China's new world order: Xi, Putin and others meet for Belt and Road Forum
China's global influence 01:38
Story highlights
- The Belt and Road Forum is China's answer to Davos or G20
- The One Belt, One Road trade initiative spans more than 68 countries
Belt and Road Forum, Beijing (CNN)China's leaders are ringing in what they hope is a new world order at a major international conference in Beijing Sunday.
The Belt and Road Forum is China's answer to Davos or the G20, centered around the colossal One Belt, One Road (OBOR) trade initiative.
OBOR,
which has been in the works for four years, spans more than 68
countries and up to 40% of global GDP. It is China's push to put it in a
position of world leadership as the US under President Donald Trump
takes a more protectionist approach and gives up the mantle of
globalization.
Political push
In
attendance Sunday were Chinese President Xi Jinping -- whose personal
project the OBOR initiative is -- Russian President Vladimir Putin,
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Philippines President Rodrigo
Duterte, alongside a host of other world leaders and top ranking
officials.
Joining them was a small delegation from North Korea, despite recent strained ties between Beijing and Pyongyang over the latter's nuclear program.
Notably
absent were the leaders of the US and most European economies. While
the US sent Matt Pottinger, special assistant to the President, no
cabinet or elected officials were in attendance.
In a communique Thursday announcing a new trade deal with China,
the US said it "recognizes the importance of China's One Belt and One
Road initiative," but Washington is largely uninvolved in OBOR or
connected projects like the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment
Bank (AIIB).
Speaking to CNN
Saturday, AIIB President Jin Liqun was positive that the US could still
play a role in China's projects, saying that "regardless of the
membership of the US ... we can work together."
"The door is open, any member is welcome to join," he added.
While
OBOR has been hailed within China as something that can benefit the
whole world and lift millions out of poverty, further afield its
reception has been more mixed.
Jörg Wuttke, outgoing president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, warned last week the
initiative has increasingly "been hijacked by Chinese companies, which
have used it as an excuse to evade capital controls, smuggling money out
of the country by disguising it as international investments and
partnerships."
He and other critics
have pointed to restrictions on and obstacles to foreign firms doing
business in China as evident of the hypocrisy behind Beijing's grand
unifying vision.
Even neighboring India has been skeptical. The country's finance and defense minister Arun Jaitley told reporters
this month Delhi has "serious reservations" about the project,
particularly regarding China-funded development in Pakistan-administered
Kashmir.
US pulls back
While
many countries may have gone into OBOR with a "more rosy tinted view of
what China's intent was," the scales are increasingly falling from
their eyes, said Christopher Balding, a professor of economics at Peking
University.
Of particular concern
for many is what happens if Chinese-funded projects fail. In the past,
this has meant Chinese firms or banks "essentially taking over," Balding
said, giving them complete control over very strategic projects in
foreign countries. Some have also warned of projects becoming expensive
white elephants with little payoff for backers or locals.
Jin said such warnings are "necessary," adding that in the past "there were white elephants, there were mistakes."
"It's
very important that the resources put into (OBOR) projects must be
producing tangible results for the people" of the countries they are in,
he told CNN.
Max Baucus, a former
US ambassador to China, said OBOR has "if not frightened, then at least
concerned, a lot of countries along the way."
What might the effect be of scrapping Trans-Pacific trade deal? 04:04
Prior
to Donald Trump's election as US President, it could be expected that
Washington's Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) -- a free-trade alliance of
12 Asian and Pacific economies -- would act as something of a
counterbalance to rising Chinese power.
Trump however, pulled the US out of the deal a day after taking office.
While it still includes Australia and Japan, both major economies,
without Washington's backing the TPP will be far smaller if it manages
to nevertheless go ahead.
The US has also reduced activity in the hotly contested South China Sea, in what has been seen as another concession to China by the new US president who hopes for a solution in North Korea.
Baucus said the country's withdrawal from the region risked creating "a vacuum."
"(TPP
was) an economic complement to military planning in the South China
Sea," he said, while OBOR puts China "in the driving seat."
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