US President Joe Biden rebooted his effort to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) after an earlier campaign faltered, enlisting the support of G7 leaders at their summit in Germany.
The Build Back Better World initiative, named after Biden’s domestic spending and climate agenda, struggled to get off the ground because not enough G7 partners contributed financially when it was unveiled a year ago, people familiar with its lack of progress said.
“When democracies demonstrate what we can do — all that we have to offer — I have no doubt that we’ll win that competition every time,” Biden said during an event on the sidelines of the summit.
Photo: AFP
The plan has been rebranded the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, and the US is calling on leaders to agree to fund the launch of projects in middle and low-income countries to the tune of US$600 billion over the next five years.
It would consist mostly of private sector investments, with some funding from the US International Development Finance Corp and the US Export-Import Bank, as well as commitments from foreign governments.
The US would contribute US$200 billion in total, although it is unclear what the split would be between private and public sector funding, and how the government plans to convince companies to take part.
Photo: AFP
There is the potential for the same challenges to crop up under the initiative’s latest incarnation, in part as the G7 prioritizes other issues such as taming inflation and dealing with the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) said his country welcomed any initiative that promoted global infrastructure at a regular news briefing in Beijing yesterday.
“We believe there’s no such thing as relevant initiatives countering or replacing each other,” he added. “What we oppose are moves to advance geopolitical calculations and smear the BRI in the name of promoting infrastructure development.”
Among the G7-backed projects announced on Sunday are US$2 billion in solar projects in Angola, a US$600 million contract to construct a submarine telecommunications cable that would connect Singapore to France through Egypt and the Horn of Africa, and US$14 million to support a design study for Romania’s deployment of a small modular reactor plant.
The official said the US would focus on investing in projects that help supply chain security by making the US and other allies less reliant on China.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy joined the summit via video link from Kyiv and said he wants the war to be over by the end of the year, officials familiar with his remarks said.
G7 leaders adopted a declaration pledging to support Zelenskiy and his government “for as long as it takes.”
US President Joe Biden is set to announce the purchase of an advanced surface-to-air missile defense system to help protect Ukrainian cities.
Zelenskiy addressed each of the leaders individually with a specific comment, the officials on condition of anonymity.
He requested support on flight defense systems, security and financing for reconstruction, as well as help on unblocking exports of the country’s grain.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
ELITE UNIT: President William Lai yesterday praised the National Police Agency’s Special Operations Group after watching it go through assault training and hostage rescue drills The US Navy regularly conducts global war games to develop deterrence strategies against a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, aimed at making the nation “a very difficult target to take,” US Acting Chief of Naval Operations James Kilby said on Wednesday. Testifying before the US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, Kilby said the navy has studied the issue extensively, including routine simulations at the Naval War College. The navy is focused on five key areas: long-range strike capabilities; countering China’s command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting; terminal ship defense; contested logistics; and nontraditional maritime denial tactics, Kilby