2023-10-10 23:43:50
BEIJING —
China touts its 10-year-old Belt and Road Initiative as an alternative model for economic development, and a government report praises the program while ignoring criticism that it burdens poor countries with too much debt. high.
The program promoted by Chinese President Xi Jinping has financed the construction of ports, power plants and railways, among other projects, around the world.
“In the past 10 years, the fruitful results of the joint construction of the Belt and Road and the growing circle of friends have fully demonstrated that the Belt and Road is not limited to a closed and narrow circle, it transcends the old mentality of geopolitical games and create a new paradigm of international cooperation,” Li Kexin, director of international economic affairs at the Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Beijing.
Since its launch, the initiative has supported projects carried out mostly by Chinese construction companies, financed with loans from the country’s development banks.
Its official goal is to boost trade and investment by improving transport links between China and the rest of the world. Analysts credit the program with channeling needed funds to poor countries, but they say it has come at a cost.
A study released Monday by Boston University’s Center for Global Development Policy indicated that the Belt has provided more than $330 billion in loans to developing country governments through 2021, outlending the World Bank in some years. .
“At some level, China has added a World Bank to the developing world, and that is no small achievement and is greatly appreciated by developing countries,” said Kevin Gallagher, the center’s director.
But the same study highlighted that many of the recipients of these credits now have problems with their high external debt. Additionally, Beijing-funded power plants emit about 245 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, adding to climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions.
According to Gallagher, the program took on a new focus, dubbed “small and beautiful,” that favors smaller projects and renewable energy.
China’s development loans have plummeted in recent years, partly because the country has learned from the debt crises that hit several nations and because Beijing has less money to lend due to a slowdown in its own economy.
Cong Liang, a senior official at China’s top planning agency, said during the report on the program that the country would adhere to the “sustainable debt principle” and work with indebted nations toward “a system of investment and financing.” sustainable and controllable risk.”
The initiative is part of China’s efforts to raise its international profile and counter US criticism of the Communist Party government and the country’s human rights record.
Chinese leaders, for their part, accuse Washington of trying to impose its principles on the rest of the world, including Beijing, and maintain that its system offers a different approach that accepts other countries as they are.
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