It seems that the success of the 3rd BRI Forum for International Cooperation in 2023 has now rattled the capitals of the European Union and Washington. The policymakers of the West are trying to initiate another endgame in geopolitics in the African continent, which is a future source of energy, metals, and food. The anti-development forces will seek to influence African countries to stay away from the BRI.”
To counter Xi’s eight action plans for the further development of BRI in the next decade the US and the EU have joined forces with the African Development Bank (AFDB) and the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) to launch the West’s latest attempt to counter China’s BRI. The main stakeholders have signed an MoU of setting out plans to develop the “Lobito Corridor” and the “Zambia-Lobito railway” which will together form a link across Africa through a number of large mineral deposits. The deal was done on the margins of the Global Gateway in Brussels, an invitation-only meeting of EU governments with companies, banks and international organizations intended to promote international infrastructure.
The US State Department has described this as the most significant transport infrastructure project on the African continent in a generation. The US hopes that it will enhance regional trade and growth, as well as advance the shared vision of a connected, open-access rail route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean.
The projects will be executed and implemented under the flagship of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, the G7’s response to the BRI, launched in June last year at the Schloss Elmau summit in Germany. It aims to invest over $600bn by 2027 to close infrastructure gaps around the world. The US and its allies have tried before to launch schemes to compete with Chinese infrastructure largesse in the developing world.
In 2013, (then) President Barack Obama launched his “Power Africa” Initiative aimed at investing $7bn to add more than 10,000 megawatts of clean electricity. It could not be materialized. The G7 tried again in June 2021 with its “Build Back Better World” grand plan investing in infrastructure projects of Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Indo-Pacific.
According to its statement, it is financing rail refurbishment from the Angolan port of Lobito to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A new railway from northwest Zambia would join that line. It aims to jointly invest in large-scale infrastructure. It is 800km of new Greenfield rail cutting between Angola and Zambia. It involves a large contribution from AFDB. All funding partners put together around $10m to start the feasibility study before the end of this year. The project also involves building 260km of roads and about 550km of track in Zambia, spanning from the Jimbe border to Chingola in the country’s copper region. As well as the railway, the corridor will involve 4G and later 5G telecoms systems and a billion-dollar investment in solar farms and micro-grids.
In July this year, Zambia, the DRC and Angola signed their own MoU on progressing the corridor. A consortium led by multinational commodities trader Trafigura had already been appointed to run a $570m rehabilitation scheme.
The governments of DRC, Angolan and Zambian have already decided to start the mega project through their tripartite agreement. According to Africa News24, it is a direct challenge to China’s BRI, largely viewed as an unsettling extension of China’s rising power.
On the other hand, the Chinese BRI has already completed numerous mega rail projects in parts of the world. The “Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway” was officially operated on October 2, 2023. It is a $7.3 billion project. It connects Indonesia’s capital Jakarta and West Java’s provincial capital Bandung. With a designed-speed of 350 km per hour, the railway spanning 142.3 km will cut the journey between the two cities from over three hours to around 40 minutes. It is the first overseas high-speed railway project that fully uses Chinese railway systems, technology and industrial components under the flagship project of BRI.
The “China-Laos Railway” , a landmark project showcasing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, started operation in December 2021. The railway also serves as a docking project with Laos’ strategy to convert itself from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub.
After its launch in 2021, passenger train services have been offered along the section between Kunming and the Chinese border town of Mohan, as well as the section connecting Vientiane and Boten, the border town on the Lao side. On April 13, 2023, the China-Laos Railway launched its cross-border passenger services.
Moreover, the “China-Europe Railway Express” has become the 21st century Camel Journey. Some 77,000 China-Europe freight train trips have been made over the last 10 years, providing services for 217 cities in 25 European countries. It comprises 86 routes passing through the main regions of the Eurasian. The “Hungarian-Serbian Railway” is another mega rail project of the BRI, connecting the Hungarian capital Budapest and Serbian capital Belgrade is progressing smoothly.
The recently signed CPEC Phase-II ML-1 mega railway project is set to transform the country’s railway system. It will connect Peshawar to Karachi via a 2,600-kilometer track at a cost of $7 billion. Official data indicates it will boost line capacity to 134 trains in each direction per day, travelling at speeds of up to 165 kilometres per hour, doubling the current speed.
In summary, the BRI has driven strategic transport and economic development projects in Africa and beyond. As of October 2023, the BRI spans 151 countries with a combined GDP of $41 trillion and a population of 5.1 billion. Bilateral trade with China in BRI countries has reached $2.8 trillion, and the BRI has attracted $1 trillion in construction investments. Cumulative import-export value with BRI partners is $19.1 trillion, and two-way investments total $380 billion. Newly signed construction contracts are valued at $2 trillion. China has established free trade agreements with 28 countries and bilateral investment agreements with 135 countries and regions, underscoring global recognition and anticipated growth of the BRI in the next decade.
views expressed are writer’s own.
