Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    World
    Home / World / World Watch

    Group of Seven's PGII should aim for greater purpose

    By Adrian Ho | China Daily Global | Updated: 2022-07-22 09:16
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, US President Joe Biden, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and France's President Emmanuel Macron attend a meeting alongside the G7 leaders summit at Bavaria's Schloss Elmau, Germany June 28, 2022. [Photo/Agencies]

    The Group of Seven summit in Germany on June 26 to 28 committed to raising $600 billion over the course of five years to finance infrastructure projects in developing nations. This initiative, the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, is intended to overshadow the China-proposed, multitrillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. Some even project that the PGII will supersede the BRI. In my opinion, no.

    Let's begin by acknowledging the new initiative. The PGII can finance and facilitate infrastructure projects in developing countries that need funding. While it is anticipated that the US will contribute $200 billion, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared $317.28 billion in support for the program. According to the BBC, the PGII will exclusively focus on "climate change, improving global health, achieving gender equity and building digital infrastructure".

    China has been open on the BRI. Zhao Lijian, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: "China continues to welcome all initiatives to promote global infrastructure development. We believe that there is no question that various related initiatives will replace each other. We are opposed to pushing forward geopolitical calculations under the pretext of infrastructure construction or smearing the Belt and Road Initiative."

    However, it is a Cold War mindset to pitch the PGII against the BRI. It seems that politicians behind the PGII are attempting to recast the BRI, an orderly development plan, as a global power grab and to rehabilitate the West's reputation as a unified and potent player on the world stage.

    Leaders of the G7 are incapable of restoring the group's diminished heft and lost influence solely by denouncing the BRI. Such superfluous intent would only turn previously mutually beneficial cooperation into vehement animosity. Though they have touted their new infrastructure plans across the globe, there hasn't been much progress seen in countries in Latin America, Asia or Africa.

    As things stand, the PGII will be unable to adequately combat the BRI. The $600 billion that the West has committed to contribute is a mere drop in the ocean compared with the more than $4 trillion that analysts have estimated China will spend to build and develop the infrastructure for the Belt and Road. China has reportedly already spent $500 billion, according to the World Bank.

    Furthermore, amid a period of growing inflation and looming recession, it is dubious that the G7 countries will manage to deliver the promised $600 billion. The United States, for instance, has trillions in debt, with its own infrastructure in dire need of repair. The US Congress' willingness to authorize extra funding for projects under the PGII appears unrealistic.

    Since President Xi Jinping proposed the BRI in 2013, the initiative has been profoundly changing the landscape of more than 60 nations in Asia, Europe and Africa, transforming societies and economies.

    "In pursuing the Belt and Road Initiative, we should ensure that when it comes to different civilizations, exchange will replace estrangement, mutual learning will replace clashes, and coexistence will replace a sense of superiority," Xi said at the Belt and Road Forum's opening ceremony in 2017. "This will boost mutual understanding, respect and trust among different countries," he added.

    China is not the Soviet Union, and the BRI is not the Warsaw Pact. The world has evolved since the Cold War, and the West must adjust. As the second-largest economy in the world today, China is becoming more and more significant and influential in world affairs. Containing China would be likened to the Cold War, and such action should be vehemently opposed.

    The PGII should serve a greater purpose, rather than striving to contain China, and the West should cooperate to create a more prosperous and united society.

    As a political doctrine upon which the West is founded, liberalism ought to emphasize collaborating with others to build a better world as opposed to containing them. The BRI fundamentally seeks to achieve a sustainable and inclusive environment, and the West ought to encourage it rather than work to thwart it. The West shouldn't conceive of the world as a "zero-sum game" that only serves the interests of a few.

    The world is certainly large enough to accommodate both the BRI and the PGII, and developing economies need more help if Western PGII promoters genuinely seek to assist the populace. But if G7 politicians use the PGII to demonize China, it will not only turn out to be ineffectual, inadequate and incapable of derailing the BRI, and also turn the developing world more against the rich nations.

    The author is a member of the Central Committee of the New People's Party of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

    Most Viewed in 24 Hours
    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    久久久久亚洲av无码专区导航| 中文字幕日韩一区| 无码人妻丰满熟妇啪啪网站| 国产在线观看无码免费视频 | 精品无码人妻一区二区三区| 最近中文字幕免费完整| 亚洲Av无码乱码在线播放| 精品三级AV无码一区| 在人线AV无码免费高潮喷水| 最近中文国语字幕在线播放| 无码专区6080yy国产电影| 免费A级毛片无码专区| 亚洲av永久无码精品国产精品| 99re只有精品8中文| 人妻精品久久久久中文字幕一冢本| 草草久久久无码国产专区| 无码人妻一区二区三区免费看| 无码粉嫩小泬无套在线观看| 最近中文字幕免费mv在线视频| 亚洲中文字幕无码爆乳av中文| 97无码免费人妻超级碰碰夜夜| 无码人妻一区二区三区免费看| 亚洲乱码无码永久不卡在线| 久久精品无码一区二区WWW| 日本爆乳j罩杯无码视频| 无码国产精品一区二区免费| 十八禁视频在线观看免费无码无遮挡骂过 | 最近2019中文字幕免费直播| 熟妇人妻无码中文字幕| 熟妇人妻中文字幕无码老熟妇| 中文字幕亚洲欧美专区| 亚洲中文字幕在线乱码| 三级理论中文字幕在线播放| 娇小性色xxxxx中文| 最近中文字幕mv免费高清在线| (愛妃視頻)国产无码中文字幕| 亚洲欧洲中文日韩av乱码| 日韩AV高清无码| 人妻aⅴ无码一区二区三区| 国产亚洲人成无码网在线观看| 88国产精品无码一区二区三区|