WASHINGTON – The announcement last weekend that the G-7a would support a US-led proposal to create an alternative to China’s eight-year One Belt One-Way Initiative was met with optimism measured by international development experts.
The experts welcomed the focus on helping low- and moderate-income nations develop the necessary infrastructure, but raised many questions about implementation that received no immediate explanation.
The plan aims to “boost a total of hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment for low- and middle-income countries in the coming years,” a White House document said. It is part of a broader effort being promoted by President Joe Biden, who said the G-7a and other democracies around the world are engaged in a battle with autocratic regimes like China and Russia to exert influence in developing countries.
“The effort, called the Global Partnership for Better Reconstruction, aims to ‘unite the world’s democracies to meet the challenges facing the world and deliver results for our people and for people honestly everywhere,'” said President Biden.
‘An extremely positive step’
“Certainly the fact that the United States was present and very committed to the G-7 is an extremely positive step,” said Lisa Bos, director of government relations for World Vision, a global Christian humanitarian organization. “The fact that we showed initiative was an extremely positive step. “But now, will we lead to achieve results and objectives and make those objectives truly meaningful?” She said.
Ms. Bos said the current circumstances, in which the pandemic has focused attention on the interconnected world and the value of strong institutions, have also created a kind of opportunity.
“Now is the time to revitalize and revitalize the work that many of the most developed countries are trying to do to create a safer, more prosperous, healthier world,” Ms Bos said. “If it does not happen now, then when will it happen? We are in a really critical moment and… now is not the time to retreat. “Now is the time to give it gas.”
Continuous follow-up is essential
“I think it’s really positive that the G-7 countries recognize the issue and recognize the need to react,” said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Society of America / Council of America. “There are real needs that need to be met. And people in emerging markets and elsewhere, even if they do not see solutions coming from democracies, will look for a solution wherever they can find one. “And China, of course, has a lot of money.”
To be successful, the B3W initiative, as President Biden’s administration is calling it, will require sustained efforts from all countries involved, Mr. Farnsworth said. The G-7a is made up of rich, highly industrialized nations – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
“Announcement can be done, but the key will be not just tracking, but meaningful, consistent tracking, so that it is not just for once,… but to actually be a priority,” he said. “Sustainability, in my opinion, is essential as well, because, you know, this has to be something that people know they can rely on… that if they sign up for a compact deal, or something like that, with the United States,” he said. or the EU, will still be operational three years later or five years later ”.
Not exactly competition with Beijing
As presented by President Biden as a clear challenge for China, it is clear that the areas the plan will focus on – climate, health and safety, digital technology, and gender equality, according to the White House – are not in it. really in direct competition with most of what China has done through the One Belt One Road program.
China’s focus has been mainly on large-scale projects in the traditional infrastructure investment category, including ports, highways, airports, dams, and so on.
This is not to say that the areas identified as the focus of the B3W program do not require significant investment.
Vital and interconnected
“Each of these four areas is important and they are interrelated,” said Michelle Brown, associate director at Action Against Hunger.
“COVID has demonstrated that a lack of investment in vital infrastructure in health and safety can have devastating consequences. Lack of basic services exacerbated the impact of the pandemic on rich and poor countries. “Social, economic and gender inequalities have further deepened the negative effects of COVID,” she said.
The effects of climate change and the lack of digital infrastructure in the most underdeveloped parts of the world, she added, only added to the damage caused by the pandemic.
More restrictions
It is very difficult for the B3W program to be able to operate with as few restrictions as Beijing’s one-party regime has.
The One Belt One Road Initiative has often included bilateral financing agreements between Chinese banks and developing countries, with the infrastructure projects themselves serving as collateral for the loans. The United States and partner countries operating in democracies with clear boundaries between the state and private businesses will not be able to orient funds with that kind of precision.
The B3W project will need to mobilize private and intergovernmental agencies, perhaps through loan guarantee programs and other financing measures that require much more in terms of transparency and risk avoidance than Beijing has demanded.
Complexity can be a good thing
Beijing’s freedom to act as it sees fit in reaching agreements under the One Generation One Road initiative has not always been beneficial, either for China or for countries supposed to have benefited from the program.
On a number of occasions, countries have found themselves unable to repay loans granted to them by China, raising concerns that Beijing’s creditor status gives it an unusual influence over domestic policy decisions that may affect Chinese firms.
In other cases, projects have been undertaken without the involvement of the communities that will be most affected by them. Some, as an ongoing project for a port in Peru, have damaged the local environment and disrupted the livelihoods of people who were supposed to be the beneficiaries.
Other projects, such as the Coca Codo Sinclair dam in Ecuador, have embarrassed all parties involved due to poor planning and poor execution which made the projects fail to deliver on the promise of economic benefits that was the primary reason for their construction. .
The possibility exists
According to Mr. Farnsworth of the American Society, the “Better Reconstruction Partnership” has at least the chance to reconfirm the position of democratic nations as the best alternative for the future development of nations.
He says this will be the case if President Biden and other leaders can present as a strategic benefit to their voters taking on a global leadership role as the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, rather than letting China help countries. developing to recover.
“This is not just a matter of finances, debt repayment and things like that, but there is a strategic perspective here – whether the West can react, or whether China will remain the lender. de facto of last-minute opportunity, “said Mr Farnsworth.
Chinese diplomats did not accept the results of the G-7 summit, with a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London telling Reuters that “the days when global decisions were dictated by a small group of countries are over”, adding that “We “We always believe that countries, big or small, strong or weak, poor or rich, are equal and that world affairs must be addressed through consultation with all countries.”
