Lending has slumped and projects are stalled. Several partner countries are deep in debt, reflecting cracks in the sustainability of Beijing's lending practices.
Central Asia has become key to China's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, a defining geopolitical project for President Xi Jinping. China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative may have boosted the country’s global political clout, but doubts remain over theTen years have passed since China rolled out the infrastructure and investment project
“Like many projects, what turns out in the end is not always going to be what was initially advertised. That is the same thing for the BRI,” said Associate Professor Chong Ja Ian from the National University of Singapore. “I think that some of the expectations about how the loans will be serviced, about the returns on these investments were done in a way that perhaps could have had more due diligence.”
“I don't think it was designed to be a debt trap. I don't think that was the purpose. But if the party giving the loan overshoots and the party receiving the money willingly complies with it, then you end up with too much debt and you end up with infrastructure that isn't used.” “I think it was basically good faith efforts, but the market shifted or the projections were just too robust than what was really needed.”
It addressed Pakistan's infrastructure gaps, established special economic zones and expanded the Gwadar Port, which is strategically located along the Arabian Sea.
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