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China turns on the charm to get its belt and road plan back on track
- Beijing’s diplomats are leading a global effort to breathe new life into the stalled multibillion-dollar scheme, but observers say revitalising it in a post-pandemic world will not be easy
- China said in June that about 60 per cent of projects under the plan had been affected in some way by the global health crisis
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Chinese diplomats have been on the road in recent weeks trying to whip up fresh enthusiasm for Beijing’s faltering trade and infrastructure development plan which has faced new pressures from the coronavirus pandemic.
Many projects under the multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative have stalled because of the global health crisis but that is not its only problem, analysts say.
Beijing has been accused of pushing developing nations into debt traps and of using the scheme as a foil for increasing its political leverage around the world.
In a bid to paint the initiative in a more positive light, State Councillor Yang Jiechi, one of China’s top diplomats, recently visited Sri Lanka, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Serbia, each of which is host to at least one belt and road scheme.
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On his return, Yang described the four countries as important partners along the route and said China was keen to develop more projects with them in the future.
Sri Lanka is home to Hambantota port, one of the most controversial developments under the belt and road scheme. Paid for with Chinese money, Colombo was forced to hand over the running of the facility to a Chinese firm in 2017 after it was unable to meet its debt repayments.
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It has since been held up by critics as a symbol of the worst aspects of China’s so-called debt trap diplomacy.
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