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China's Marshall Plan
From the outset, the second Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forum held last week was designed to prove the critics wrong.
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Vice President Jusuf Kalla (left) meets China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing, on Thursday, April 25. (Antara/M. Irfan Ilmie)
I
t was a curious scene in Beijing last week. It could not have been more jarring to see, over 70 years after the establishment of the neoliberal economic order, the United States retreating, threatening trade war with China, Europe and other major economic powers and demanding concessions from everyone it accused of cheating. China on the other hand proclaimed its intention to promote free trade, pledging structural reform to open up its economy and committing billions of dollars to build infrastructure that will connect the world through a new version of the millennia-old Silk Road.
In what many described as a diplomatic success, Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed a gathering attended by more than 1,500 delegates including 40 heads of state, from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Egyptian President Abdul Fatah el-Sisi, pledging not only that he would spend US$440 billion on building infrastructure but also promising that the money would be spent with accountability in mind and that it would be invested in a sustainable way.
Xi’s pledge matters because given its status as a rising superpower, China is willing to listen to its critics and change its behavior. From the outset, the second Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) forum held last week was designed to prove the critics wrong. Responding to accusations that BRI projects could become a “debt trap”, Xi insisted that good governance and transparency would be the key principles by which to judge the performance of countries receiving the projects. And to allay fears that money from the BRI would be spent to build more coal-fired power plants, Xi promised that more would be invested in green projects.
With this assurance from President Xi, there are now more reasons for countries to join the initiative, which in scale and size could rival the US-initiated Marshall Plan project for Europe. Even before these fresh pledges, countries have rushed to join the BRI. Some 126 have officially endorsed the initiative with Italy becoming the first G7 country to sign up. A number of countries, which were earlier skeptical about the BRI, have had second thoughts. After considering canceling the construction of a high-speed railway network, Malaysia has decided to continue with the project. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad showed up at last week’s BRI forum and gave a keynote address to endorse the initiative.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo skipped the event for an obvious reason. The optics would not be good only one week after winning reelection to jet off to China seeking funding for his infrastructure projects. But the presence of Vice President Jusuf Kalla and a high-level delegation led by Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan was a strong indication that Indonesia continues to express strong interest in tagging along with the BRI.
The feeling is mutual. During a meeting with Kalla, Xi said that he was eager to see the completion of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway network so that it could be billed as a BRI success story. Everybody loves a success story.
