Opinion | Why the US-led response to China’s belt and road is a cause for celebration, not alarm

Name: Belt and Road Initiative explained
Uploaded: 2021-06-24T21:30:19.000Z
Duration: 2 min 35 s
Description: Belt and Road Initiative explained

The Blue Dot Network and Build Back Better World initiatives signal constructive competition among superpowers for the hearts and minds of the world

The infrastructure plans could bring about better, more affordable investment options for developing nations and help reduce geopolitical competition

Reading Time:4 minutes

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Richard Heydarian

Published: 5:30am, 25 Jun 2021Updated: 5:30am, 25 Jun 2021

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel,” the saying attributed to the great poet Maya Angelou goes. As for 21st-century geopolitics, people may forget what leaders said or how nations behaved in the past, but they will never forget concrete assistance, especially in terms of large infrastructure projects.

In the past decade, infrastructure development has become a defining priority of governments and the pivot of geopolitical competition. There is a great sense of urgency, with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) warning of a US$907 billion gap in annual infrastructure investments across developing Asia alone.

No wonder that China’s Belt and Road Initiative, covering more than 2,600 projects across the Eurasian land mass, has attracted tremendous attention in recent years. Reactions range from welcome across the developing world to scepticism among more developed nations.

In response, the Biden administration is gathering global allies to create an alternative to China’s initiative, chief among them the Blue Dot Network (BDN), with Australia and Japan, as well as the Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative with fellow Group of 7 (G7) countries. The profusion of such acronyms should be a cause for celebration rather than alarm, since it represents an indispensably constructive competition among superpowers for the hearts and minds of the world.

The French Emperor Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte was arguably the first modern leader to truly appreciate the importance of massive infrastructure projects to political capital and prestige. Thanks to his patronage, the great urban planner Georges-Eugène Haussmann oversaw the late-19th-century transformation of Paris into the architectural marvel that stands today.

02:35

Belt and Road Initiative explained

The construction of sprawling boulevards and gorgeous gardens went hand in hand with the more mundane renovation of sewers, aqueducts and overcrowded flats. These men knew in their hearts that infrastructure development could have both a comprehensive impression and lasting effect on civilisations.

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