Far from being satisfied with internal reforms, Xi Jinping has turned to international trade. His “new silk roads” project – baptized Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – aims to build and take control of strategic infrastructures (railways, ports, airports) on the globe. Initially focused on Asia, this initiative quickly spread to Europe and Africa. For this, Beijing buys the rights of certain installations and subsidizes certain poor countries with guarantees for the future. The best example is Sri Lanka which, faced with the debt, was obliged to cede the operating rights of its strategic port of Hambantota (south of the country) for a period of… 99 years.
Beijing’s economic objectives are multiple: to increase exports, sell production and find new markets for Chinese companies. With an additional effect: for some countries, economic dependence turns into real political dependence.
Massive investments have been made in Africa, where Beijing is very popular. More than half of the countries of the continent have thus entered into economic and/or political partnerships. Similarly, in 2021, the Middle Kingdom, which bought the port of Piraeus (Greece), controlled more than 10% of European port activity. He has also been very active in Oceania, and particularly in Australia.
Having become a cornerstone of Chinese foreign policy, this “New Silk Roads” project now concerns more than 68 countries, bringing together 4.4 billion inhabitants and representing nearly 40% of China’s gross domestic product (GDP). the planet, reports the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Lyon.