The road ahead
believe that China is practicing “debt-trap” diplomacy and neocolonialism with the aim of controlling other countries politically and plundering them economically.
Since the BRI is only 10 years old, China hasn’t done enough in the study of international cooperation under the BRI and corresponding international communication. Some misunderstandings are understandable, but it requires China to put more effort in these areas and help the international community to know a true BRI.
Second, some said that some BRI projects were not well implemented. For example, some claimed that there is a lack of information transparency in the implementation, and some others accused businesses carrying out BRI projects of destructing the ecology or polluting the environment. There are also voices criticising the BRI, saying its projects haven’t hired enough local workers or female workers, or did poorly in labour protection.
I went on field trips to more than 20 BRI projects. I saw how they have helped participating countries to improve local transportation conditions, increased power supply, promoted trade development and industrialisation, ensured food security, created new employment opportunities, reduced poverty, added export earnings, and improved education and health services in these countries.
These are basic facts. Many BRI projects have been completed and are currently operating smoothly, continuing to generate a positive impact on the aspects we have mentioned. At the same time, I did find some problems during my field research as well.
For example, I found that some projects could hardly make ends meet after being put into operation, creating significant financial pressure. For some industrial parks, after they were completed, investment and construction of supporting facilities were not able to be carried out as anticipated.
Besides this, there were some environmental issues that existed in some of the early BRI projects, which caused opposition from local villagers. Political instability and frequent policy changes in some countries also forced several BRI projects to halt, resulting in economic losses. Some projects were adversely affected by changes in international geopolitics.
Third, some foreign countries also oppose the BRI in the interest of their own strategic goals, or even deliberately distort, attack, confront and suppress it.
In the end, we must make an objective judgment on the construction of the BRI. We can improve the joint construction of the BRI from the following two aspects.
On the one hand, the Chinese government and enterprises should strengthen cooperation with the host government and local enterprises. While continuing to promote the economic development of the host country with BRI projects, they should pay more attention to promoting social development in the future.
In particular, the implementation of BRI projects should help to advance human rights protection in host countries, including improving local people’s rights to employment, education, and security, their environmental rights, digital rights, as well as the rights of women and children.
On the other hand, infrastructure projects usually need large investment and long construction cycle, but generate low investment return, and are usually vulnerable to geopolitics and macroeconomic policies. Therefore, Chinese investors need to enhance their risk prevention awareness and take precautions.
Chinese enterprises should guard against risks in political, economic, social, cultural, legal and other fields, so as to ensure the safety of their investment in BRI projects and their financial sustainability. In this way, the BRI can be translated into tangible benefits in a sustainable and high-quality manner.
In conclusion, China and the participating countries and enterprises in the BRI should further strengthen cooperation. Drawing on experience and lessons from the past decade, they need to prove to the world by practical actions that the joint construction of the BRI has indeed promoted global common development, enhanced the livelihoods and wellbeing of people around the world, brought tangible benefits to all participants, improved the human rights of the people of various countries, and played a positive role in building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Over the past decade, Chinese enterprises have invested about $1 trillion in BRI projects. The investment has directly or indirectly benefitted a group of countries whose population accounts for 65 percent of the world total.