China’s Belt and Road: Unfinished Projects and Huge Debt

Chinese leader Xi Jinping gives a speech at a press conference after the Belt and Road Forum at the China National Convention Center at the Yanqi Lake venue in Beijing on April 27, 2019. Wang Zhao/Getty Images

News Analysis

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a “debt trap” and “data trap,” according to British MI6 chief, Richard Moore. Eight years into the program, the BRI is littered with half-built bridges, unfinished projects, overbudget railways, roads to nowhere, significant debt, and angry people.