Belt and road forum: Xi Jinping signals China will stay the course in development pitch to Global South

The Chinese leader pledged the equivalent of US$107 billion over the next five years, matching a commitment given over the same timescale in 2017

Xi said ‘geopolitical rivalry and bloc politics are not a choice for us’ as he courted world leaders, including his most high-profile guest Vladimir Putin

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Chinese President Xi Jinping speaking at the belt and road forum on Wednesday. Photo: Kyodo

Jane Caiin Beijing,Sylvie Zhuangin BeijingandCyril Ipin Hong Kong

Published: 10:56pm, 18 Oct 2023Updated: 10:14am, 19 Oct 2023

China has matched its previous funding pledge for the Belt and Road Initiative, suggesting there will be little scaling back of its ambitions for the global infrastructure project despite growing questions over the country’s economic prospects.

Addressing dozens of world leaders gathered in Beijing for a forum to mark the 10th anniversary of the initiative, President Xi Jinping committed another 780 billion yuan (US$107 billion) to finance his signature project for the next five years.

The move indicated that the project remains central to his geopolitical vision, and closely ties his country’s development to emerging economies – a commitment one analyst described as “China putting its money where its mouth is”.

The latest funding round includes 700 billion yuan of loans from two Chinese policy banks – Exim Bank and the China Development Bank – and an 80 billion yuan capital injection into the Silk Road Fund, a state-backed investment vehicle.

This headline figure of 780 billion yuan is the same sum pledged at the first belt and road forum in 2017, when Xi promised to pump 100 billion yuan into the Silk Road Fund, offered 380 billion yuan in loans from the same two policy banks, and counted on financial institutions to raise the remaining 300 billion yuan.

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However, this time there was a greater emphasis on what Xi described as “small but beautiful” projects and green development, compared with the grand projects of previous years.