Has China's Belt and Road Come to a Dead End?Commentary
Not too long ago, Chinese leader Xi Jinping touted Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as the "project of the century," something that would alter the global balance of power and influence. More recently, Beijing brags less about the potential of the BRI and speaks more humbly of reform and retrenchment. The initiative seems to have fallen far short of its original goals as well as the fears it once widely engendered in the West.
From its beginning, China's BRI (also known as "One Belt, One Road") always had a Mafia-like feel to it. Beijing would approach needy countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and the periphery of Europe and offer loans for important infrastructure projects—ports, rail links, dams, roads, and the like. State-owned Chinese banks would arrange the financing, and Chinese contractors would execute the projects and, when complete, manage them. If the host country failed to pay, the projects would come under Chinese ownership....
Source: Has China's Belt and Road Come to a Dead End? (https://www.theepochtimes.com/has-chinas-belt-and-road-come-to-a-dead-end_4802010.html)