如何看待中国的一带一路？｜一带一路｜习近平｜普京｜中国制造｜基建狂魔｜全球门户｜王局拍案20231025

Summary

The transcript covers China's Belt and Road initiative, which was proposed by Xi Jinping in 2013. The key arguments made are: 1) Belt and Road was proposed to deal with China's problem of excess manufacturing capacity as it transitions to a developed economy. By exporting infrastructure capacity abroad through Belt and Road projects, China can maintain employment and economic growth, while avoiding hollowing out of domestic industries. 2) There are signs that China's manufacturing remains competitive internationally. For example, China beat Japan to win the bid for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project in Indonesia, despite offering worse loan terms, by willing to take on all operational risk and requiring no sovereign guarantee from Indonesia. 3) Whether Belt and Road succeeds depends on two factors - China's continued economic growth to fund overseas projects, and recipient countries achieving enough economic growth for projects like railways to become profitable. For the latter, not all developing countries can replicate China's high growth. 4) Belt and Road also has political motivations, not just economic. By leveraging debt traps, China gains political influence in places like Bangladesh and Montenegro. The risk of this debt strategy disturbs Western powers. 5) It is still early to evaluate if Belt and Road can transform from capital injection to catalysis for economic growth. But China has only begun challenging the global order by attempting to shape its rules and leverage smaller nations. Countries still lack countermeasures against moves like Belt and Road. In summary, Belt and Road has sound economic motivations and shows some continued competitiveness. But its sustainability depends on economic growth, while political motivations mean China can still benefit if projects fail financially. We likely need more time to evaluate Belt and Road’s success and implications for global influence.

Takeaways

• China proposed the Belt and Road initiative in 2013 to export its manufacturing capacity and address overcapacity issues.
• The Belt and Road initiative has both economic and political goals for China.
• China has invested over $1 trillion in Belt and Road projects in the past decade.
• Russia has become economically dependent on China due to Belt and Road investments.
• China competed with Japan to build a high-speed rail in Indonesia, demonstrating its infrastructure capabilities.
• The success of Belt and Road relies on continued economic growth in China and recipient countries.
• The Belt and Road initiative allows China to gain political influence through debt-trap diplomacy.
• The U.S. and E.U. have launched initiatives to counter China's Belt and Road.
• It's still early to fully evaluate the success of the Belt and Road initiative.
• The Belt and Road initiative is an attempt by China to shape a new international order.

Q & A

Why did China initiate the Belt and Road?

China wanted to export its manufacturing capacity and address issues like overcapacity as its economy develops. Belt and Road opens new horizons for China's economy.

How much has China invested in Belt and Road projects?

China has invested over $1 trillion in Belt and Road projects over the past decade.

How has Belt and Road impacted China's relationship with Russia?

Massive Chinese investments in Russia, exceeding $300 billion, have made Russia economically dependent on China.

How did China demonstrate its infrastructure capabilities through Belt and Road?

China competed with and beat Japan in bidding to build a high-speed rail in Indonesia, showcasing its infrastructure capabilities.

What factors impact the success of Belt and Road projects?

Continued economic growth in China and recipient countries is key to the success and sustainability of Belt and Road projects.

How does Belt and Road allow China to gain political influence?

Debt-trap diplomacy lets China gain political leverage and influence through Belt and Road investments.

How are the U.S. and E.U. responding to Belt and Road?

The U.S. and E.U. have launched initiatives like Global Gateway and Global Fund to provide alternatives to Belt and Road.

Can we evaluate if Belt and Road has succeeded yet?

It's still early to fully evaluate the success of Belt and Road as it's an ongoing, long-term initiative.

How does Belt and Road help China shape international order?

Belt and Road allows China to gain allies and influence through investments, shaping international dynamics.

What are the goals of the Belt and Road initiative?

The Belt and Road initiative has dual economic goals like exporting capacity and political goals like gaining influence for China.

Outlines

00:00

Xi Jinping's Haircut

The narrator acknowledges comments that his long hair makes him look like Hu Xijin and promises to get a haircut soon. He explains that he just returned from Taiwan and needs to hurry to make videos again after being away last week, so he can't take half a day to go to his regular barber. He promises to get a haircut this weekend.

05:03

Putin Panders to China at Belt and Road Summit

Putin attended the Belt and Road summit in Beijing and lavished praise on Xi Jinping in an interview with CCTV, calling him a global leader. This shows Russia's economic dependence on China, as its GDP is less than one Chinese province now. Coming to China despite facing arrest abroad shows Russia has become like a 'grandson' to China rather than a 'father'.

