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G7 touts $600 billion global infrastructure plan to rival China
The Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, unveiled with fanfare by US President Joe Biden and G7 allies from Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union, aims to fill a huge gap left as communist China uses its economic clout to stretch diplomatic tentacles into the furthest reaches of the world.
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(L-R) President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, French President Emmanuel Macron pose for an informal group photo standing at a bench after a working dinner during the G7 Summit held at Elmau Castle, southern Germany on June 26, 2022. (AFP/Brendan Smialowski)
T
he G7 group of rich democracies on Sunday announced an attempt to compete with China's formidable Belt and Road Initiative by raising some $600 billion for global infrastructure programmes in poor countries.
The Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, unveiled with fanfare by US President Joe Biden and G7 allies from Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union, aims to fill a huge gap left as communist China uses its economic clout to stretch diplomatic tentacles into the furthest reaches of the world.
Biden said the target was for the United States to bring $200 billion to the table, with the rest of the G7 another $400 billion by 2027.
Funding the kinds of projects that China currently dominates -- everything from roads to harbours in far-flung corners of the world -- is not "aid or charity," Biden said.
Highlighting the geostrategic thinking behind the plan, Biden said such projects "deliver returns for everyone, including the American people and the people of all our nations."
Around the world, the role of China's democratic rivals is "a chance for us to share our positive vision for the future" and for other countries to "see for themselves the concrete benefits of partnering with democracies," he said.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen echoed this, saying "it is up to us to give a positive, powerful investment impulse to the world, to show our partners in the developing world that they have a choice."
