Chinese President Xi Jinping will defend his flagship infrastructure project and lay out his plans to clean up the controversial initiative to some 40 global leaders at the Belt and Road forum.
About 5000 attendees from across the globe will be in the audience for Xi’s speech Friday morning at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing. Already at the conference, Chinese officials have pledged to improve funding arrangements for projects along the Belt and Road network, in response to criticism that the initiative saddles developing countries with loans they can’t repay.
Xi unveiled the initiative—dubbed the “project of the century”—to rebuild ancient trading routes across Eurasia in 2013, and China’s government has since poured billions into his plan from Africa to the South Pacific. The president champions his signature project as a means to spur development, goodwill and economic integration, but critics are wary of an increasingly assertive superpower’s push to spread its influence.
At least seven countries who’ve agreed to Belt and Road projects have suspended, scaled back or terminated them, or experienced backlash for their involvement in the program. Earlier this month, China struck a deal with Malaysia to resume the East Coast Rail Link project for 44 billion ringgit ($10.7 billion)—down from 65.5 billion ringgit—after deciding to terminate it in January as the Southeast Asian country struggles to narrow its budget deficit.
More Control
To address some of the concerns, Beijing is taking a range of steps to exert more control over the program, officials and participants said. They include a more muted publicity drive, clearer rules for state-owned-enterprises, restricted use of the Belt and Road brand, and building overseas auditing and anti-corruption mechanisms, according to officials and participants who have spoken to Bloomberg.
The People’s Bank of China will “build an open, market-oriented financing and investment system,” Governor Yi Gang said in brief remarks on Thursday. The government also released its analysis framework for debt sustainability.
In March, a senior official from China’s top economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission, said China wants to combine its manufacturing and construction know-how with the advanced technology of Western firms on the global trade-and-infrastructure program, pledging greater cooperation with American and European companies on Belt and Road ventures.
