Desperate Times. Desperate Measures: G7 unveils $600B (public-private partnerships) plan to combat China’s Belt and Road

[loyola llothta]

G7 unveils $600B plan to combat China’s Belt and Road​

Beijing is increasing its global reach through major investments in Africa and Asia.

ELMAU, Germany — The world's wealthiest democracies on Sunday announced a $600 billion global infrastructure initiative to counter China’s push to exert political and commercial influence through massive investments across emerging economies.

U.S. President Joe Biden was joined by other G7 leaders in unveiling the group's counterstrike at a summit in the German Alps.

Biden declared that "our nation and the world stand at a genuine inflection point in our history," and added that the choices made in developing countries today would gird them against future shocks from climate change and pandemics and prepare them for the digital age.
The United States will aim to leverage a total of $200 billion for the program over the coming five years through a combination of federal financing and private sector investments. That adds to €300 billion already announced by the EU. Along with contributions from the other members, the overall target is to build a $600 billion scheme.

Biden never used the word “China,” but the rival on the other end of the race for global reach was clear, with the president declaring that when “democracies do all that we can offer,” they would triumph over autocracies.

“We’re offering better options for people around the world,” he said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the aim was to present a "positive powerful investment impulse to the world to show our partners in the developing world that they have a choice."

The infrastructure plan was first unveiled a year ago, at last year’s G7 in Britain, but little progress was made and the program has been renamed. In 2021, it was dubbed “Build Back Better World” after Biden’s legislative push, but the implosion of his domestic agenda has led to a new moniker: the “Partnership for Global Infrastructure.” That will also be the umbrella term that captures the EU and U.K.'s own programs.

The plan is meant to compete with China’s “Belt and Road Initiative," which has tried to strengthen ties with the developing world, especially in Asia and Africa, by offering financing for large-scale projects such as roads, railways and ports. U.S. officials have consistently claimed that the nations that go into business with China end up with punishing debt and are offering the West’s plan as an alternative.
But much of the funding behind the new plan appears aspirational and seems to fall short of its lofty goals. The White House did announce Sunday a few early projects, including U.S. companies taking the lead on a solar power project in Angola, a vaccine manufacturing facility in Senegal, a modular reactor in Romania, and a 1,000-mile submarine telecommunications cable that will connect Singapore to France through Egypt and the Horn of Africa.

The partnership will also provide a structure for the G7 nations to combine their resources in offering emerging economies cash to turn off their coal plants. The first of these so-called Just Energy Transition Partnerships is being rolled out in South Africa — others are under discussion in India, Indonesia, Vietnam and Senegal. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Sunday that Berlin's contribution to South Africa would amount to €300 million.

Inflation has delivered a blow to the global infrastructure plan — as well as the bipartisan domestic version Biden signed into law late last year — making the projects more expensive than first planned. Moreover, the newly christened Partnership for Global Infrastructure has also been impacted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Biden’s initial plan had significant climate change goals that, while still present, have taken a backseat to an effort to combat the fuel cost crisis exacerbated by the war. The German G7 meeting had been intended to reaffirm the leaders’ fight against climate change, but the democracies have been more focused on bringing down the price of oil and gas than immediately reducing their emissions.

Many of the nations are reversing plans to stop burning coal while looking for oil and — to the delight of fossil fuel companies — are looking to spend billions to build terminals for liquified national gas. Both Italy and German have argued within the negotiations leading up to the meeting for the G7 to back short-term investments in gas.

"Our work on promoting infrastructure globally is also affected by the current geopolitical situation," said Scholz. "We have therefore discussed how our investment globally in climate-neutral and low carbon energy including gas can help us as a temporary response to Russia's use of energy as a weapon."

Link:G7 unveils $600B plan to combat China’s Belt and Road

 

[levitate]

The fukk are you saying???

 

[Henri Christophe]

The world's wealthiest democracies on Sunday announced a $600 billion global infrastructure

"wealthy democracies" = the colonial mafia.

fukk outta here bytch.

you see the deceptive language?

 

[Gritsngravy]

This could be a come up, take lemons and make lemonade

 

[MajesticLion]

That budget is going to get bumped up significantly in a very short span of time.

 

[loyola llothta]

 

[loyola llothta]

This could be a come up, take lemons and make lemonade

Money from the west come with neoliberal policy and instructions on how to run your country… we already see this in Africa & Haiti (with the Wheat/no food sovereignty). It’s always to help western corporations

Read about the Paris Club

 

[Henri Christophe]

Money from the west come with neoliberal policy and instructions on how to run your country

Correct.

Take this money and hand over the control of your political and economic institutions

Oh & encourage your sons to wear panties and high-heels.

And encourage your daughters to get abortions.

And if you try to disobey us - we will murder you.

 

[loyola llothta]

"wealthy democracies" = the colonial mafia.

fukk outta here bytch.

you see the deceptive language?

They just blowing hard smoke. rebranding the rebrand again

 

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

We will believe them when they demolish all their satellite bases. They could have done this decades ago when china wasn't a factor. Same nations who kept puppet governments in power to destabilize nations now supposed to be about building them? Nah

Beat it

 

[Gritsngravy]

Money from the west come with neoliberal policy and instructions on how to run your country… we already see this in Africa & Haiti (with the Wheat/no food sovereignty). It’s always to help western corporations

Read about the Paris Club

If they don’t like it they will take china’s deal

 

[loyola llothta]

 

[Chrishaune]

Rome trying to rise once again.

 

[Diunx]

So they now are gonna help the countries they ignored after they destroyed them because China is helping them?

 

[BaggerofTea]

It's almost paternal how the west is approaching this.

And none of the specified uses in the article talked about improving a countries mineral extraction and refinement capabilities.


Hopefully african nations don't fall for the okie dokie