10:06

China's Motives for Belt and Road Initiative

China launched Belt and Road to deal with its excess manufacturing capacity as its economy develops. It wants to maintain its status as a manufacturing powerhouse rather than transfer industries overseas, which could lead to economic decline if upgrading fails. So it is exporting infrastructure capacity worldwide via Belt and Road, which provides employment and uses excess capacity while keeping industries in China.

15:07

China's Infrastructure Competitiveness

The Jakarta-Bandung railway shows China's infrastructure competitiveness. Despite offering worse terms than Japan, China won the bid by proposing shorter construction, no sovereign guarantee from Indonesia, and taking on all operational risks itself. China's manufacturing capabilities give it an edge in such projects.

20:08

Keys to Belt and Road's Success

Belt and Road's success depends on 1) China's continued economic growth to fund projects 2) Economic growth in recipient countries to ensure project viability. It could have a catalytic effect like the Marshall Plan if recipients replicate China's growth. Otherwise, it is just capital injection with limited impact.

Political Dimensions of Belt and Road

Aside from economic goals, Belt and Road has political aims. Large Russia projects are geopolitical. Money-losing projects trap countries in debt, giving China political leverage. For example, Montenegro may join EU but has unpayable Chinese debt, limiting its independence. So political benefits exist even if economic benefits are unclear.

Keywords

💡Belt and Road Initiative

China's major development strategy launched in 2013 to boost connectivity and trade between China, Asia, Europe and Africa. The 'belt' refers to land based projects like railways and highways, while 'road' refers to maritime routes. It is China's attempt to export surplus domestic capacity and gain geopolitical influence.

💡infrastructure capacity

Refers to China's ability to build large-scale infrastructure projects like highways, railways, dams etc. A key motive of the Belt & Road initiative is to export this capacity abroad when facing overcapacity domestically.

💡debt trap

Refers to a situation where the Belt & Road investment recipient countries are unable to repay loans to China, hence falling into debt crises. This allows China to gain political leverage over them.

💡industrial upgrading

The process by which China needs to transition from labor-intensive manufacturing to more advanced high-tech industries. Failure to upgrade may lead to economic stagnation.

💡geopolitics

How geographical factors influence politics and relations between countries. Many Belt & Road projects have a geopolitical motive, like binding recipient countries closer to China.

💡overcapacity

When production capacity exceeds demand. China faces overcapacity in sectors like steel, cement etc due to rapid past growth. Belt & Road helps export the surplus capacity.

💡sustainable

Whether the Belt & Road initiative can succeed long term. This depends on continued economic growth in China and recipient countries to support projects.

💡developing countries

Poorer countries working to improve economies and living standards. They are main recipients of Belt & Road funds, with goals to catalyze growth.

💡new international order

China aims to play a bigger role in global affairs and shape new norms. Leveraging Belt & Road countries to its interest is one attempt towards this.

💡capital injection

Injecting funds into infrastructure projects, without necessarily catalyzing wider economic benefits. Belt & Road needs to transition from capital injection to real development.

Highlights

China proposed One Belt One Road to export its manufacturing capacity and address overcapacity issues as it transitions to a developed economy.

One Belt One Road allows China to maintain domestic employment while conquering the world with "Made in China" itself, exporting infrastructure capacity.

The competitiveness of "Made in China" is evidenced by its win over Japan's bid for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway.

The success of One Belt One Road depends on China's continued economic growth to fund projects, and recipient countries' growth to support projects.

One Belt One Road has economic goals to export capacity and manufacturing, as well as political goals to leverage influence even if projects lose money.

Countries like Russia participate due to geopolitical considerations, binding their economies closely to China.

Some countries fall into debt traps with China, allowing China to gain political and economic leverage.

The EU and US have launched infrastructure initiatives in response to One Belt One Road, benefitting developing countries.

One Belt One Road's sustainability depends on whether projects catalyze growth or are just capital injections.

China invests in countries that may join the EU, leveraging potential veto power if debts are not repaid.

Developed countries lack countermeasures to China leveraging debt for political gains so far.

One Belt One Road represents the beginning of China's challenge to the global order.

Undeveloped Belt and Road participating countries are important chess pieces for China to leverage.

The EU and US don't participate in Belt and Road, while targeted countries align interests with China.

