Since its establishment in 2013, the Belt Road Initiative has thus far included 123 countries and 29 organisations, with a global mission to bring nations across the globe together through road and sea interconnectivity towards shared prosperity in the global economy. 

However, certain quarters have blamed Beijing for practicing predatory loans in order to build these infrastructures, in a move they term “debt-trap diplomacy”. A case in hand is Sri Lanka, who defaulted on its loan from China thereby ceding control of its Hambantota Port to Chinese companies on a 99-year lease. Beijing has so far denied these allegations, claiming that participant countries develop at a faster pace and have received real benefits. Even Sri Lanka has come out to deny that China is practicing debt-trap diplomacy and have fiscal issues even before the BRI project.

In fact, BRI has developed the first motorway in East Africa, a railway tunnel through deep mountains in Kazakhstan and the ongoing effort to build a high-speed rail network in Southeast Asia. In projects such as these, the immediate economic benefits are not visible, but the economic ripple effects happen throughout the years and permeates across all economic activities. How do you view BRI? Do you think it’s a benign global project or a new form of colonialism? 

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