Britain joins a global bid to ‘thwart’ China
BRITAIN is to join a US initiative to spend “hundreds of millions of pounds” on infrastructure projects around the world to thwart China’s political and economic dominance of developing nations.
The move was disclosed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he met “hero” MPS and peers who were hit by sanctions by Beijing after they highlighted China’s “gross human rights violations”.
At an intimate Downing Street gathering yesterday he offered them his “full-throated support” and said: “HMG stands completely behind you and everything that you’re doing.”
China has already spent hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure
‘We are doing it to stop China’
projects in 138 countries as part of its so-called Belt and Road Initiative. Established in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, it aims to increase the Chinese Communist Party’s influence by connecting Asia with Africa and Europe through land and maritime networks.
On Friday, Mr Johnson held “meaningful” discussions with Joe Biden in which the US president suggested “we should have a similar initiative, pulling from the democratic states, helping communities around the world that need help”.
It followed a pledge by Mr Biden on Thursday that he would prevent China from overtaking the US to become the most powerful country in the world.
During a meeting with three MPS – former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Nusrat Ghani and Tim Loughton – and two peers, Baroness
Kennedy and Lord Alton, at Downing Street’s rose garden, Mr Johnson confirmed he was taking up Mr Biden’s challenge.
“I have decided and agreed with President Biden that we will set up a new G7 equivalent for the Belt and Road Initiative which is going to fund green development all over the world,” he said.
“We’re doing it to stop China buying up countries all over the developing world. It will be endowed with hundreds of millions of pounds.”
He pointed to “great swathes of Africa”, and Pakistan, which have received Chinese investment, adding:
“I’ve seen pictures of Gwadar port in Pakistan. It’s a huge port with no ships in it and Pakistan is now massively in debt to the Chinese over it.”
The five parliamentarians were part of a group of nine UK citizens targeted by Beijing with sanctions for their outspoken criticism of Chinese genocide of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. Mr Johnson praised them as “heroes”.
Experts last night pointed to a clutch of “priority” countries in South East Asia, Africa and South America which must be targeted to prevent high Chinese investment
resulting in political dependency. It is not known how Britain will fund the initiative, though the recently published Integrated Review highlighted possible reforms in the way the UK spends its foreign aid.
However, this would require breaking away from strict OECD rules. “If we want to do what China is doing then we either withdraw from the OECD and make our own rules or cut our official aid and compliment it with an additional outlay,” said James Rogers, of the Council on Geostrategy think tank.