More time is needed to evaluate if One Belt One Road can transform from capital injection to growth catalyst.

Transcripts

Everyone, after yesterday's show ended

Many people commented below saying

"Director Wang, go get a haircut quickly"

"Your bangs now, no matter how I look at it, looks just like Hu Xijin"

I know my hair is a bit long

I also know once my hair grows long

For some reason it starts to look like Hu Xijin

In the past whenever people reminded me "Director Wang, you look like Hu Xijin again"

I would usually hurry to get a haircut

But the situation is a bit special this time

I just got back from Taiwan, have to hurry and resume making videos

Like I said yesterday, if I don't resume making videos, we will go bankrupt

But getting a haircut is quite troublesome

Because I go to a relatively fixed location to get my hair cut

The barber there is quite familiar with my hairstyle

Every time I go

Without me saying anything he just cuts it into that style

But if I randomly find a barbershop

Because my Japanese is quite bad

The Japanese barber might just cut my hair into Hu Xijin's style, that would be terrible

So getting a haircut on a work day

Is not something I can casually do

Because that barbershop is quite far from me

Each visit takes half a day

So I can only go get a haircut on weekends

So everyone please bear with me for a few more days

This weekend I will definitely go get a haircut

By then, this Director Wang that looks like Hu Xijin will transform

And become a refreshed and spirited Director Wang again

What topic shall we discuss today

Because I was in Taiwan last week and did not make any videos

But actually quite a lot happened in terms of domestic news last week

Today I want to talk about a relatively big news from last week

On October 18, the third Belt and Road Summit was held in Beijing

This summit was actually postponed

Because the first Belt and Road summit was held in 2017

The second in 2019, conventionally it should be held every two years

The third should have been in 2021

But as everyone knows, in 2021 there was the pandemic

Xi Jinping was holed up in Zhongnanhai everyday wearing a mask

Watching everyone be afraid of infecting him

He didn't dare hold the Belt and Road summit either

So in 2021 there was only a video conference, not at leader level

It wasn't until 2023

That he was sure no one else could infect him

This year after he confirmed no one else could infect him

That the third summit was finally held in Beijing

But the third summit coincided with the 10th anniversary of Belt and Road

So the scale this year was still quite grand

Because Belt and Road was first proposed in 2013

Not long after Xi Jinping came to power, during a visit to Kazakhstan

He proposed the Silk Road Economic Belt

After proposing it, some small Southeast Asian countries pandered to Xi Jinping

Saying "You can't just have the Silk Road, we want to participate too"

A few weeks later he also proposed the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road

That's how Belt and Road started

Up until this year it's the 10 year anniversary

So the scale of this year's third Belt and Road Summit was made very grand

140 plus countries sent representatives to participate

Over 10 countries' leaders came to Beijing to attend the summit

The heavyweight among them was Russia's President Putin

"Salute"

As everyone knows, since the Russia-Ukraine war

Putin has been wanted by international courts

So he generally doesn't dare to travel abroad now

Earlier he didn't attend the BRICS summit in South Africa

Because South Africa has extradition treaties with international courts

If Putin went he could have been arrested

So Putin has basically been holed up in Russia for over a year

But you saw for the sake of this third summit

He specially came to Beijing to pander to Xi Jinping

Not only that

Before coming to Beijing

He accepted an exclusive interview with CCTV's "High-End Interview" program

During the interview, Putin lavished praise on Xi Jinping

"President Putin, you've met with Chairman Xi around 40 times"

"In your view, what kind of leader is Xi Jinping?"

"Do you have any interesting stories between the two of you that you can share with us?"

"Chairman Xi is a globally recognized leader"

"I'm very glad you mentioned 2013 earlier"

"His speech at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations"

"I still have to relate your current question"

"To the proposal of the joint Belt and Road initiative"

"This is the third time today I'm repeating this topic, because it is very important"

"Chairman Xi is not a leader who makes decisions based on temporary circumstances"

"He analyzes situations, evaluates circumstances, and makes long-term considerations with foresight"

"This is very important"

"This is the real world leader"

"The difference from those we call 'temporary workers'"

"'Temporary workers' come for five minutes, show off a bit on the world stage"

"Then disappear without a trace"

"Chairman Xi is another kind of person"

"He is a steadfast, composed, pragmatic and reliable partner"

