China’s mega infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), falls short by over $50 billion in financing while more than 60 percent of its projects remain unfinished in Southeast Asia, according to a new report.
Some China observers say the BRI, also known as “One Belt, One Road,” has become Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s most expensive failure, which could take down the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Sydney-based think tank Lowy Institute reported on March 27 that major BRI projects have stalled. Total expenditures in Southeast Asia dropped to $29.6 billion between 2015 and 2021, short of the $84.3 billion Beijing pledged.
According to the report, China has become Southeast Asia’s largest infrastructure financing partner. Yet there is an enormous gap between what Beijing promised and what it has delivered, amounting to more than $50 billion in unfulfilled project financing. More than half of this represents projects that have either been canceled, downsized, or otherwise seem unlikely to proceed due to several factors, including the nature and scale of the projects, political instability, local stakeholder engagement, and the global energy transition.
“Political instability has also often coincided with corruption and weak governance,” the report pointed out.
Wang He, a China affairs commentator, said the BRI facilitates the export of the Chinese regime’s corruption, authoritarianism, and debt traps.
“Among these issues, corruption stands out prominently, although the Australian report is somewhat ambiguous on this issue,” Mr. Wang told the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times.
“There are many problems in the governments of the recipient countries involved with China’s BRI projects, but the root cause lies with the Chinese Communist Party,” Mr. Wang emphasized, adding, “The combination of the two leads to the failure of the BRI projects.”
CCP leader Xi Jinping launched the BRI in 2013, aiming to promote large-scale infrastructure construction in Africa, Europe, and the Indo-Pacific region through substantial Chinese financing in the name of “a shared future for mankind.”
However, Xi’s ambitious expansion plan has sparked controversy, particularly involving debt traps and opposition among locals in BRI countries.
‘Bleak’ Future
Chinese-Canadian author Sheng Xue believes the CCP’s goal with the BRI is to extend its influence over participating nations by economically binding them to China and encroaching on their political sovereignty; thus, there are supporters and opposers of China’s mega projects in various countries.For example, she said, Italy recently withdrew from the BRI. In Pakistan, public opposition has grown, and attacks on Chinese personnel have occurred multiple times, she continued.
“The Belt and Road Initiative is also a project that incites hatred globally,” Ms. Sheng told The Epoch Times.
Mr. Wang said the BRI is Beijing’s global expansion roadmap. “But it’s a huge waste of the Chinese taxpayers’ money on projects that only hurt the host countries’ interest and populace.”
While the Chinese economic downturn slows down the progress of the BRI, many more countries criticize Beijing for neglecting local needs, and the projects are causing adverse environmental impacts to the participating countries.
Mr. Wang believes the BRI has an uncertain future.
“The BRI is shrinking in size, and the outlook is increasingly bleak because China no longer holds the economic capacity to sustain the BRI, and the corruption associated with the projects is rampant,” said Mr. Wang, referring to how Beijing has shifted its anti-corruption probe toward overseas activities, and the investigation would only intensify the power struggles among CCP officials.
“More BRI projects are expected to fall short, and the CCP will soon find itself strangled by this mega initiative,” he added.
Ms. Sheng concurs. “When the BRI participating countries realize that China’s on the verge of collapsing economically and politically, they’ll decouple from China, and Xi Jinping will soon learn that the Belt and Road Initiative is his biggest ‘unfinished project,’” she said.
