Global Jet
Four countries - Australia, the United States, India and Japan - are discussing the prospects for launching their own infrastructure initiative, which will "provide an alternative" for countries considering taking the help of Beijing. According to a source from the Australian Financial Review, the plan is still "in its infancy", but its discussion is already being actively pursued. In particular, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and US President Donald Trump are expected to speak on this topic at the end of the week.
According to the Australian newspaper, the parties have so far agreed to call the plan an "alternative", and not a "rival" of the Chinese infrastructure project One Belt One Road. Recall that the Chinese project is a large-scale economic and political initiative to create a trade and infrastructure network that should cover the greater part of Eurasia. "No one says that China should not build infrastructure (in other countries)," the publication quotes an unnamed American official. "China, for example, can build a port that itself may not be very economically viable. We can make it effective by building a road or railroad there. "
The initiative is supposed to be backed by a voluminous Japanese "official development assistance program", a document on which was published in 2017 and was supported by the United States.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, total aid to developing countries from the United States, Australia and Japan (India is the recipient of assistance) amounted to $ 46.9 billion in 2016. The investments promised by China in the framework of the One Belt One Road exceed $ 900 billion. In fact, its assistance to development by international standards is about $ 5 billion a year. This figure, however, does not include "political" contracts disguised as economic cooperation, to which Beijing resorts very often.
The creation of an alternative to the Chinese project fits into the logic of the actions of the four countries over the past few years. In November 2017, the format of the quadrilateral strategic dialogue between Washington, Tokyo, Canberra and Delhi was revived after ten years of inaction. Already then it became clear that it was aimed mainly at restraining China: the parties discussed the situation in the South China Sea, "the need to maintain the order of navigation based on the existing rules", and "the freedom and openness of the Indo-Pacific region." Beijing, we recall, is in a situation of protracted territorial dispute with countries that have access to the South China Sea, and claims 90% of its water area.
source: reuters.com
According to the Australian newspaper, the parties have so far agreed to call the plan an "alternative", and not a "rival" of the Chinese infrastructure project One Belt One Road. Recall that the Chinese project is a large-scale economic and political initiative to create a trade and infrastructure network that should cover the greater part of Eurasia. "No one says that China should not build infrastructure (in other countries)," the publication quotes an unnamed American official. "China, for example, can build a port that itself may not be very economically viable. We can make it effective by building a road or railroad there. "
The initiative is supposed to be backed by a voluminous Japanese "official development assistance program", a document on which was published in 2017 and was supported by the United States.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, total aid to developing countries from the United States, Australia and Japan (India is the recipient of assistance) amounted to $ 46.9 billion in 2016. The investments promised by China in the framework of the One Belt One Road exceed $ 900 billion. In fact, its assistance to development by international standards is about $ 5 billion a year. This figure, however, does not include "political" contracts disguised as economic cooperation, to which Beijing resorts very often.
The creation of an alternative to the Chinese project fits into the logic of the actions of the four countries over the past few years. In November 2017, the format of the quadrilateral strategic dialogue between Washington, Tokyo, Canberra and Delhi was revived after ten years of inaction. Already then it became clear that it was aimed mainly at restraining China: the parties discussed the situation in the South China Sea, "the need to maintain the order of navigation based on the existing rules", and "the freedom and openness of the Indo-Pacific region." Beijing, we recall, is in a situation of protracted territorial dispute with countries that have access to the South China Sea, and claims 90% of its water area.
source: reuters.com
