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  • Think of the BRI as both a massive trade

  • network

  • and a political vision. It started with a

  • speech that President Xi Jinping made

  • back in Kazakhstan in 2013.

  • He talked about building a new trade

  • route based on the old Silk Road

  • an ancient network that linked Asia, the

  • Middle East and Europe for almost

  • 2,000 years.

  • The Belt and Road Initiative basically

  • weaves together lots of projects.

  • It could be China building things from

  • scratch, upgrading existing

  • infrastructure,

  • handing out loans or making investments.

  • There are overland routes that connect

  • China to central and south Asia, the

  • Middle East and Europe.

  • That's the "belt". It includes what's

  • called the China-Pakistan Economic

  • Corridor

  • where around $60 billion are

  • being spent on things like coal and

  • hydro power plants,

  • wind farms, highways and a new high-speed

  • rail link between Peshawar and Karachi.

  • Then there's the "road" part which is

  • slightly confusing because it actually

  • refers to a maritime

  • Silk Roadsea routes that connect China

  • to Southeast Asia,

  • Africa and Europe. It includes major

  • investments in ports across the world

  • places like Sri Lanka, Dubai, Djibouti,

  • Greece and Spain. Even as far as Peru.

  • Now we listed some of the big examples

  • but BRI

  • specifics are hard to come by. There's

  • actually no confirmed list of everything

  • and everyone involved

  • but it's estimated to include 2,600

  • projects in more than 100 countries.

  • And that makes it hard to come up with

  • an accurate price tag.

  • So what's the endgame here? Well, for

  • China the BRI is obviously about trade.

  • But all this global interconnectedness

  • and the huge amount of money involved

  • means the Belt and Road Initiative is

  • also political.

  • By building all this stuff China is also

  • exporting its version

  • of economic development. Now, the way the

  • West has usually done it is to provide

  • economic support but with conditions

  • attached

  • like certain democratic reforms. China's

  • style is different.

  • The World Bank reckons that China's BRI

  • projects

  • could lift more than 7 million people

  • out of extreme poverty

  • and that transport projects could boost

  • global trade by up to 6.2%.

  • And, of course, there are lots of

  • countries eager to take China's money.

  • Djibouti is one example. Its BRI projects

  • include a major port, a new railway line

  • to the Ethiopian capital and a gas

  • pipeline.

  • China's put up around $14 billion

  • in investments and loans for Djibouti

  • between 2012 and 2020.

  • But there are riskslike corruption.

  • Especially because there's so much

  • secrecy surrounding most of these BRI

  • deals.

  • So,

  • it's politicians making these deals

  • and there are plenty of examples of

  • ordinary people losing out.

  • Another thing to remember is that with

  • all the talk of Chinese money funding

  • these projects

  • it's often more accurate to say that

  • it's actually Chinese loans.

  • And that creates another riskthat some

  • countries could be taking on

  • too much debt. Remember Djibouti? It's

  • facing what the World Bank calls

  • "debt distress". Its debt to China amounts

  • to 70% of its GDP.

  • And look at Sri Lanka.

  • Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa

  • borrowed billions to develop a massive

  • new port.

  • When Sri Lanka struggled to pay back the

  • money it ended up with a new deal

  • that gave China control of the port for

  • 99 years.

  • That led to accusations that the loans

  • compromised Sri Lanka's sovereignty,

  • which China denies.

  • But it's this kind of thing that's

  • led to some people calling the Belt and

  • Road Initiative

  • a "debt trap for vulnerable countries".

  • Others

  • disagree.

  • And

  • it seems

  • this success has got Western powers,

  • especially the United States,

  • paying more attention.

  • At the recent G7 summit they set out

  • their own plan,

  • complete with its own snazzy

  • abbreviation — B3W

  • which stands for Build Back Better World.

  • They're emphasizing things like

  • transparency,

  • good governance, the environment and

  • bringing in the private sector to help

  • fund it all.

  • But B3W is thin on details. There's no

  • budget

  • and no timetable.

  • Now, one way to

  • look at all this

  • is that it's another area of competition

  • between China

  • and the West.

  • But maybe

  • there's another way to look at it.

  • If China and the West are competing that

  • could give more choice,

  • more opportunity and crucially more

  • money to developing countries that

  • desperately need it.

  • The Belt and Road Initiative is about

  • China's position in the world.

  • It's their strategy to outshine everyone

  • on the international stage.

  • But some countries really don't like the

  • idea of the Chinese

  • calling the shots.

  • If you want to know more there are lots

  • of reports from Al Jazeera

  • correspondents about Belt and Road

  • projects from around the world.

  • You can find those on YouTube or on our

  • website. See you next week.

Think of the BRI as both a massive trade

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一帶一路(What is China's Belt and Road Initiative? | Start Here)

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    joey joey 發佈於 2021 年 12 月 31 日
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