Opinion :
G7 ’ s Imperialist Plan can ’ t Defeat BRI Ding Gang
The G7 summit announced that it will start a “ Build Back Better World ” global infrastructure plan , aiming to help developing countries and counter the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative ( BRI ).
The G7 countries were all , historically , colonists . The very difference with China over the path of development is : They initially accumulated their capital by colonial plundering and wars .
China did not repeat the old path of Western developed countries , as some Westerners have predicted . Quite the contrary , China via the BRI is helping other developing countries without any political conditions .
If these seven countries really desire to follow China ’ s suit and sincerely invest in countries from whom they robbed fortunes from , this shows that they are at least making critical reflections about their courses of action .
There are doubts though , mainly because the Americans are seemingly trying to use the guise of infrastructure to confront and contain China .
Regardless of whether or not they are motivated to counter China ’ s BRI , the Americans and their ilk are eager to hatch such a plan . This proves that China ’ s model of self-dependence is way ahead of these colonists . It also demonstrates that the China-proposed BRI can push the world forward .
We do not know yet how much money each of these G7 members is willing to pay . What kinds of projects they will support ? How much will the US payout , and to what degree will it deepen its indulgence for “ America First ?”
Also , which companies will take responsibility to complete the projects ? What values-based standards will be adopted to judge each project ? Will the projects have their pre-set political conditions ?
Will Western companies obtain , implement and hand over
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their projects according to their own moral and environment standards ? Will they engage in bribery and other illegal acts ?
It is time the world tests Western values .
Last month , in a bid for Ethiopia ’ s telecommunications licenses , South African company MTN lost because it teamed up with the Silk Road Fund , China ’ s stateowned investment fund . A USbacked and Vodafone-led consortium won the bid at a price of $ 850 million , with billions of dollars of support from US governmentaffiliated agencies . This was done on the condition that it does not use China-made telecommunication equipment and facilities .
This easily leads us to think about how the Western powers were at war with each other to grab the land of Asia , Africa and Latin America . The so-called new plan of Washington is just a revamped version of the same old colonial story .
The move may constrain the global development of China ’ s 5G technology , but it cannot stop the expansion of the BRI . After all , countries along the route need it , and China has the ability to expand it .
Take Ethiopia for example . According to statistics from the Ethiopian Investment Commission , Chinese companies implemented
G7 ’ s Imperialist Plan : about 1,564 investment projects between 1998 and 2020 which are either operating or under construction .
The Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway , which is the first electrified railway of its kind in East Africa , was built with Chinese standards and facilities . It is because of China ’ s BRI that Ethiopia has established the foundation for the development of advanced communications .
The competition between G7 members and China will enable some developing countries to have more choices and more development support . But if the Americans insist to bring in their political motives and force these countries to take sides , they will inevitably set them into an embarrassing state .
If Washington does this , it is not promoting the world ’ s peaceful development , but is instead creating obstacles for this process .
After all , Western countries do not have enough economic strength to sustain their “ political assistance .” Nor can they force developing countries to buy their goods and have them cease using Chinese technologies .
Incorporating all developing countries into a US-led world economic system is an unachievable illusion .
( The author is a Senior editor with People ’ s Daily and Economist ) v
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