Parliament hears about benefits of Belt and Road Initiative

The United Kingdom's shadow trade secretary, Barry Gardiner, said the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative is fast-tracking growth in developing nations and "challenges the status quo" of traditional methods of international development.

He made the comments at a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Belt and Road Initiative.

The meeting was held to give British parliamentarians a greater understanding of the initiative, which is also known as the BRI, and of its associated projects. The parliamentary group also aims to provide a platform that UK businesses can use to engage with the initiative, which is an international economic and infrastructure development project that China proposed in 2013.

"We've heard repeatedly the criticisms, particularly from developing countries across Asia, Africa, and Central and South America, who have decried the conventional approach of developed economies to trade and investment. That approach is often accused of being neo-colonialist," said Gardiner. "The BRI challenges the status quo that says that simply lowering tariffs on exports from other countries will alleviate poverty and unlock prosperity. Similarly, it demonstrates that investment in transportation, energy, utilities, and ports can fast-track the ability of other countries to grow and export whilst creating jobs and, in turn, demand for imports from the investing country."

Gardiner pointed to the impact of the BRI and its role in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, which is a collection of infrastructure projects – including rail, roads, and ports – that are currently under construction throughout Pakistan.

Official estimates from the Pakistan government have suggested more than 2 million jobs could be created as part of the program and that the nation's GDP could grow by between 2 and 2.5 percentage points because if it. CPEC projects are estimated to have already created 70,000 jobs in Pakistan and 80,000 in China.

Gardiner also called for improved transparency regarding CPEC financing.

"The scheme is not without criticism," he said. "Many have touted the excessive debt burden assumed by Pakistan through CPEC and other BRI projects, including the Silk Road Fund. Financial support extended under CPEC alone accounts for up to 6 percent of Pakistani GDP. The extent to which other investment has been underwritten by state funding or commercial lending isn't made publicly available. And that has led to suggestions of a debt trap in the diplomacy agenda underlying the BRI, and has caused a degree of mistrust and resentment of the wider project. The criticism of a lack of transparency has been leveled both at Pakistan and at China and I think needs to be addressed."

Douglas Flint, who is Britain's envoy to the Belt and Road Initiative, said it was encouraging that the Chinese government took steps to address such criticism at the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation earlier this month.

"In President Xi Jinping's opening speech to the forum he knocked on the head just about every major criticism that had been put forth against Belt and Road," Flint said. "China has now established debt sustainability principles with the IMF and will guide those who are building projects to consider whether the countries who will receive those projects can sustain and finance the obligation they have been asked to take.

"While we can all be saying 'let's see it in practice', these were extraordinarily positive steps towards the globalization of Belt and Road."

Flint said the BRI was a "rebuttal to protectionism" and had the potential to alleviate pressure from a number of international concerns – namely climate change, global inequality, an ageing global population, and unrest due to mass migration.

Chen Wen, a minister from China's UK embassy, noted that Britain was among the first Western nations to recognize the BRI, and that continued engagement with the initiative will be beneficial for the UK when it eventually exits the European Union.

"The UK has been a pioneer," Chen said. "It was one of the first to recognize BRI and take action. The UK is a natural partner for China in advancing BRI. Engaging in BRI development serves the interests of post-Brexit Britain."

Flint said the Belt and Road Initiative has moved into the proof of concept phase, with more than 600 BRI projects underway in dozens of nations.