China continues with Belt & Road Push, but more discreetly

Davos, Switzerland
Since Chinese President Xi Jinping unveiled in 2013 the "Belt and Road" initiative aimed at linking the economies of Asia, Europe and Africa to highways, railways and power stations Beijing has made this program a central element of its foreign policy.

But China has dropped the volume of its plan, although it still seems to be moving forward. Spending on this initiative also declined somewhat last year as the Chinese economy as a whole slowed.

Various top Chinese government officials are attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, including Vice President Wang Qishan, who is scheduled to speak on Wednesday.

None of them, however, participated in a panel at one of the forum's most important slots on Tuesday, which focused on the Belts and Roads Initiative and presented as a review of "the vision of China, expressed in thousands of dollars.

Instead, the vice president of a government-related professional badociation and the president of a state-owned company spoke of this initiative with caution.

With the exception of a long-standing meeting with African leaders in Beijing in September, China's top officials have been relatively uninformed about the Belt and Road program since last summer.

This initiative has been tainted with allegations of corruption, excessive spending on vanity projects, excessive debt and other problems such as Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the United States. 39; Uganda.

Tuesday's roundtable session seemed to be an opportunity to recast the image of this initiative before a host of government leaders and tycoons from developing countries, many of whom borrowed heavily from Chinese financial institutions to build infrastructure under the program. .

But China took a different approach.

Xu Niansha, chairman of the Chinese state group China Poly, apologized for not having many statistics on the program. A rare case, as Chinese companies and government officials often treat their speeches and discussions with numbers.

In general terms, Mr. Xu said China's rapid economic growth over the past few decades has placed it in a better position than many countries to foster economic development elsewhere.

"We know what people need," he said. "That's why I think we can do a better job in cooperation."

The latest data available from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce show that the value of new contracts signed under the Belt and Road initiative fell by 20.4% in the first 11 months of last year compared to the same period in 2017.

Almost all of these contracts are funded by Chinese state-owned financial institutions.

Frank Ning, president of Chinese chemical giant Sinochem, said at a roundtable that there was a new awareness in China of external concerns about how his companies are making investments in China. # 39; abroad.

"I think the Chinese are pretty confused. they thought they would be welcome in other countries, "he said.

Tian Wei, a well-known presenter on China Network's China Network, led the discussion on Belt and Road. The absence of Chinese government officials, who usually flee from the focus groups with foreign moderators for criticizing China, is somewhat surprising.

Tian often referred to resentment felt by some people in China against foreign criticism of the Belt and Road program, which helped build roads in developing countries that needed them.

"Let's talk about the facts, talk about case studies and talk about real stories, not just hearsay," she added.

Wang Yongqing, vice president of the Pan-Chinese Federation of Industry and Commerce, told the roundtable that China had helped with the construction of an industrial park in Ethiopia that manufactures products in leather.

But he and Xu avoided details of the hundreds of Belt and Road infrastructure projects already completed or under way.

Critics say Chinese construction companies have acted so quickly, in part because they bring in thousands of Chinese workers instead of locals and because they enter into special agreements with local authorities. developing countries allowing them to avoid paying customs duties on the machines they ship.

Xiao Yaqing, the government minister who oversees state-owned enterprises, was among the public.

Asked to speak by Tian, ​​he suggested a possible reason for the caution of Chinese officials when he said that the "Belt and Road" campaign was beneficial for Chinese companies as well as for other countries.

Critics have sometimes been voiced on Chinese social media, quickly suppressed by censors, according to which Beijing would spend money on overseas development that would be better spent at home, especially when economic growth slowed down in the country.

China has rethought two aspects of the initiative: how it decides on spending abroad and how the initiative is presented to foreign audiences.

In September, Xi pledged an additional $ 60 billion for projects in African countries, but he insisted that China would not pay for what he calls vanity projects.

Nobody thinks that Belt and Road disappear. Wang, vice president of the professional badociation, said China would invite entrepreneurs to events that would highlight business opportunities through this initiative.

Among business leaders from countries such as India who have been skeptical of this initiative, there are concerns about the continuation of this initiative and their abandonment.

"Indian business leaders are concerned that China is forging ties around the world," Gaurav Dalmia, chairman of the Indian conglomerate Dalmia, said in an interview before the conference.

"Indian companies can be left out for resources."