Belt and Road
Xi’s $1 Trillion ‘Project of the Century’ Gets a Reality Check
- Chinese leader’s summit marks decade of flagship initiative
- Beijing facing questions on project’s future as economy slows
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When President Xi Jinping first assembled world leaders to map out his vision for expanding Chinese soft power via a web of infrastructure investment in 2017, he called the Belt and Road the “project of the century.”
As the Chinese statesman opens the third Belt and Road Forum this week, the future of his brainchild looks uncertain. While the project has drawn $1 trillion in its first decade, according to estimates from think tank Green Finance & Development Center, the momentum has tapered off in recent years.