WASHINGTON—China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is one of the world’s most ambitious and controversial development programs. Under the Trump administration, the United States is rolling out new infrastructure projects and other initiatives in the Asia-Pacific in an effort to counter China’s growing footprint in the region.
In recent years, however, BRI has come into question as most of the projects are financed through Chinese state-controlled lenders, leaving borrowing nations distressed by massive debt burdens.
While the BRI turns five, America's response to China’s ambitious plan is pretty recent, according to Daniel Kliman, a senior fellow in the Asia-Pacific security program at the Center for a New American Security, Washington-based national security think tank.
“This reflects a failure of imagination,” he said at a panel hosted by the Heritage Foundation on Dec. 17.
“Much like we saw in the case of Chinese land reclamation in the South China Sea, I think American policymakers initially had not fully appreciated the scope and speed of belt and road and how it would serve to advance Chinese interests in the world,” he explained.
The current administration, however, has taken a strategic view on the BRI and seen it as part of China’s ambitions to become a world superpower and challenge the U.S. position.
US Response
In recent months, the Trump administration has voiced a far harder line against China and its growing footprint. Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO summit in Papua New Guinea on Nov. 16 Vice President Mike Pence criticized the BRI and said the United States “offers a better option.”“We don’t drown our partners in a sea of debt. We don’t coerce or compromise your independence,” he said. “The United States deals openly [and] fairly. We do not offer a constricting belt or a one-way road.”
National Security Adviser John Bolton echoed the same concerns about China’s BRI. Speaking at an event this month, Bolton condemned China’s strategic use of debt to hold African countries captive to his demands.
He called the BRI “a plan to develop a series of trade routes leading to and from China with the ultimate goal of advancing Chinese global dominance.”
The bill establishes the United States International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) and doubles America's development finance capacity to $60 billion. The IDFC will facilitate the U.S. private sector investment in emerging markets “in order to complement U.S. assistance and foreign policy objectives.”
According to Kliman, the bill is “a potential game-changer in terms of U.S. resourcing.”
Cooperation in Response
The United States has also launched a coordinated response to Chinese backed investments, cooperating with allies in the region like Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. For example, America and its Pacific allies announced last month that they would build a $1.7 billion electricity grid in Papua New Guinea.According to Kliman, there are also efforts to constrain Chinese investment in developing countries.
“For example the United States, this summer, unveiled a new transaction advisory fund. Essentially it would help countries evaluate potential Chinese deals and not being taken advantage of in the way that happened in Sri Lanka,” he explained.
Kliman also said the United States would support investigative journalists in countries where China has invested, making it harder for Beijing to cut backroom deals that leave nations burdened with debt and put their sovereignty at risk.