China’s belt and road builds network its military could use: US report
- Overseas commercial ports and home-grown BeiDou navigation system among projects able to serve defence needs, think tank finds
- Beijing is creating ‘Sino-centric ecosystem’ – but US could partner with countries to offer alternatives, it says
Released on Tuesday by Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI), the report said China had carved out a model of building multipurpose infrastructure at what it called “strategic strongpoint sites” in countries including Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Myanmar and Cambodia.
It argued that China aims to create “a Sino-centric ecosystem of trade, technology, finance and strategic strongpoints” that could pave the way for military use to undermine “American influence and role as a security guarantor” in the Indo-Pacific region.
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Protest in Myanmar against China-backed Myitsone dam ahead of Aung San Suu Kyi’s Beijing trip
The think tank concluded that China’s network of infrastructure had yet to entail full-blown overseas military bases, and called on the United States to counter the efforts by working with regional partners to providing alternative infrastructure programmes.