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Port of Duisburg: Loading station for freight trains to China

Photo: Rupert Oberhäuser / IMAGO

On October 17 and 18, China will hold the third forum on its "New Silk Road" in Beijing. This was announced by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday. Numerous state guests are expected to attend the Belt and Road Forum (BRI), which was last held in 2019. Russian President Vladimir Putin is said to be among them.

The head of the Kremlin confirmed his participation in September at a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow, the Russian news agency Tass reported. It would be Putin's first trip abroad after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him in March. China has never acceded to the so-called Rome Statute of the Court in The Hague, the Netherlands, and could therefore ignore the arrest warrant.

By land and sea

The "New Silk Road", which was launched ten years ago, is a global investment and infrastructure project of China. Officially, Germany is not part of it. The initiative includes projects by land and sea that are part of the "Maritime Silk Road". The "New Silk Road" is derived from the world-famous Silk Road, a trade route that dates back to antiquity and extended to Europe.

Today, China is using the initiative to invest in transport routes in Africa, Central Asia and other parts of the world, building or buying up railways, roads, bridges and ports, such as the port of Piraeus in Greece. Beijing usually sends Chinese companies to implement the construction projects on site, and also acts as a lender. For this reason, there is criticism that financially weak countries in particular are becoming highly dependent on China as a result of the "New Silk Road".

China's infrastructure offensive has brought the more than 130 participating countries not only billions of dollars in investment projects but also a large mountain of debt. In the ten years since the launch of the initiative, it has led to construction contracts worth the equivalent of 1.9 trillion euros, the government in Beijing announced on Tuesday. According to the report, the participating countries owe more than 280 billion euros to the Chinese export bank Eximbank.

The figure is "vastly underestimated," said Niva Yau, a researcher at the Global China Hub, which is part of the Atlantic Council think tank. Further academic research has looked at this hidden debt, which could amount to $800 billion."


mik/dpa-AFX