China’s ambassador to Ottawa says he wants Canadian businessmen to support Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative amid scrutiny from Western governments. Ambassador Kong Pew said using the initiative, Canada can reduce global carbon emissions and fight poverty.
He also rejected warnings from Canadian allies that the plan would allow Beijing to oppress developing countries.
The Belt and Road Initiative is a massive infrastructure plan that aims to connect Asia, Europe and Africa through a series of railways, ports, bridges and coal mines. Some of these would be trade routes along the ancient Silk Road. It is further expanded by the inclusion of power plants in Jamaica and Bolivia. Beijing introduced the epidemic a decade ago.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres praised the initiative, citing the model of cooperation among countries in the Global South. He said that the initiative has huge potential to improve quality of life and slow down climate change. We can turn infrastructure emergencies into infrastructure opportunities.
However, American think tanks have alleged that China is using the project as a tool of economic repression.
So far, China has invested one trillion dollars in this initiative. But some countries have scaled back investment in recent years as they grapple with project debt. Chinese President Xi Jinping celebrated a decade of the initiative last October. At that time, he said, physical communication will be transformed into institutional communication through digital infrastructure, training and international student exchange.
Ambassador Kong called on corporate Canada to invest directly in third country Belt and Road Initiative projects.
