'Belt and Road' will carry China far

LAST week, China hosted a large-scale international conference to discuss the vision of its leader, President Xi Jinping, of connecting Asia, Europe and Africa through a network of roads, ports, bridges, tunnels, pipelines and other projects that involve 68 countries on three continents and about two-thirds of the world's population, with cumulative total investment estimated in the trillions of dollars.

China is certainly thinking big, at a time when the US is shrinking its footprint around the world.

It is important to keep in mind that China's Belt and Road Initiative is not the result of multilateral consultation. It springs from the mind of one man - Xi Jinping. And countries jumping on the bandwagon are indicating that they accept Chinese leadership, not just now but indefinitely, since these projects don't have an end date.