Whether in traditional European and American shipbuilding powerhouses or in emerging shipbuilding nations such as Japan and Republic of Korea，external cooperation has long served as a vital instrument for shipbuilding enterprises to expand into international markets and manage production costs. China’s shipbuilding industry，boasting a vast scale and ranking as the world’s largest shipbuilding nation，possesses world-leading technology and talent，thus meeting the prerequisites for external cooperation. The initiation of the Belt and Road Initiative has presented significant opportunities for the internationalization of China’s shipbuilding industry. Despite the complementary advantages between China and Belt and Road Initiative participating countries in shipbuilding technology and labor costs，discrepancies in the shipbuilding industrial foundation and uncertainties in the investment environment introduce numerous risks to cooperation between shipbuilding enterprises from both sides. Against this backdrop，this paper，based on an analysis of the background of external cooperation in China’s shipbuilding industry，briefly outlines the development status of the shipbuilding industries in Belt and Road Initiative participating countries. It analyzes the complementarity between China’s shipbuilding industry and those of Belt and Road Initiative participating countries from five perspectives：geographical advantages，infrastructure，human resources，social stability，and the maturity of the shipbuilding industry. Additionally，it evaluates the opportunities for external cooperation of China’s shipbuilding industry in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative.