How China’s Trillion-Dollar Infrastructure Bet Undercuts U.S. Dominance

中国千亿级基础设施投资如何削弱美国主导地位

WSJ What’s News

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2025-02-23

21 分钟
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In great-power rivalries, it matters who's on your side. Twelve years since launching its Belt and Road infrastructure project, Beijing has funneled a trillion-plus dollars into projects in some 150 countries, literally planting its flag around the globe and acquiring a growing roster of economic and diplomatic partners in the process. In the first episode of our three-part series, “Building Influence,” the WSJ’s Gabriele Steinhauser and Lingling Wei, Boston University’s Kevin Gallagher and Stanford’s Eyck Freymann explain how the program has bolstered China’s economic security and given it a platform to cut deals that challenge Western-led norms and counterbalance U.S. influence. Luke Vargas hosts. Further Reading: China Shores Up Ties With Africa Despite Slowing Economy and Friction Over Debt  How China Capitalized on U.S. Indifference in Latin America  China’s Global Mega-Projects Are Falling Apart  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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  • Learn more at www.kpmg.us insights as the competition between China and the west, especially the United States, intensifies, it really is important how big your friend circle is.

  • That's the Journal's chief China correspondent, Ling Ling Wei.

  • And she's far from alone in noting that in the great power rivalry between the US And China, it matters who's on your side, whose network of trade partners is grow, who's able to call in diplomatic favors, and whose financial rules and political norms are being adopted.

  • For years, Washington's been either indifferent or inconsistent in its dealings with wide swathes of the globe.

  • At times, it's actively tested the patience of its longtime partners by going back and forth on international deals like the Paris climate Accord and the Iran nuclear agreement.

  • China, meanwhile, has been building influence a. Highway in Pakistan, a new seaport in. Sri Lanka, China's signature foreign policy outreach project.

  • China and Latin America are getting closer together.

  • Algeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, a hydropower plant in Uganda, a motorway in Serbia, South Africa, Mozambique, Nigeria and Uganda are all on board.

  • Since 2013, China's massive infrastructure program known as the Belt and Road Initiative, has funneled a trillion plus dollars to projects from mines and highways to smart cities and industrial parks in some 150 countries, liter literally planting the Chinese flag around the globe.

  • Trace a graph of China's spending dating back to the launch of Belt and Road and starting in 2018, you will notice its loans began to drop off and they remain a lot lower than they were just five years ago.

  • That could mean the Belt and Road went astray.

  • But what if it means it's already succeeded in growing its influence and getting a leg up on the US in the process?

  • I'm Luke Vargas and as we'll explore in this three part what's New Sunday series looking at China's infrastructure building activities around the world.

  • The Belt and Road hasn't all been smooth sailing, but over the first decade of the project, Beijing built up considerable influence in dozens of countries.

  • It's also adapted its program, learning from early pitfalls and doubling down on successful inroads across the developing world.