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China touts its Belt and Road infrastructure lending as an alternative for international development

Published:Tuesday | October 10, 2023 | 1:39 PM
High-speed train is parked during the opening ceremony for launching Southeast Asia's first high-speed railway, a key project under China's Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, at Halim station in Jakarta, Indonesia on October 2, 2023. China is touting its 10-year-old Belt and Road Initiative as an alternative model for economic development, releasing a government report that praises the program while glossing over criticism that it has saddled poor countries with too much debt. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, File)

BEIJING (AP) — China is touting its 10-year-old Belt and Road Initiative as an alternative model for economic development, releasing a government report that praises the programme while glossing over criticism that it has saddled poor countries with too much debt.

The programme championed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping has financed the construction of ports, power plants, railroads and other projects around the world.

“Over the past 10 years, the fruitful results of building the Belt and Road together and the growing circle of friends have fully proved that the Belt and Road does not engage in a closed and narrow circle, transcends the old mindset of geopolitical games and creates a new paradigm of international cooperation,” Li Kexin, the Foreign Ministry's director for international economics affairs, told reporters in Beijing.

Since it was launched, the Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, has backed projects carried out mostly by Chinese construction companies and financed by loans from Chinese development banks.

Its official goal is to boost trade and investment by improving China's transport links with the rest of the world. Analysts credit the programme with directing needed funding to poor countries but say that came at a cost.

A study released Monday by Boston University's Global Development Policy Center said the BRI had delivered more than $330 billion in loans to developing country governments through 2021, lending more than the World Bank in some years.

“On some level, China has added a World Bank to the developing world, and that is no small feat and very appreciated by developing countries,” said Kevin Gallagher, the centre's director.

But the same study noted that many recipients of Chinese loans are now struggling with their overall debts.

Also, Chinese-funded power plants are emitting about 245 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, adding to emissions of climate-altering greenhouse gases.

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