Initiative not a threat to the West

Out of ulterior motives, some Western countries seem to be joining hands to counter the Belt and Road Initiative.

At the 54th Munich Security Conference, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel rejected the China-proposed initiative, saying that it is not in the interests of democracy or freedom, and that the West needs to offer an alternative. Gabriel said China was using the initiative's infrastructure fund to promote a value system different from the West, and the European Union should launch its own initiative to promote the development of infrastructure from Eastern Europe to Central Asia and also in Africa, with European money, and with European standards. Gabriel's sentiments were backed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, who both spoke of growing challenges to Western liberalism at the conference.

Yet in an earlier visit to China, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to work with China on the Belt and Road Initiative, although he recalled the French colonial experience in Africa and urged China not to turn the initiative into a new form of hegemony that could make host countries China's vassals.