Rethinking Belt-and-Road debt

Developing economies need the infrastructure financed by China, but worry about the debts - and the compromises - they may have to make.

Published Mon, Sep 3, 2018 · 09:50 PM

China

Hong Kong

CHINA has launched a new publicity drive to promote the benefits of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) - and the surprise is that a publicity campaign is necessary at all.

BRI was unveiled in late 2013 to build infrastructure in Asia, Africa and Europe, strengthening trade linkages via new versions of old land and sea routes between East and West. It aims to show that China is a strong global payer, financing viable projects and not just projecting strategic power.

Soon afterward, the initiative was widely seen as a propaganda masterstroke, providing badly needed investment in roads, railways, power and ports to countries in dire need of such infrastructure, while showing China's commitment to open trade. Chinese money was seen as cheap, available and without some of the strings attached to loans from the likes …