2 | Thursday, April 25, 2019 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY

BRI poised to take greater shape

By ANDREW MOODY World leaders attending key gathering on initiative in Beijing Policy Studies at United States think [email protected] tank the Cato Institute, regrets that the US has not taken a more positive he future shape and direc­ stance on the initiative. tion of one of the world’s “The US actively lobbied countries most important initiatives is to eschew the initiative and not join. set to be decided in Beijing. To me, that was showing a lack of TSome 37 heads of state or govern­ confidence. The idea of bringing ment, including Russian President infrastructure to countries where it Vladimir Putin, Italian Prime Minis­ is lacking will benefit the global ter Giuseppe Conte and Pakistani economy, including US companies,” Prime Minister Imran Khan, will he said. take part in the Second Belt and Terry Miller, director of the Center Road Forum for International Coop­ for International Trade and Eco­ eration, which begins on Thursday. nomics at The Heritage Foundation, Alongside them will be 5,000 par­ another US think tank, agrees that ticipants from more than 150 coun­ the initiative can deliver benefits, tries. but said there is a need for more clar­ All the participants will make ity. their way to the China National Con­ “It can be positive for China and vention Center for the three­day the recipient countries. There is not event, which is themed “Belt and enough knowledge about the goals Road Cooperation: Shaping a that China is trying to pursue, and Brighter Shared Future.” transparency in terms of its motives. At the first forum two years ago, If this were better known, it would the initiative progressed to being go a long way to improving the one that all countries could take part understanding and perhaps accept­ in, not just those along the Silk Road ance of the project,” he said. Economic Belt, the land route taking Justin Vaisse, director­general of in Central Asia and the 21st Century the Paris Peace Forum, which held Maritime Silk Road, which winds its its first international summit last way through Southeast Asia to Afri­ year, believes the BRI has to be seen ca and beyond. as a step in the right direction. To date, some 126 countries across “One’s first reaction to the Belt and the globe and 29 international orga­ Road is that it is positive. It is an nizations have signed 174 BRI coop­ addition to connectivity, develop­ eration documents. ment and infrastructure, and not a Since the initiative was announced subtraction,” he said. by President Xi Jinping in 2013, trade But he hopes the forum will give volumes between China and partici­ the initiative greater shape and form. pating countries have exceeded $6 “At the moment, it is very plastic, trillion, with investments of more very flexible. China has now grown than $80 billion. Some 300,000 jobs in terms of being an economic pow­ have been created. er and is now a norm­setter. We Western countries, many of which want to see what sort of norms it will be represented at the forum by wants to put in place and what senior politicians, have increasingly mechanisms,” he said. embraced the initiative, with Italy in Ian Goldin, professor of globaliza­ March becoming the first G7 nation tion and development at Oxford to sign a memorandum of under­ University who was economic advis­ standing. er to late South African president Many experts believe this marked Nelson Mandela, said the BRI is giv­ a turning point and that other West­ ing developing countries much ern countries will begin to give more more choice in terms of attracting support to the initiative. finance. Kishore Mahbubani, a former “The only option for countries diploma and now an academic in was to accept investment or aid Singapore, believes the forum could from Europe, the US, or on the other be a crossroads for this to happen. side of the Cold War, the Soviet “The fact that Italy has participat­ Union. Now, we are in an environ­ ed is a big deal. It is a real break­ ment where countries have a choice through, and now it is a question of LI MIN / CHINA DAILY because of the Belt and Road and getting another one or two G7 mem­ they can decide for themselves what bers to join,” he said. they do. This can only be a good The initiative is also becoming thing,” he said. increasingly popular with many in Mahbubani, the intellectual and the business community in the Unit­ author of Has the West Lost It? A ed States. Provocation, said the forum will also David M. Rubenstein is co­founder involved. The UK Amitav Achar­ believes it is the national develop­ be an occasion to celebrate the initi­ and co­executive chairman of US is represented at ya, distinguished scale of the invest­ ment does.” ative’s successes. global investment company, The Car­ the forum by professor of inter­ ment that remains H o w e v e r , He cited the 19.2­kilometer­long lyle Group, one of the country’s lead­ Chancellor of the national relations the most impress­ Frankopan said Kamchiq Tunnel through the ing private equity investors. Exchequer Philip at the American ive aspect of the that although the Qurama Mountains in Uzbekistan, “The Belt and Road has had a posi­ Hammond, who University in initiative, as more forum will be a built by the China Railway Tunnel tive effect on China and I think it has also attended in Washington, said projects are set to chance to reflect Group, now unites two regions of been enormously positive on the Kishore 2017. Peter the challenge for Martin be announced at David M. on what the BRI the country that had been histori­ countries in which they (China) have Mahbubani “My view is that Frankopan the initiative at the Sorrell the forum. Rubenstein has achieved, it cally separated. The project was made investments,” he said. when the UK forum will be to In his new will take much completed in just 900 days. “Clearly, the US does not have any­ comes out of the European Union, if it emerge as more multilateral. book, The New Silk Roads: The longer to make a wider judgment on “It is a wonderful initiative and thing comparable, and therefore we does come out, it will have no choice. “The initiative needs to have more Present and Future of the World, he this. has led to some significant success must recognize that we need to do We will have to establish stronger collaboration with multilateral insti­ quotes Cambodian Prime Minister “Five years is not a great period of stories, which we don’t hear enough more to be a visible force if we are relationships, both trading and politi­ tutions. So if, for example, you have a Hun Sen, who said: “Other countries time in historical terms to assess it. of,” he said. going to have an impact on those cal, with countries outside the EU, project with country X and China pro­ have lots of ideas but no money. But The key test will not be whether “It should be remembered that no countries (like China has had).” otherwise we will become increasing­ vides funding but there is also addi­ for China, when it comes with an infrastructure projects look good, country is forced to join the Belt and Martin Sorrell, founder of WPP, the ly marginalized,” Sorrell said. tional money from the World Bank idea, it also comes with the money.” but whether they can actually signif­ Road, but it just so happens that the world’s largest advertising and public “I don’t think we have yet put our and the Asian Development Bank, it Frankopan said: “I think he (Hun icantly improve the GDP and pro­ majority of countries in the world relations company and now execu­ best foot forward in China, and the will become more integrated into the Sen) is right. These projects, for the ductivity of China’s neighbors,” he want to.” tive chairman of S4 Capital, a market­ question of whether we sign up to the global governance system,” he said. large part, do have the ability to said. ing services company, wants to see BRI is just one of those decisions that Peter Frankopan, professor of glob­ raise living standards and do the Daniel Ikenson, director of the Wang Linyan contributed the United Kingdom become more has to be made.” al history at Oxford University, kind of things that large­scale inter­ Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade to this story.

