Source:
https://scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3151766/us-offering-quality-alternative-chinas-belt-and-road
China/ Diplomacy

Is the US offering a quality alternative to China’s belt and road?

  • The United States has partnered with the OECD to try to set high standards for infrastructure investment, particularly in the developing world
  • But the US efforts should not be defined by China’s initiatives, observers say
The Ethiopia-Djibouti railway is just one of a legion of projects that China has been involved in in Africa. Photo: Xinhua

When US Secretary of State Antony Blinken unveiled a new partnership with the OECD in Paris this week, the overt goal was to combat corruption and promote “high-quality” infrastructure.

But the partnership is also part of a broader effort to provide an alternative to China’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, an infrastructure development plan that Washington claims has burdened countries with unsustainable debt.

“At a time when others are driving an approach to infrastructure projects and developing economies in which overseas companies import their labour, extract resources, fail to consult with communities, end up driving countries into debt, we’re here today because we’re championing a different approach,” Blinken said.

“Rather than race to the bottom, we together, with like-minded government, private sector, and civil society partners, we want to spark a race to the top for quality, sustainable infrastructure around the world.”

However, the US and China do not have to see themselves as competitors in this kind of funding, observers say.

Belt and Road Initiative explained

02:35

Belt and Road Initiative explained

The partnership falls under the banner of the Blue Dot Network, an initiative founded by the governments of Australia, Japan and the United States in 2019 to attract private investment into infrastructure, particularly in developing countries.

Commercial lenders from the US and many developed nations see low-income countries, especially those in Africa, as risky and have shied away from financing projects in those nations, leaving the way for many Chinese companies to secure contracts, from Africa to Asia and the Americas.

Under the partnership, the US and its allies Japan and Australia with technical support from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, will tackle corruption and certify “quality projects” that meet the network’s “robust international standards”.

The Blue Dot Network certifies projects that members of the Group 7’s Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative can invest in and fund.

B3W was launched in June with plans to invest US$40 trillion in developing nations by 2035, ­including Africa, where China is the largest financier and infrastructure contractor. Under B3W, projects will need to meet the highest global standards in areas such as procurement transparency and related governance issues – a regular criticism of China’s belt and road.

David Shinn, a professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, said Blinken’s comments at the launch on Tuesday sounded like a counterpoint to the belt and road without directly saying so. But the G7 and China did not have to be in opposition.

“In my view, the G7 would be well advised to pursue the B3W initiative without reference to the [belt and road],” Shinn said.

“They are different initiatives and one does not preclude the other. The more distance that can be put between B3W and the [belt and road], the better. The B3W should go forward on its own merits.”

Chinese cash funds African coal plants despite environmental concerns

02:06

Chinese cash funds African coal plants despite environmental concerns

Chris Alden, an international relations professor at the London School of Economics, said Blinken’s announcement built on collaborative efforts to restore market share in the infrastructure sector in regions that the belt and road has come to dominate, especially in Africa.

“The appeal of standards and in particular the focus on combating corruption offers a counterweight to the narratives coming out of Beijing which have proved so compelling to African governments in the recent decade, namely China’s lack of conditionalities and speed of delivery in infrastructure projects as compared to OECD donors and the World Bank,” Alden said.

Seifudein Adem, a professor of global studies at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan, agreed that the US efforts were a reaction to China’s policies and activities, rather than the result of intrinsic interest.

Adem said the idea of countering the belt and road with “high-quality infrastructure” in Africa was voiced by former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Nairobi in August 2016.

In any case, the US and G7 backing was positive.

“It is indeed a good thing that there seems to be a renewed interest in investing in Africa’s infrastructure. Africa has a huge infrastructure deficit; it should enthusiastically welcome all the investments it can get,” he said.

Jonathan Hillman, a senior fellow and director of the Reconnecting Asia Project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said Blinken’s comments at the OECD reflected a strategic shift in both substance and style.

“The substantive shift is that the United States is now more focused on expanding the availability of high-standard infrastructure projects globally,” Hillman said.

“The stylistic shift is that US officials are spending less time publicly criticising what their competitors have been doing and more time talking about the benefits of what the United States and its allies are offering. That message is more likely to resonate in the developing world.”

One early example of cooperation was a subsea cable extension to Palau co-financed by the United States, Japan, and Australia, the three countries were also the early driving force behind the Blue Dot Network, Hillman said.

“I expect more projects will follow, not only through Blue Dot and the G7’s Build Back Better World partnership but also through the Quad, which includes India and has a new infrastructure coordination group,” he said.