Belt and Road Initiative boosts China’s clout overseas, but concerns like debt-trap diplomacy remain: Observers

Belt and Road Initiative boosts China's clout overseas, but concerns like debt-trap diplomacy remain: Observers

POWERFUL Political SUCCESS, BUT ISSUES CONTINUE

When Mr. Xi emphasized the need to build a new business course modeled after the initial Silk Road, which connected China and the Far East with the Middle East and Europe, the BRI was launched in 2013.

It laid the groundwork for his reputation initiative, a sizable infrastructure development network intended to reroute international trade. & nbsp,

According to observers who spoke with CNA’s Asia First on Monday, October 16, the project has mostly been a huge political accomplishment for China. & nbsp,

However, the nation’s personal economic growth is sluggish, and the COVID-19 pandemic is still having an impact.

Jobs are stalled and banking has declined. Due to the significant debts owed by a number of partner nations, Beijing’s lending practices are no longer sustainable.

” What turns out in the end is not always going to be what was initially advertised, like many( major infrastructure ) projects.” According to Associate Professor Chong Ja Ian of the National University of Singapore, that is the same for the BRI. & nbsp,

” Due to the difficulty of system. It’s quite dangerous to really invest a lot of money in areas that are less developed and where governance structures are somewhat weaker.

According to Dr. Chong, whose research and teaching emphasize foreign relations, the venture had anticipated encountering a number of problems, including social pressure and economic problems. & nbsp,

But what’s interesting is that China, like many other great power, believed it had somehow alter the course of history. China has therefore gained effect, to be sure, but it is not the kind of unquestionable good that I believe Xi Jinping first extolled the virtues of the project.