Roving Periscope: Xi concerned about fate of BRI, asks officials to act

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: In four days (November 19-22), only 1,182 people ‘liked’ the news released by Xinhua, the official press agency of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The Communist Party-controlled China Global Television Network (CGTN) carried it globally.

Remember, the Communist Party of China (CPC), which celebrated its centenary in July 2021, claims a membership of over 95 million, and the news in question is about the USD 200 billion Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the world’s biggest-ever, and the most ambitious international dream project promoted by President-for-Life Xi Jinping, who addressed a high-level symposium on its progress on Friday (November 19).

The number of ‘likes’ may show how many Chinese themselves are really enthusiastic about the BRI, which Beijing believes would make China the world’s numero uno superpower! They know that many countries who signed up for these infrastructure projects have either backed out or revised terms of business, pushing China in the corner.

Xi himself admitted as much, although indirectly. “International environment has become increasingly complex for BRI,” he warned officials, according to the media reports, as he claimed that China’s “circle of friends” under the BRI is expanding.

This is the first time Xi spoke about the BRI after US President Joe Biden launched the rival Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative during the G-7 Summit in June 2021, with the goal of creating “a values-driven, high-standard and transparent infrastructure partnership” to help finance projects in developing countries.  China has so far played down any competition between the two, saying that the BRI is open for international cooperation.

But Beijing’s concerns about BRI surfaced when, without citing the Covid-19 pandemic, which many countries blame China for, Xi said the global environment for building projects under China’s BRI is becoming “increasingly complex.” He encouraged officials to push, seize the strategic opportunities and actively respond to challenges facing his pet initiative, which is facing tough competition from the US-led B3W plan.

Xi called for efforts to promote the high-quality development of the BRI through joint efforts and said the initiative should aim for high-standard, sustainable and people-centered progress.

He asked the officials to remain steadfast, actively respond to challenges, and move forward, and stressed the need for translating political consensus into concrete action and transforming idea recognition into practical results.

The President suggested expanding new areas of cooperation, such as pandemic control, low-carbon development, and e-commerce.

In his November 16 virtual summit with Joe Biden, Xi, in a veiled reference to the BRI-B3W initiatives, told the US President that the global initiatives China has proposed are all open to America as well, indirectly asking Washington also to join it!

With much fanfare, Xi had launched the BRI in 2013 as an initiative to fund infrastructure projects in the poor but natural resource-rich countries, taking advantage of China’s massive USD 3.21 trillion forex reserves to further Beijing’s global ambition and power. Dozens of countries signed up but many of them later had second thoughts as suspicion mounted over Beijing’s aims.

In particular, the BRI’s flagship project, the USD 60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) connecting China’s restive, Muslim-dominated province of Xinjiang with Pakistan’s Gwadar Port, became controversial after India protested as it passed through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). Even in Balochistan, angry people protested against the CPEC, and several Chinese officials have been killed in terror attacks recently. Some Pakistani intellectuals, as well as senators, have condemned the CPEC, to the extent of calling it another “East India Company”-like effort to colonize Pakistan.

Lack of transparency in BRI agreements and mounting debt on smaller countries have also raised global concerns. For example, the 99-year lease of Hambantota port in Sri Lanka to China has raised red flags about the downside of the BRI and Beijing’s push for major infrastructure projects costing billions of dollars in small countries.

But, the launch of the rival B3W initiative, which emphasizes transparency and democratic values, forced China to hurriedly rebrand the BRI. Han Wenxiu, an official with the ruling Communist Party for Financial Affairs, told the media recently that: “We should make sure that BRI adapts to new circumstances and new vitality”.

“First, we will lay great emphasis on green belt and road development” giving importance to green infrastructure, green energy, and green finance, he said, apparently responding to concerns about China’s reckless plans ignoring environmental issues.

Even Xi voiced his concern, stressing that it is necessary to “correctly understand and grasp the new situation facing the joint construction of the BRI”.

Realizing the negative impact of Covid-19 on the BRI, he called for enhancing international cooperation in combating the pandemic and pledged to continuously provide assistance to the BRI within China’s capabilities.