Beijing: President Xi Jinping will lead a hard sales push at a Beijing summit this week, to corral more countries into a global infrastructure project at the core of China’s superpower ambitions and win over those who see a strategic threat. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) envisages massive investments in maritime, road and rail projects across 65 countries from Asia to Europe and Africa that collectively account for 30 pc of global GDP. If fully realised, it could shape the world economic and geopolitical landscape for decades to come.
But its scope and ambition have divided Europe, while US officials have called it a “vanity project”, and detractors have warned that it is laden with debt risks and opaque deals favouring Chinese firms and labour. Despite the criticism, momentum appears to be on Xi’s side, with leaders from 37 countries flocking to Beijing for the three-day summit beginning Thursday. It’s the second such event, with an inaugural 2017 summit bringing 29 leaders together. China added a key nation to its Belt and Road roster when Italy became the first G7 member to sign on to the project last month.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will participate in the summit and Switzerland appears set to sign on with President Ueli Maurer flying to Beijing. Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders from Europe, Asia and Africa will also attend, but major EU nations are sending ministers and the United States said it would not have a high-level delegation.