Calling him a world leader, although there is a "one of",

But you can see the relationship now between Russia and China

Is already very different from what many of us imagined in the past

Because whenever Russia is mentioned

Many Chinese Twitter users say it's "Russia dad"

That China has to be filial to its "Russia dad"

But you can actually see Putin's relationship with China now

Is already not "Russia dad, filial China son"

But rather Russia has basically become a "Russia grandson" status

Why is that

Ultimately relationships between countries are determined by economics

Russia's current GDP is less than one Chinese province

Think about it, how can it still act as China's dad

And China has so many projects investing in it

Everyone should know, the biggest recipient of Belt and Road funds is Russia

Over $300 billion in the past decade

The biggest project among them

Is the China-Russia natural gas pipeline project

With total investment of $55 billion

So think about how high Russia's economic dependence on China is now

So how can it possibly still act superior

Impossible

So coming to China is also pandering to China

So how to view this summit

And China's Belt and Road overall

In the past regarding Belt and Road

On Chinese Twitter and also Chinese political commentary YouTube channels

The consensus is basically that Belt and Road is a huge failure

Their main reasons are two aspects

First, it's a massive money squandering effort

China's domestic economy is riddled with problems, people living in misery

Yet Xi Jinping threw out $1 trillion

Randomly spending it all over the world in the past decade

Just spending it randomly, first

Secondly, these investment projects have all failed tremendously

Almost all ran huge losses or left those countries heavily indebted

Whether economically or politically

This is a total failure of a project

This is a common view

But I personally think this view may still have some problems

So today I'm going to talk about

My view on China's One Belt One Road initiative

First we have to trace back

Why China wanted to launch One Belt One Road at that time

One very important reason

Is that as China slowly transforms from a developing country

To a developed country, how to deal with

The problem of China's manufacturing capacity built up in the past

As we all know, China's manufacturing has conquered the world

So a very big problem brought by China's manufacturing

Is that as China's labor costs rise,

And its domestic consumption is also limited,

What will happen when China's manufacturing becomes overcapacity after continuous growth

Take steel production for example

The world's annual steel output is 1.8 billion tons

China's steel output is 1 billion tons

China accounts for about 55% of the world's steel output

India is second

India's output is only 120 million tons

Baowu Steel, the merger of Baosteel and Wuhan Iron and Steel

Has an annual capacity of 130 million tons

Higher than the entire steel output of India

So you can imagine, with such huge steel capacity

It was certainly very important

During China's rapid infrastructural growth

But as you gradually become a developed country

You won't need so much crude steel

So look

The path taken by past developed countries

The US, Japan, the UK, Europe

They also all had such an era of infrastructural boom

But after becoming developed countries

They would gradually transfer such capacity to developing countries

Take their steel production for example

It peaked in the 1970s

And then started declining

As the capacity moved to China, they stopped domestic production

But this also has some problems

That is, after transferring those labor-intensive industries to developing countries

Your own industries must upgrade

Otherwise you will face double dilemmas

First, so-called "hollowing out" of industries

Because you have moved manufacturing away

As everyone knows, the Rust Belt in the US

These areas started experiencing declining employment

And the economic recession caused by failed industrial upgrading

On the other hand

If you manage to upgrade, then it's fine

But if you fail to upgrade

Then the momentum for your economic growth may diminish soon

Let me give an example, Taiwan in China

It was actually the leading economy among the "Four Asian Tigers"

With very rapid economic growth

It was mainly relying on labor-intensive industries

But after China's mainland started Reform and Opening up

Most of Taiwan's labor-intensive industries

Moved to mainland China

And some Southeast Asian countries

However, Taiwan's own industrial upgrading was not very successful

So in the past 20 years

Everyone can see

Taiwan's economic growth has been quite slow

It has even been surpassed by South Korea and others

This illustrates the downside if you transfer industries overseas

So I understand

China's strong awareness of the problems faced in its industrial upgrading process

There is a strong recognition

That China's manufacturing

Which has been very important for China's development, cannot be abandoned

So you see China is very wary of transferring capacity to Vietnam, India, etc.

