G7 announces investment of USD 600 billion to challenge Chinese BRI s

Berlin/Beijing: The G7 group announced an investment of USD 600 billion to pose a challenge to the ambitious Chinese scheme ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI). The plan is named ‘Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment’. This G7 scheme is believed to be a part of the Build Back Better World scheme announced last year.

As per the new announcement, the United States will be making investments worth USD 200 billion, and the contribution of the European countries will be USD 317 billion. A reaction has been received from China regarding this. The Chinese foreign ministry warned that encouraging geopolitical equations under the pretext of infrastructure development will not be tolerated.

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative in the last decade. The main goal of the scheme was to increase the Chinese influence through investment in infrastructure facilities in various countries. In the last few years, China has made this scheme a part of its predatory economics, and it is being used to acquire resources in the poor and underdeveloped countries forcibly. But the Chinese ambition has started receiving jolts over the last few years.

The countries that signed the agreements with China in the initial phases have started withdrawing from the contracts. The projects in the African continent have been delayed, and local resistance has intensified. China is being targeted internationally for consistently pressuring the countries to repay the loans and interest. At the same time, other leading countries in the world have announced independent schemes to counter the Chinese BRI scheme.

Three years ago, Japan challenged the Chinese BRI scheme through the initiative ‘Partnership for Quality Infrastructure’. Australia and New Zealand also announced independent financial assistance to the smaller island countries in the Pacific region. After that, last year, the G7 delivered a major jolt to China with the announcement of the ‘Build Back Better World’ (B3W) program. Following that, Europe has announced the Globally Connected Europe scheme with a proposed investment provision of 300 billion Euros.

The announcement by the G7 countries on Sunday is said to be a part of the B3W scheme. The USD 600 billion investment will focus on infrastructure projects, climate-related strategies, the health sector and digital technologies.