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Beijing learns from belt and road mistakes as US overseas lending catches up, says study
- China is taking steps to ‘future-proof’ the financing of its transcontinental infrastructure projects, according to the research lab AidData
- New analysis tracks tens of thousands of projects in 165 low- and middle-income countries that were financed with US$1.34 trillion in Chinese grants and loans
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Bochen Hanin Washington
Washington is closing the overseas development spending gap with Beijing – which remains the single largest official source of international development finance – but China is better equipped to lead in the long run, a new report said.
The analysis published on Monday by AidData, a university research lab at William & Mary in Virginia, found that China was becoming an “increasingly adept international crisis manager” and learning from its mistakes with the Belt and Road Initiative, its flagship global infrastructure project that was launched in 2013.
The analysis was based on tracking 20,985 projects across 165 low- and middle-income countries financed with grants and loans from China worth US$1.34 trillion from 2000 to 2021. Unlike other similar data sets, AidData captures a broader set of debt instruments and lending and borrowing institutions, including state-owned commercial banks.
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AidData found that in 2021, China’s aid and credit commitments to low- and middle-income countries were around US$80 billion, while Washington’s development finance stood at about US$60 billion. Two years before, that gap was over US$60 billion.
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China’s Belt and Road, 10 years on
China’s Belt and Road, 10 years on
The researchers also found in 2021, the G7 outspent China by US $84 billion in development financing, but notes that the G7 has a history of “over-promising and under-delivering”.
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