China’s BRI: Development or Debt?

中国的“一带一路”:发展还是债务?

The Real Story

政治

2023-10-13

48 分钟
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It has been a decade since Chinese President Xi Jinping's launched the Belt and Road Initiative, an ambitious plan to connect Asia with Africa and Europe through a series of land and sea networks via investments in local infrastructure. But ten years on has it been - as some claim - a debt trap for some developing economies, a road to nowhere? Or has the sweeping infrastructure project - which has funded trains, roads and ports in many countries - successfully expanded global trade links and helped the economic development of countries in Africa and Asia? Shaun Ley is joined by Eyck Freymann, economic historian and China specialist, currently a Hoover Fellow at Stanford University; Niva Yau, political scientist from Hong Kong and a non-resident fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub; Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese Studies and director of the Lau China Institute at King's College, London. Also featuring: Pakistan Senator Afnan Khan, Pakistan Muslim League, Victor Gao of the Beijing based Centre for China and Globalisation, a think tank with links to the governing Chinese Communist Party and Nicola Procaccini, Member of the European Parliament from the Fratelli d'Italia party (Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping waves to children upon arrival at Islamabad airport in Islamabad, 20 April, 2015. Credit: Pakistan Presidency Press Information Department /Getty Images) Producer: Rumella Dasgupta and Ellen Otzen

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  • And this week the Silk Road carried China's goods, culture and its ideas.

  • President Xi Jinping has spent his first decade in power reviving that ancient route, all 8,000 km, building ports, roads and data cables to link anew Asia and the world beyond.

  • President Xi has urged countries to work with China on what he calls the Belt and Road Initiative.

  • We should work together to promote the development of the international order and push.

  • It in a fairer and more rational direction.

  • More than 150 countries, some as far afield as Latin America, have embraced China's expertise and its money, including Pakistan.

  • Belt and Road Initiative has enabled Pakistan to develop its communication, transportation and power infrastructure and build up its strategic ties with China.

  • Some Western countries, though, warn of China's debt trap diplomacy and big projects which satisfy the ambition of local leaders may not serve the needs of their people.

  • Italy, for one, is considering pulling out.

  • Italian export to China more or less has been the same while the imports of Chinese goods have increased in just a couple of years.

  • So the advantages were only for China and not for Italy.

  • Supporters of President Xi say in future corruption will be rooted out, money will be spent more wisely and on projects of real worth.

  • But there's a bigger benefit too.

  • They say it shows developing countries an alternative route to prosperity than the old Western way.

  • I would say BRI is a huge success in several ways.