G7 Pledge to Counter China’s Growing Economic, Military Influence

The G7 sought on Saturday to counter China’s growing influence by offering developing nations an infrastructure plan that could rival President Xi Jinping’s multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road initiative, as well as its growing economic and military power.

U.S. President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders hope their plan, known as the Build Back Better World (B3W) initiative, will provide a transparent infrastructure partnership to help narrow the $40 trillion needed by developing nations by 2035, the White House said.

The G7 and its allies will use the B3W initiative to mobilize private-sector capital in areas such as climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality, the White House added.

More than 100 countries have signed agreements with China to cooperate in BRI projects like railways, ports, highways and other infrastructure.

Critics say Xi's plan to create a modern version of the ancient Silk Road trade route to link China with Asia, Europe and beyond is a vehicle for the expansion of Communist China.

[caption id="attachment_246050" align="aligncenter" width="800"] G7 leaders have gathered with invited Guests at Carbis Bay Beach ahead of this evening's BBQ Dinner (File Photo)[/caption]

China in 1979 had an economy that was smaller than Italy's, but after opening to foreign investment and introducing market reforms, it has become the world's second-largest economy and is a global leader in a range of new technologies.

According to a Refinitiv database, as of mid-last year, more than 2,600 projects at a cost of $3.7 trillion were linked to the BRI, although the Chinese foreign ministry said last June that about 20% of projects had been seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden made "forceful comments" to G7 leaders about the need to make a strong statement on Washington and rights group say is the use of forced labor in China, but there was a "spectrum of how far different countries are willing to go" in their criticism in a final communique from the three-day summit, another U.S. official said.

U.N. experts and rights groups estimate over a million people, mainly Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, have been detained in recent years in a vast system of camps in Xinjiang.