US ‘needs fund to halt China’

– The US should create a fund to counter China’s infrastructure financing deals in the developing world that export its “model of authoritarian governance”, a bipartisan commission told the US Congress in a report yesterday.

The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, tasked with monitoring the national security implications of US-China trade relations, has complied a report almost every year since 2002.

This year it said China’s efforts, as part of its Belt and Road initiative, to fund bridges and even digital networks in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe have given its government an excuse to maintain a military presence there.

The report recommended that Congress create a fund to help countries in parts of the world where China is expanding its influence. It also warned about the threat China’s push into the next-generation 5G wireless technology poses to US security and business interests.

China says it wants the Belt and Road initiative, launched in 2013, to improve global transport and trade links. Many of its firms and banks are engaged in building and financing major ports, rail, highways and bridges in countries ranging from Kenya to Malaysia and Russia. – Reuters