(Image:Twitter/Andy Boreham)
The ‘world’s most ambitious’ project is on a reality check as numerous reports started surfacing on China’s ‘Project of the Century’, which conceived a massive expansion of the Chinese soft power through a close interlacing of infrastructure investment.
‘Project of the Century’ is an initiative of Belt and Road (BRI) implemented by the Republic of China. The project was announced by the country’s President Xi Jinping at the 2017 Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, and is a $1 trillion (approximately Rs. 8,32,33,75,00,00,000) plan to expand Chinese soft power through infrastructure, and promised tremendous infrastructure financing for 65 nations.
China from the beginning itself faced several blames and occurrences of criticism from multiple fractions across the world, as the project forces poor and middle-income countries to the edge of an economic default and leaving them with billion-dollar unfinished projects, known as “white elephants”, reports the Bloomberg.
The project was also a highly anticipated and endeavoured attempt by China to overpower America in matters of economic capacity and world visibility. But things went upside down. Sri Lanka is an example of China’s enthusiastic lending and confusing debt plans. Beijing is said to host this year’s BRI Summit from October 17-18 and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe is expected to attend it, at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
In recent times, Italy announced their withdrawal from the project by the end of 2023, as the European country failed to meet the expectations. Italy is the only country from the G7 (an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, and US) to be a part of the BRI.
As the New York Times reports, “China’s role has shifted from being the world’s largest bilateral lender to also its largest debt collector”. The United States, reportedly, is also thinking that the BRI is in great trouble. As they evaluate, China starves of capital to lend and pressure is growing on its shoulders to regain the enormous money it loaned, reported the Bloomberg.
