By Frank Bennett Rowder
At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland earlier this year, Chinese President Xi Jinping startled no one when he said, “ Our country must remain committed to developing global free trade, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation through opening up.”
Those in attendance already realized that China has had a good start and is forging ahead with plans to become the next economic superpower. Here are some examples of Beijing’s current and long term objectives aimed at helping struggling countries who want to modernize quickly:
KENYA A 300-mile railway is being built between the capital of Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa by the state-owned China Road and Bridge Company and financed by the Export-Import Bank of China.
THE NEW SILK ROAD I recently wrote about China’s new version of this Asian East-West trade route on our website not too long ago. It will continue to expand from Asia, to the Middle-East, Europe and Africa. The total estimate for this project is currently estimated a four trillion dollars.
PAKISTAN China is currently rebuilding Pakistan’s infrastructure a plan offered by Jinping during his visit to that country in 2015. Investments have been made in energy and development of roads, natural gas lines, etc.
NICARAGUAN CANAL Also in 2015, telecom billionaire Wang Jing began construction in the city of Brito to construct a larger canal to compete with the Panama Canal. However, the project temporarily came to a halt when Jing’s fortune took a nose dive when the stock market sank. He is still seeking to complete the project..
SOUTH AMERICAN RAIL China wants to build and expand rail networks in Brazil, Peru and Columbia through its creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank two years ago. Along with 35 other countries, it was established to compete with older lending institutions such as the Asian Development and World Banks.
Rowder is an expert on foreign affairs and serves on the Associate Board of the Central Asian Productivity Research Center. He was also a member of our Chicago Journalists Association Board of Directors and writes for World Nordic News, a community newspaper.