It is unwilling to do so

It hopes China can continue to maintain its status as a manufacturing power

But then the problem comes

As a manufacturing power producing so much crude steel, cement

Producing so much of such "output"

Its own market cannot digest it

So China now has an idea

Not only to conquer the world with products made in China

It also hopes to conquer the world with "Made in China" itself

What does it mean by "Made in China" conquering the world

For example, building highways

This is certainly not a Chinese product

Because products can be moved

But highways cannot be moved

So China's idea is

I will export my infrastructure capacity to the whole world

By helping you build highways

China solves its own employment problem

And excess capacity problem

At the same time, it keeps "Made in China" capability at home in China

This is actually the original motive when China first initiated One Belt One Road

Personally

I think this idea is quite smart

Because if "Made in China" capacity is completely transferred to India, Vietnam

China's employment may decline

Because after all China is not a very advanced developed country

It still needs employment opportunities very much

On the other hand

If these capacities are transferred away

And China fails to fully upgrade its industries

Then China may soon face insufficient momentum for economic growth

So if "Made in China" can really go global

In the form of One Belt One Road

It would really open up new horizons for China

Next, let's review

How the so-called One Belt One Road has developed in the past 10 years

Personally

I think "Made in China" still has certain competitiveness in going global

Everyone can see

The most obvious example is in 2015

When China competed with Japan for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway

Because Japan had built Shinkansen for decades

The technology is very mature, with zero accidents

But it lost to China in the bidding for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway

Why?

Despite Japan offering even better terms than China

China's bid was $5.1 billion

Japan's bid was less than $5 billion, cheaper than China's

China's loan was from the China Development Bank

With 2% interest rate

While Japan's loan was in Japanese Yen

With only 0.1% interest rate

China's rate was 20 times that of Japan's

But in the end Indonesia chose China instead of Japan

Indonesia chose China instead of Japan

For several main reasons

First, China proposed a shorter construction period

To start construction in 2016 and complete it in 2019

Although it was not fulfilled later due to the pandemic

Second, in Japan's package proposal

It required Indonesia to raise 30% of the funds itself

And loan the remaining 70%

Requiring the Indonesian government to provide a sovereign guarantee

That is, if the project loses money in the future

The Indonesian government will pay it back

But in China's proposal

It did not require any sovereign guarantee from the Indonesian government

That is, China was willing to take all the operational risks of the entire Jakarta-Bandung railway

If the railway loses money, China takes the loss

So the final operation model of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway

China and Indonesia's companies set up a joint venture

China holds 40% stake, with a 50 year concession

The money collected from ticket sales in these 50 years is used to repay bank loans

If it fails to repay, China loses money

So the Indonesian government eventually chose China

The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway has been built recently

And entered the trial operation phase

I think the first three months are free now

Everyone can ride it

The ticket price is said to be 120 RMB when officially in operation

Whether it can make money eventually, we don't know

But we can see China's manufacturing competitiveness is still there

Not to mention those highway projects

Projects like dams, power plants built in many countries

China's One Belt One Road now is indeed marching forward on all fronts

So how should we evaluate China's One Belt One Road project?

Can it succeed?

Personally I think the success or sustainability

Of One Belt One Road depends on two considerations

The first is China's continued economic growth

Because without China's economic growth

Naturally there won't be so much money

To support One Belt One Road projects

Because most of these projects are US dollar loans

Not just RMB loans

So where do the US dollar loans come from?

They come from China's economic growth and trade surplus

This is very important, the first point

Second, the economic growth of the One Belt One Road investment recipient countries themselves

Take the Jakarta-Bandung railway I just mentioned

Whether the Jakarta-Bandung railway can recoup the investment

Depends on one factor

That is Indonesia's economic growth

If at Indonesia's current economic level

In the next 30 to 50 years

If it does not develop

The Jakarta-Bandung railway will definitely be a losing project

Because the ticket price of 120 RMB

Is still quite expensive for many Indonesians

About 1/10 of their average monthly income

Only with economic growth can the ticket price possibly increase

Or passenger traffic grows, so the project can make profit

China's thinking is: look at when we first built high-speed rail in China

Many places did not have particularly large passenger volume at the beginning

But after building them and operating for a few years, a virtuous cycle formed

Then high-speed rail itself started positive feedback

But can China's economic growth

Achieve such effects in these countries?

