‘Silk Road’ plan stirs unease over China’s strategic goals

The exhibition shows the outcomes that the initiative – which aims to revitalise the ancient Silk Road trade routes from Asia to Europe – has achieved so far and its future prospects. The land-based projects are the belt.

Cooperation is on the rise between Chinese enterprises and American enterprises in implementing projects in a third country, not in China or the United States, but in Africa, for example.

So it’s no wonder that so many world leaders will be turning up in Beijing to claim a piece of it. “We can make things better by engaging with China instead of needlessly containing it”, he said.

Though sold as a “win-win” programme for all involved, the scheme is ultimately meant to further Chinese economic interests by generating new business for Chinese companies, especially in sectors like steel and construction that suffer from excess capacity, and by promoting Chinese finance on an worldwide stage.

Analysts have expressed concern over the Asian giant’s attempt to take a lead in global commerce, cautioning that an integrated world trade system where China’s Communist party sets the rules could come with serious risks and hidden costs.

Li noted that globalization and regional integration is also driving China to promote the BRI.

The initiative is in many ways natural for China, the world’s biggest trader. Conservative estimates note that Obor will require at least $2 to $3 trillion each year.

It has been compared to the Marshall Plan – the huge redevelopment initiative undertaken by the USA to rebuild Western Europe in the wake of World War II, after which it emerged as a global superpower – though Chinese state media has vociferously rejected this analogy.

Total population reach 4.4 billion and share of global economy 30 per cent.

The infrastructural projects should be market oriented and ensure sustainability, the governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) noted. But some of the projects could be in development for years. All feed a fundamental yearning among ordinary Chinese: to see their country’s prestige and status rise. China has previously said its highway work “targets no third country”.

Alexander, a former chief secretary of the British Treasury, stressed that “it is not only China that is talking about the importance of infrastructure investment”, European countries including Britain has also emphasized the importance of connectivity.

Some countries are unstable, which poses security risks to Chinese companies and workers.

Critics fear China is seeking economic and strategic domination, and human rights and environmental standards could be undermined.

Some Western diplomats have expressed concern in private at the high billing at the summit given to countries with poor human rights records, like Russian Federation and the Philippines.

Meanwhile, reports of trains loaded with Chinese goods trundling towards Europe laden but returning empty have led to the quip “One Belt, One Way”, Dreyer said.

Already, there is much discussion of Chinese foreign policy failures and economic losses in places such as North Korea, Sri Lanka and Venezuela, the Hong Kong scholar Cheng noted.

Samdech Techo Hun Sen said on Thursday that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative gives hope to developing countries in their infrastructure development.

Attending are heads of state and governments of 28 countries, including President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and six of his ASEAN counterparts.

Sourabh Gupta, a senior specialist with the Institute for China-America Studies, speaks at a roundtable discussion on the Belt and Road Initiative in Washington on Tuesday.

China has long used references to countries along the Belt and Road routes in its official communiques about the initiative.