After he launched the Belt and Road initiative (BRI), the multitrillion-dollar infrastructure development program that is reshaping global economies, you’d think the world would hang on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s every word when he addressed that subject.
You’d be wrong. Xi’s announcement of the Global Development Initiative (GDI) at the United Nations General Assembly last September has been pretty much ignored.
Western governments have recognized the challenge and created their own programs to fill the yawning infrastructure gap in the developing world. They are going to have to go beyond speeches and slogans, however, and put real money on the table if they are going to be taken seriously. A close reading of their efforts isn’t reassuring.