September 11, 2023

DECOUPLING: The West is Touting a New Trade Route That Bypasses China.

At the G20 summit in New Delhi this past weekend, global leaders voiced their support for a new ship, rail, and digital corridor that will connect India to the Middle East and Europe — and counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

The proposed corridor, with backing from leaders including the US, India and Saudi Arabia, could be a momentous shift for the exchange of goods. “This is nothing less than historic,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping didn’t attend the summit, but something tells us he’s less than pleased. His country’s trillion-dollar-plus initiative to fund infrastructure projects in mostly developing countries was a bid to expand China’s economic reach. But it has courted controversy from some who see it as a predatory money pit: In 2018, for example, Sri Lanka couldn’t afford the payments on its strategic Hambantota port, so it was handed over to China.

Western leaders looking to mitigate China’s influence while also cooling tensions with the Middle East could view a new trade pact as a win-win.

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Posted at 9:36 am by Stephen Green