In an alternative world, it is an intriguing possibility. A series of stripped-down regional infrastructure projects to rival China’s Belt and Road Initiative, the trillion-dollar program of ‘New Silk Road’ superhighways, connecting the country with Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America.
But in reality, this proposed plan by Australia, the United States, India and Japan is starting to resemble a “threat” to the world’s second-biggest economy’s ambitions of increasing its global footprint.
As news leaked out about the blueprint from a senior US official in the influential Australian Financial Review, Beijing immediately viewed it as an attempt to counter its spreading influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
Before leaving for a trip to the United States for a meeting with the US President Donald Trump in Washington, the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull tried to put the project into perspective.
Asked about the scheme, he blamed the media for always looking at issues as if they were Cold War-style rivalries. “That’s not the way we see the region,” he told Sky TV.
Even Tokyo played down the big four’s Belt and Road 2 project. Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, pointed out that it was normal for the group to regularly exchange views on issues of mutual interest.
“It is not the case that this is to counter China’s Belt and Road,” he said.
But in practice, when Prime Minister Turnbull goes to the White House on Friday, China will have a prominent place on the agenda.
The Australian PM has already talked about the need for “trillions of dollars of additional infrastructure investment” in the region, which could be interpreted as a direct challenge to the ‘New Silk Road’ scheme.
Naturally, this could involve the 11 members of the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trading bloc of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, even though the US pulled out of the TPP under President Trump.
Prime Minister Turnbull will also try to balance the Washington administration’s ‘America First’ dictum with his commitment to strong economic ties with China. After all, the US is the single largest destination for Australian overseas investment, worth US$482 billion, and its most important ally.
“Australian firms lead the world with infrastructure financing and management – examples include Macquarie, Lendlease, Transurban and IFM,” Professor Simon Jackman, CEO of the United States Studies Center at the University of Sydney, told the BBC.
“Part of Australia’s agenda in Washington will be to not only export a policy model but to create investment opportunities,” he added.
‘Belt and Road 2’ would also fit nicely into those parameters and complement Japan and India’s skill sets in technology, IT and steel production, key building blocks for major infrastructure development.
But for China, this is seen as a direct rival to its ‘New Silk Road’ program, which was rolled out by President Xi Jinping in 2013, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.
Predictably, the specter of the US looms large in the country’s state-owned media when dealing with Belt and Road 2 coverage.
“It is normal to understand why the US leads other nations to find ‘alternatives’ to the Belt and Road, since the US has always considered it a challenge to its power in the [world],” Xu Liping, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the conservative Global Times.
“The US is the only country with experience of wielding strategic influence at a global level. The US is concerned that China would do the same due to the Belt and Road Initiative’s broad coverage. It is an effort by the US to maintain its global power, and not to lose its alliance,” Xu added.
Yet despite the rhetoric, the project is likely to produce economic benefits for a region which is desperate to upgrade its infrastructure. In the end, two Belt and Roads might be better than one.
Read: Talk of four-nation-led ‘alternative’ to Belt and Road picks up steam
Ironically, it was U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who first came up with the idea of the New Silk Road. The Chinese took this idea, just like they take our technology. Now that these four countries are teaming up to develop an alternative to the BRI, the smaller countries of Asia and Africa will have a healthy alternative to China’s debt-trap strategy. Developing countries like Sri Lanka will no longer be forced to sign 99-year leases so that China can build military bases on their territory in its quest to surround and intimidate peaceful India.
Who are these "grunting and ranting racists" that you refer to, and how does race suddenly become part of this topic? You might want to be a little more careful before you try to play that card.
Sreejith Ramesachandran They would have to expand belt and road into belts and roads. Multiple paths. Afghanistan I thought would have been more problematic than Pakistan, but now the Taliban are onboard because of the transit fees deal. It doesn’t matter in the long run what particular nation state occupies a given territory, as all men desire prosperity. Even the Japanese and French will come around. There is no logical alternative to "make trade not war".
Francis Chow At least in US there is a way to know about support. But in China it’s a big joke. Chinese connectivity projects largely depends upon territorial integrity of Pakistan and there will be every effort to undermine it.
The more the merrier
2 en 1 que du bénef pour les larrés pour compte en Afrique!
Thers nothing great of Indian IT. Indian IT started well but failed to climb up the value chain. We have become the hub of back office coders and developers. No new invention or product development in IT. Gone are the days when company like Infosys would develop a blockbuster like Finnacle or Iflex developing Flexcube.
Mukhtar Ary What rubbish are you spewing? It’s US that has ulterior motive behind its every action, and it has never seemed to have a shortage of puppets.
Competition is good
Try an American-made smart phone. Bye.