G7 leaders on Sunday unveiled a $600 billion infrastructure plan for developing countries, a program clearly designed to compete with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Germany He heard signals from the G7 summit in the Bavarian Alps that his plans would yield financial benefits without the debt traps to developing countries and the nature of loans to China for political interference:
Beijing has been accused of locking low-income countries into unsustainable debts to be part of the trillion-dollar BRI project, which has seen China expand its trading power in Africa, Asia and Europe.
The new G7 funding will focus on climate initiatives, among other projects, including $2 billion to solar farms in Angola, $320 million to build hospitals in Ivory Coast and $40 million to promote regional energy trade in Southeast Asia.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, said the G7 will deliver “sustainable and high-quality infrastructure” and will “listen carefully to the receiving countries”.
US President Joe Biden said the G7 proposal would not be “aid or charity” for Third World countries, but rather an investment that would benefit everyone, including Americans and citizens of all our nations.
On the other hand, Chinese BRI loans tend to force client countries. heavily indebted to a Chinese bank financing projects that make little profit or actually lose money.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) shakes hands with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (left) before their bilateral meeting at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. (Etienne Oliveo/Pool/Getty Images)
Another important difference noted Radio Free Europe (RFE) said on Sunday that the G7 plan will largely depend on funding from private investors. A few projects have already been announced, but most of that $600 billion has yet to come from willing private financiers:
Initial initiatives include a $2 billion investment in solar farms in Angola, a $320 million investment to build hospitals in Ivory Coast, and a $40 million investment to develop regional energy trade in Southeast Asia.
The $600 billion investment target is just a whim, but a senior US official, speaking to reporters, denied China had any real advantage.
“There is no doubt that the Belt and Road Initiative has been around for several years and a lot of money and investment has been put into it – and we will be here many years after their investment,” he said. “But I can tell you it’s not too late. I’m also not sure it’s too late for everything.
The official, quoted by RFE, said that many of BRI’s Chinese clients have changed their minds after administrations sometimes negotiating with Beijing were defeated in the elections, so there must be a healthy appetite for the G7 alternative.
There are also skeptics at the BRI who wonder how long China will be ready to take control. multi billion dollar losses from some infrastructure projects – especially after the next round serious zero covid lockdown It crashed the Chinese economy.
Medical workers wearing protective gear leave an enclosed area after spraying disinfectant in Shanghai’s Huangpu District, January 27, 2021. / China OUT (Photo: Getty Images via STR/AFP)
Chinese communist regime continues public assurance He says BRI is unique in the West, with many of its clients sticking to its relationships with Beijing, and attempts to prey on them through smaller alternative programs are only “intermediate periods”.
This was stated by Zhao Lijian, the official representative of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. regiment In a G7 proposal Monday, he said his government “welcomes all initiatives to help build global infrastructure”, but dismissed the Bavarian Alps statement as a half-hearted attempt to destroy and disintegrate the Belt and Road Initiative.
“Whether it’s the Build Back Better World initiative or something else, the international community wants to see real money and projects that really benefit people,” laughed Zhao, mocking the President’s incompetence. Joe Biden has invested billions in foreign projects voluntarily, especially in the development of America’s infrastructure.
“Monetary policy expansion, erratic financial innovations, malicious short selling and other US actions have exacerbated the debt burden of developing countries, and they are more responsible for their own country’s debt traps,” Zhao said. said Zhao angrily. The US criticizes China’s debt traps under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Source: Breitbart
