts to address are these questions: Does the Chinese political discourse on SEZ development change in both the domestic and international contexts? How does the Chinese discourse adapt to the domestic and international audiences and adjust to their conjuncture? The authors search and analyze official five-year plans for discrepancies between discourses and interpretations from ministry to ministry, and between the Chinese and English versions of the official discourse. The aim is to introduce discourse analysis to this topic, contributing to the discussion a broader description and analysis of SEZ dynamics, as well as an overview of their adjustments in accordance with the ever-evolving Chinese political and economic projects.

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Currently, both domestic and overseas SEZs are key elements of the BRI and China's strategy to augment access with consent to the global community and to lay down a new blueprint for trade. The concept of a Lusophone Maritime Silk Road can be contextualised within the maritime leg of the BRI to refer to a commercial corridor which is an extension of the China–Indian Ocean–Africa–Mediterranean Sea Blue Economic Passage, which, in turn, is one of the BRI's three Blue Economic Passages. Facing significant challenges, SEZs in African Portuguese-speaking countries (APSCs) have been struggling for success, bringing only limited economic impact (there is also limited social indicators to reflect the impact). Using a theoretical-inductive perspective and mixed qualitative dominant approach, this chapter seeks to answer the main research question: What can be learned from the establishment of SEZs in APSCs in terms of performance (challenges) and experience (lessons)? The authors put forth a comprehensive model for analysing SEZs, using Mozambique's Nacala Special Economic Zone as a case study.