China seeks to prove critics wrong with star belt and road projects
- Report highlights ports and railways that Beijing hopes will yield fast, positive results for local communities and investors
- They include ports in Pakistan and Greece – both of which have been criticised as ‘vanity projects’ – and the China Railway Express
They appeared in a joint statement signed by China and 37 other countries at the end of the three-day Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Saturday. And they also featured in a report issued by the Office of the Leading Group for Promoting the Belt and Road Initiative – the top body coordinating the scheme, led by party heavyweight Han Zheng.
China is hoping the infrastructure projects will yield quick, positive results for local communities and investors, and that their success could help Beijing counter criticism and suspicion of its strategy.
“These projects are meant to show how China will carry out the belt and road plan and set good models for future development,” said Wang Heng, an international business expert at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
“China will be eager to promote these projects if they prove to be successful, but it’s still too early to say whether they can pull it off.”
The highlighted projects could also strengthen the land and maritime trade routes China is seeking to develop through Eurasia.
