[The Epoch Times, June 17, 2022](The Epoch Times reporter Cheng Jing interviewed and reported) Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng chaired a symposium for “International Engineering Consulting” companies today, emphasizing the need to “analyze the preliminary demonstrations of major national projects”. The analysis believes that the company undertakes the information and investment work of the “Belt and Road”, and Han Zheng actually admits that many “Belt and Road” projects have failed in investment.
“One Belt One Road” is a strategic plan proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013, that is to expand trade and influence through investment in overseas infrastructure. More than 100 countries around the world have joined, but it has been criticized as a “corruption and debt trap”. Frustrated again and again. US President Joe Biden is planning to launch a global infrastructure initiative to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Han Zheng rarely presides over a corporate symposium
Today (17th), CCTV’s “Belt and Road Channel” published a video titled “Han Zheng hosted a symposium hosted by China International Engineering Consulting Co., Ltd.” Han Zheng emphasized that “in-depth study and implementation” of the spirit of Xi Jinping’s speech, “analysis of major national projects” The preliminary demonstration and investment and construction situation, research and deployment to do a good job in the next key work.”
According to public information, China International Engineering Consulting Corporation (CIECC), founded in 1982, is a central enterprise managed by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council of the Communist Party of China, one of the largest comprehensive engineering consulting institutions in China, and an important consulting service unit for the scientific decision-making of central investment and construction projects. . The registered capital is 1.2 billion yuan.
Regarding the symposium of a company hosted by the vice premier of the Communist Party of China, current affairs commentator Li Lin told The Epoch Times that although the “Belt and Road” was not mentioned in the official report, the company, as a consulting company for international projects, has largely undertaken Consultation and preliminary demonstration work for the “Belt and Road” project.
While Han Zheng held this meeting, Li Linyi believes that the signal sent is that the CCP will conduct a more rigorous review and demonstration of the feasibility of the “Belt and Road” infrastructure projects in the future. The investment has failed.
Li Linyi said that at present, the CCP has encountered problems in many “Belt and Road” projects in Southeast Asia, Africa and other places, and the investment has gone to waste. There are reasons for environmental protection, and there are also reasons that do not conform to local customs and culture. However, as the early demonstrator of the project, China International Engineering Corporation needs to take responsibility for this.
The CCP can’t recover the “One Belt, One Road” loan, Chinese enterprises shut down factories
Recently, some Southeast Asian countries have exposed that local power outages are related to the “Belt and Road” project. The Nikkei Asian Review reported that Waheed Ahmed, a taxi driver in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, complained that the continuous heat wave was unbearable due to the power outage for eight hours a day.
Mumtaz Baloch, a government employee who lives in rural areas of southwestern Balochistan province, said the situation is worse there, where electricity is only available for six hours a day. “We are used to not having electricity from the government, Just like our ancestors lived in ancient times.”
The crisis was echoed in another South Asian country, Sri Lanka, which also suffered hours-long power outages.
One of the main reasons for the blackout was the shutdown of factories by Chinese power producers under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative, as the Pakistani government failed to pay dues of up to 300 billion rupees ($1.5 billion), the report said.
Aslam Bhootani, a member of the National Assembly of Gwadar, a coastal town at the center of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, told the Nikkei that a 300-megawatt power plant was supposed to power the town, but “after (the government) failed to supply the existing Chinese power After the producers paid their dues, the Chinese have halted the construction of the power plant.”
“Mainly because we have to pay back loans (to Chinese companies) that we can’t repay, so (China) has stopped producing electricity,” said Ahmed Naeem Salik, a researcher at the Sramborg Institute for Strategic Studies.
Report: “One Belt, One Road” issue has many uncertain prospects
Separate research shows that Belt and Road projects in Southeast Asia continue to be plagued by disputes over compensation, forced evictions and an influx of unskilled Chinese workers; Beijing has shifted to prioritizing digital and sanitation infrastructure as the outbreak unfolded. The South China Morning Post reported recently.
“Despite the sharp drop in Beijing’s overall investment in the ‘Belt and Road’ globally, Southeast Asia remains the largest ‘Belt and Road’ investment destination in 2020,” said Wang Zheng, a visiting scholar at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
Most of these projects are currently concentrated in the energy (29%), transport (23%) and metals (18%) sectors, the South China Morning Post said.
According to the study titled “Assessing the Belt and Road Initiative,” Indonesia has 40 active Belt and Road projects, the most of any Southeast Asian country. But tensions are rising as they worry that unskilled Chinese workers are “taking local jobs”.
In 2020, for example, students on the eastern Indonesian island of Sulawesi staged protests against “illegal” foreign workers stealing jobs from locals, and even stopped cars from leaving Kendari airport in search of Chinese nationals.
In Laos, there are 12 active Belt and Road projects, but the report finds that “many villagers” are still waiting for promised promised land after being displaced by “megaprojects” such as Beijing-backed Mekong dams and new high-speed railways compensate.
In addition, China’s large dams “are associated with increasingly frequent droughts and loss of fish stocks and farmland in downstream countries”.
Concerns about the social and environmental costs of the Belt and Road initiative “will persist,” the report said, affecting local perceptions of Beijing’s drive to boost global trade and potentially jeopardizing the “long-term prospects” of related projects.
U.S. unites allies to counter the Belt and Road Initiative
Current affairs commentator Wang He told The Epoch Times that the “Belt and Road” will ultimately fail. First, various ills have emerged, and the relevant partner countries have been complaining; second, the “big money-spending” plan, the CCP’s economic strength can no longer support it; third, countering the CCP’s global expansion has become the main line of the evolution of the international strategic pattern.
Yesterday (16th), White House National Security Adviser Sullivan said at an event that US President Biden will launch a global infrastructure initiative, especially in the Indo-Pacific region, to counter the CCP’s “One Belt, One Road” plan.
“When the president goes to the G7 summit next weekend, he will launch a partnership covering global infrastructure, people’s health and digital infrastructure,” Sullivan said, “which can provide an alternative to China.”
In addition, Camber, Coordinating Director for Indo-Pacific Affairs of the White House National Security Council, said at a Washington think tank event on the 16th that the Indo-Pacific region is of strategic importance, and the United States will launch a new initiative next week to work with like-minded partners to ensure that the Pacific region is An open and coercive regional environment.
Sullivan said that the United States wants to build a long-term economic partnership in Southeast Asia, which is based on private sector investment, rather than directly spending money on these countries by the United States; through public-private cooperation to introduce tens of billions of dollars in investment to help Southeast Asian countries promote cleanliness Energy, high technology, and strengthening supply chains, to name a few.
On November 2 last year, Biden, who attended the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, proposed the “Building a Better World” (B3W) initiative. Democracies will use a more environmentally friendly way to help developing countries get rid of the CCP’s “Belt and Road” initiative. “Debt Trap and Corruption”.
Responsible editor: Li Yuan#