Can America’s answer to China’s massive belt and road really make an impact at Apec?

The US Overseas Private Investment Corporation – soon to be renamed and armed with twice the funding – will be central to vice-president Mike Pence’s keynote speech at the summit on Saturday

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US Vice-President Mike Pence speaks during a press conference in Singapore on Friday. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:00pm, 16 Nov 2018Updated: 11:51pm, 16 Nov 2018

In November last year, the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) – America’s little-known state-run development finance institution – was on the budgetary chopping block along with 61 other agencies President Donald Trump was hoping to eliminate.

But in a dramatic about-face, OPIC – soon to be renamed and armed with twice the funding – is set to be front and centre of US Vice-President Mike Pence’s highly anticipated keynote speech on Saturday at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Papua New Guinea.

Going by Washington’s efforts to tee up the address in recent weeks, Pence is poised to describe OPIC as a key plank of American efforts to counter China’s trillion-dollar overseas infrastructure building spree, commonly known as the Belt and Road Initiative.

Pence’s speech will delve into America’s plan for a “free and open Indo-Pacific strategy”, a phrase geopolitical observers say is a euphemism for a policy of containing China.

Briefings from US officials and an op-ed by the vice-president himself in The Washington Post last weekend all suggest development financing will dominate Pence’s Apec speech.

Pence reviews a guard of honour during a welcome ceremony in Singapore. Photo: AFP