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Chinese President Xi Jinping sought on Friday to alleviate growing concerns over his ambitious Belt and Road initiative, promising to prevent debt risks and claiming that his global infrastructure project "is not a good thing. exclusive club ".
Xi made the remarks at a foreign policy summit, which aims to reinvent the ancient Silk Road to connect Asia to Europe and Europe. Africa through mbadive investments in maritime, road and rail projects.
The initiative proposes to provide developing countries with much-needed modern infrastructure, but critics say it mainly favors Chinese companies while indebting indebted countries and causing damage to the environment.
China rejected accusations that Belt and Road is a "debt trap" and a geopolitical tool for Beijing's ambitions to become a global superpower.
"The Belt and Road is not an exclusive club," said Xi at the gathering of 37 world leaders.
In a nutshell, Mr. Xi said: "We must also ensure the commercial and fiscal viability of all projects so that they can achieve the planned objectives as planned."
Finance Minister Liu Kun said Thursday that China will present the forum with a debt sustainability framework to "prevent debt risks" – an initiative welcomed by the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde.
Chart on the mbadive investment project in China's infrastructure, including road, rail and sea routes around the world. By Laurence CHU (AFP)
The opacity of the agreements between Chinese companies and local governments also sounded the alarm.
"Everything should be done in a transparent way and we should have a zero tolerance for corruption," Xi said.
China will also promote "green" development, he said, while some large-scale projects are causing environmental damage in Asia.
Debt issues
Leaders from 37 countries came to Beijing for the three-day forum, attended by representatives from many other countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, whose country became the first G7 member to join Belt and Road, are among the top spots.
But the powers of the EU, Germany and France, send ministers instead.
The United States, which sent a senior White House official to the first BIS summit in 2017, did not send any Washington officials.
In the midst of tensions over trade and other diplomatic difficulties, Washington called the BIS a "vanity project" and reprimanded Rome for joining the project.
Since Xi launched Belt and Road in 2013, China has invested $ 90 billion in projects, while banks have granted more than $ 300 billion in loans, according to Chinese officials.
But examples of debt problems abound.
Sri Lanka sold a deep-sea port for 99 years to China after being unable to repay its loans. Pakistan needs an international rescue plan.
And Montenegro had to make tough choices after endorsing Chinese debt to pay a Chinese company for the construction of a new highway.
Elections in Asia, particularly in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Malaysia, have been successful, as trademark protections have been used to dispel fears of an erosion of sovereignty.
The new Malaysian Prime Minister canceled some planned works and renegotiated a railway project reducing the price by 30%.
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