Comment: Time for China to come clean on its goals for ‘Belt and Road Initiative’
Ankit Panda says questions regarding how Beijing will measure success of its massive trade and economic integration strategy must be answered at upcoming summit
On May 14, heads of state or government from more than two dozen states on almost every continent will converge in Beijing for the first-ever “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) summit.
Formally announced in 2013 in a fairly low-profile address by Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to Kazakhstan, the BRI has since become the pre-eminent cornerstone of Beijing’s grand strategy.
From the Mekong Delta to Balochistan, from Britain’s Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant to the second phase of Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port, the breadth and geographic expanse of projects covered under the BRI banner is immense, amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity.
While references to BRI or “One Belt, One Road” regularly crop up in discussions of Chinese infrastructure and investment initiatives abroad, the strategic purpose of the initiative remains somewhat obscured.
Part of this is because China itself hasn’t come out and told the world in succinct and uncertain terms what its overarching objective with BRI is.
One Chinese government document describes the initiatives – the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road – as “a great undertaking that will benefit people around the world”, suggesting a degree of altruism.
In Beijing’s telling, the “belt” and the “road” are the Eurasian landmass’ dividend, following multiple decades of breakneck growth in China.