The US should stop trying to sabotage BRI projects

In early 2015, the Barack Obama administration tried desperately to block the United Kingdom and several other European countries from joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank by accusing, without any basis, the then newly established bank of possible low environmental and governance standards.

The real reason, according to former US treasury secretary Larry Summers, was that the Obama administration could not secure any funding from the Republican-controlled Congress to join the AIIB. And to save itself from embarrassment, the US administration tried to prevent European countries from joining the bank.

The attempt has been widely criticized by Republicans and Democrats both as a blunder. Former US deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick, who famously said that China should become a “responsible stakeholder”, sighed that when China was playing the role of a responsible stakeholder, the US tried to stop it. The US is trying to do the same again. While the AIIB provides much needed infrastructure financing for countries, the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative aims to build connectivity linking Asia, Europe and Africa. The initiative, which has been endorsed by more than 100 countries, is aimed at building roads, bridges, railways, ports and other infrastructure facilities, in order to help expedite economic growth, especially in developing countries, which are often haunted by high youth unemployment.