Xi Jinping famously described the Belt and Road Initiative as the ‘project of the century’. Here’s what you need to know.
ustralian anxiety over China’s investment ambitions in the Pacific has been growing. Beijing’s new defence contract with Solomon Islands fuelled fears of a Chinese naval base being built on our doorstep.
Since its launch in 2013, Belt and Road spending has reached $US932 billion, including $US561 billion in construction projects, according to theAn AidData reports documents “an extraordinary expansion in China’s overseas development finance program during the first two decades of the 21st century”. However, China’s dollars are usually loans, not aid, which has given rise to accusations of debt trap diplomacy. In 2017, China Merchant Port Holdings paid $US1.2 billion to become the majority shareholder of a 99-year lease on theInternational Port that was built with borrowed money.* China’s critics say this is debt trap diplomacy. China says the funding received from the Chinese lessee was not used to repay the China loans, but was used to repay other, non-Chinese lenders.
“Traditionally, we haven’t seen the high level of investment in the Gulf as we have in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia, but it is definitely growing,” Nouwens says. “All those countries are trying to diversify their economies and, in addition to infrastructure projects, it’s interesting to see the proliferation of Chinese tech investments in the Gulf.”, a network of 73 rail routes that connect China with Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, France and Spain.
It also wants to guarantee supply. There are discussions going on in Mauritania and Algeria around access to phosphorus or precious metals – while Beijing organises a low-cost loan to help expand port capabilities.A key element of Belt and Road is securing China’s energy supply. In 2017, it passed the US to become the world’s largest net importer of crude oil.
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