We don't know

Not all these developing countries

Can replicate China's economic growth

If you can replicate China's economic growth

Then China's One Belt One Road projects become

Something similar to the Marshall Plan in the past

Because the Marshall Plan did not actually spend a lot of money

It was a catalytic project

That ultimately turned Japan and European countries

From defeated nations

Into emerging economies with robust growth

But if it is just a pure capital injection

To be honest, it would not have much meaning

And for many developing countries

If you want to give them real catalytic functions

With just a few projects, it is quite difficult

Take some African countries for example

These countries have failed social governance

Simply giving them a few projects

Can hardly enable overall economic progress of the entire country

So this is also a

Very significant challenge for China's One Belt One Road projects

Finally, let me think again

How to evaluate China's One Belt One Road projects

I think it is hard to simply label it as a "failure"

Because One Belt One Road now has two goals

The first goal is of course the economic goal

That is what we talked about earlier

To export China's capacity and manufacturing overseas

Because such export is also beneficial to China's own economy

But on the other hand, it actually also has a political goal

That is to say, when the economic goal cannot be achieved

If its political goal is achieved

Then from a certain perspective

One Belt One Road has also achieved its goal

For example, the very large One Belt One Road projects

Between China and Russia

Are more due to geopolitical considerations

That natural gas project can ensure long-term energy supply to China for the next 30 years

And also bind Russia's economy tightly to itself

Making Russia China's "little brother"

So in this project process

Whether it makes money may not be so important

More important considerations may be political

And by investing in many developing countries

Many of its projects may indeed lose money

But China lets these countries

Fall into debt traps from a certain perspective

It can also gain political benefits

For example, Bangladesh, as we all know, went bankrupt

China's investment totaled 12 billion USD in debt

That certainly cannot be repaid

But China can hence obtain greater interests in Bangladesh

For example, leasing its ports

Compared to its ports

For example, there is a country in Europe called Montenegro, as we all know

China built a highway in Montenegro, over 40 km

Montenegro borrowed 1.2 billion USD from China to build this highway

Montenegro only has a population of 800,000

It wanted to build highways and tourism projects

It talked to the EU for many years, but the EU didn't approve

As a result, Montenegro turned to China, and China readily agreed

It is very likely Montenegro will not be able to repay this debt in the future

But now Montenegro is already an EU accession candidate

There is an opinion

That by next year, Montenegro may join the EU

But the EU makes decisions based on "unanimous agreement"

If after joining the EU

Montenegro cannot repay its debt to China

Think about it, facing China

Would Montenegro still dare to firmly say "no" to China?

So China only spent over a billion dollars

To leverage a country like Montenegro

This country may also join the EU

Did China make money or lose money?

In my view, China may have really made money

So in fact

The risk of China trapping many countries in debt

Is now also a very important factor

That the US and Europe see as very disturbing

Then Montenegro itself also said: What can I do?

I am just undeveloped, I do want highways

I asked you EU but you didn't give me

So you can see

In response to China's One Belt One Road projects

The US and Europe have started taking action recently

The EU launched a “Global Gateway” plan

The so-called “Gateway” plan means

You countries outside the EU also want infrastructure

Don't just look for China, we EU can also provide

But the conditions it put forward are

Your bidding process needs to be transparentized, no corruption, etc.

To be honest, this “Global Gateway” plan is in response to China's “Belt and Road”

The US recently started a project called the “Global Fund”

30 billion USD

The EU's “Global Gateway” plan is also 30 billion Euros

Both are to meet the challenge of China's “Belt and Road”

From my personal perspective

I think the projects launched by the US, EU and China

Can indeed benefit developing countries

Because of the rivalry between these major powers

You are competing to launch so-called “infrastructure plans”

Only then can these (developing) countries really obtain

Funding from these countries to help their development

Of course, ultimately all this depends on one factor

That is whether China's “Belt and Road” plan

As I said earlier, if these projects cannot be sustained

If it is just a capital injection project, it is doomed to be unsustainable

So in this process

Whether it can transform from simple capital injection to catalysis

It's still a bit early to evaluate right now

We may need more time to see

As for China trapping many countries in debt crises

And hence gaining greater political benefits

At least from what I currently see, countries around the world don't seem to have very good countermeasures yet

This is also one step in China's attempt

To shape a new international order

Because it has spent money to gain control of some countries

Turning them into its own interest allies

Or a pawn during the new international order

That follows China's baton

I have always said

China's challenge to this world has only just begun

Don't just look at the undeveloped countries participating

In this Belt and Road summit

Because these undeveloped countries are the very important pieces

China wants to leverage on the chessboard

What it confronts are the US and Europe

So think about it

It is natural that the US and Europe do not participate in “Belt and Road”

But if all these countries are won over by China

It would actually pose a very big challenge

During the whole international order process

Okay, I will stop here today, thank you everyone

“Salute”