years in 2017. He said that despite some of the “The reason resistance to the initiative coming Landmark project’s scope and the port was from the United States, many US com­ leased to China panies are very enthusiastic about it. was to pay off “I had a meeting with about 14 importance emphasized by author debts to the rest chief supply chain officers of some of the world of the biggest companies in the because they world in Frankfurt recently, and By ANDREW MOODY in 2013, was not just for China but people when it mattered, he said. were coming each of them had a Belt and Road for the whole world to embrace. “Orthodox economists always due. It was not to strategy and angle and could see the The Belt and Road Initiative is He said it is “moving on from a underestimate infrastructure Left: Parag pay off debts to benefits of it,” he said. one of the most important projects position where China is dominant demand. If the World Bank hadn’t lis­ Khanna China,” he said. “A number of US companies think in human history, according to Par­ to one where there is wide participa­ tened to those economists and hadn’t Above: The He points out it is brilliant and the best thing that ag Khanna. tion. Many countries are connecting backed away from infrastructure cover of his that less than 20 has ever happened to them because of The well­known public intellectu­ to many other countries, and China finance in the 1960s, the Belt and recent book. percent of the the business opportunities it creates.” al and author of the recent book The may in some cases be part of the sto­ Road wouldn’t exist because there outstanding Khanna said the initiative is vital Future is Asian: Global Order in the ry, but not all,” he said. would be no need for it,” he said. debt of Pakistan, for developing countries, particular­ Twenty­first Century said it is diffi­ Khanna dismisses those who Khanna is an international rela­ ic and multiplier effect of infrastruc­ an important BRI country with its ly those in Africa. cult to play down the initiative’s argue there is a danger of building tions specialist and managing part­ ture on economic growth, China­Pakistan Economic Corridor “Africa is never going to the importance. too much infrastructure and creat­ ner of Future Map, a strategic consumption, urbanization, diversi­ infrastructure projects, is actually world’s factory floor, because the “It is the largest coordinated ing “white elephants” as a result. advisory company. fication and job creation.” owed to China. robots are coming and manufactur­ infrastructure investment program “Most economists take a view that Some of his most important ideas Khanna believes much of the cov­ “Pakistan can go to the IMF if it ing labor will not be needed there,” in human history,” he said. infrastructure is entirely demand on the importance of infrastructure erage of the initiative in the Western feels it has to, it can go to Saudi Ara­ he said. The 41­year­old Indian­American driven and that orthodoxy is a com­ feature in his 2016 book Connectog­ media has been “skewed, wrong and bia and other friends and raise the “What Africa needs is to have was speaking in Madrid, the Span­ plete failure. China, the Gulf coun­ raphy, Mapping the Future of Glob­ not fact­based”, particularly when it capital necessary to reduce its expo­ infrastructure so that it can have a ish capital, ahead of the Second Belt tries and others prove that a supply­ al Civilization. relates to countries getting into debt sure to China at any time,” he said. service economy to enable people to and Road Forum for International driven infrastructure strategy “You have a few ‘white elephants’, to China. Khanna said he is shocked by just move freely across the continent Cooperation, which begins in Bei­ works,” he said. but so be it, because the vast majori­ He cites the example of Ham­ how many misperceptions there are and work in retail, education and jing on Thursday. There would be no need for the initi­ ty of infrastructure investment is bantota Port in Sri Lanka, which about the initiative, “despite the fact healthcare. This is where Africa is Khanna said the initiative, ative now if the World Bank and other mutually beneficial,” he said. was built and funded by China and that all the data is out there and not headed, but they will never get there announced by President Xi Jinping institutions had listened to the right “You can obviously see the catalyt­ subsequently leased to it for 99 difficult to find.” without a road.”