This papers looks at the "hard" and "soft" motivations behind China's One-Belt-One-Road (OBOR) initiative. The "hard" motivation is in part premised on China's geo-political ambition, which may be explained from the perspective of Sir Halford John MacKinder's Heartland Theory. The "soft" aspects of the OBOR demonstrate China's ambition to developing the so-called "discursive power" in playing a leadership role in international rule-making. On the latter, the papers argues that China has to meet the following conditions: (1) respectable hard power; (2) soft power in holding values and ideology to appeal to other countries; (3) the capability to produce ideas and convert ideas into rules; (4) media trusted by the international society; and (5) the political will to actively participate and take responsibility in international affairs. China is currently not in the position to satisfy those conditions, but the OBOR may provide an opportunity or at least a lab for China to develop those abilities.