The red carpets have been rolled up, the visiting leaders have left and cash has been committed….<\/b>
\nThe red carpets have been rolled up, the visiting leaders have left and cash has been committed. On the face of it, Beijing\u2019s diplomatic extravaganza to galvanise support for its global trade and infrastructure outreach programme went off without a major hitch. By the end of the two-day forum for the \u201cBelt and Road Initiative\u201d, nearly 30 nations in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America were all board Chinese President Xi Jinping\u2019s plan to breathe new life into ancient trade routes linking China to Asia, the Middle East, Africa and beyond. Along the road, Xi had cast China as a defender of free trade in contrast to a more inward-looking United States and a fractured Europe. But China also failed to dispel unease about its strategic intentions among most industrialised nations and some major emerging economies, leaving Beijing with a long way to go to realise Xi\u2019s ambitions to fill the world leadership gap on globalisation, analysts said. As China\u2019s signature foreign policy event of the year, the summit appeared largely to be a diplomatic success thanks to meticulous preparation and more importantly, China\u2019s benevolence and generosity, according to Yun Sun, from the Stimson Centre in Washington. On top of US$60 billion in Chinese investment pledged since the initiative was proposed in 2013, Xi committed another US$113 billion to help fund infrastructure projects around the world. Observers agreed Xi emerged a domestic and international winner by promoting China as a defender of globalisation when world leadership on the issue is in short supply. Sun said the summit served Xi\u2019s domestic political agenda, burnishing his credibility and achievements in the lead-up to the Communist Party\u2019s national congress. \u201cGiven the sensitivity associated with the 19th party congress later this year, Xi left no stone unturned to make sure the summit proceeded smoothly. It will serve to prove Xi\u2019s great leadership not only in China but also in the world, \u201d he said. The Chinese president\u2019s mantra at the meeting was \u201copenness and inclusiveness\u201d. Amid suspicion and concerns among most developed nations and major emerging economies, Xi said the new Silk Road push would not exclude any party or target anyone. Alexander Gabuev, of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, said Xi was trying to contrast his plan with the \u201cclosed-door club\u201d of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the US\u2019 now-abandoned attempt to create a multilateral free-trade pact in the Asia-Pacific. \u201cThe initiative has become a brand of China\u2019s soft power that doesn\u2019 t carry any practical meaning, but provides a public relations wrap for many of China\u2019s private and state-led activities around the world, \u201d Gabuev said. He said the initiative was \u201canother way to talk about\u201d China\u2019s rise and the resulting global redistribution of power. On paper, China and the other 63 nations along the belt and road do present an impressive bloc, accounting for about 60 per cent of the world\u2019s population and 30 per cent of its total economic output. Beijing went some way to making the concept an economic reality by signing a raft of trade and infrastructure deals with countries taking part in the meeting. But there appeared to be setbacks to Xi\u2019s attempts to set the global rules of the game, with major EU countries refusing to sign up to proposed summit documents on trade, and countries, such as India, deciding not to send a high-level official delegation to Beijing. Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London, said India\u2019s refusal to take part marked a key flaw in the initiative. \u201cIf a major neighbour like India, which is geographically within the belt and road initiative, clearly refuses to join, it shows the real extent of China\u2019s appeal, \u201d Tsang said, adding that such setbacks would be brushed aside by state media. \u201cWhatever the actual benefits the initiative will bring to China, it will be promoted as a great achievement in China, and few will voice a different assessment domestically unless they are prepared to be seen as enemies or, at least, critics of Xi.\u201d Xi tried to reassure some of China\u2019s sceptical neighbours about the initiative, insisting it would not become a geoeconomic dimension of growing Chinese assertiveness in the region. Jay Batongbacal, a maritime law expert at the University of the Philippines, said Beijing\u2019s pledges would be received well among Southeast Asian nations but their suspicions about Chinese intentions would persist and hamper participation. \u201cAfter all, many Southeast Asian countries already have their own particular experiences with Chinese diplomacy and economic policy in the past and this will inform their assessments of China\u2019s promises under the Belt and Road Initiative, \u201d he said. \u201cUnless China provides assurances that lessons have been learned to avoid any negative impacts, the Belt and Road Initiative may not reach its full potential.\u201d Apart from concerns that it will erode the influence of regional powers, critics have also raised questions about the initiative\u2019s vague scope, the commercial viability of its expensive infrastructure projects, and the real benefits and political risks for participating countries, many of which are in volatile areas and have limited access to capital from non-Chinese financial institutions and companies. Xu Weizhong, director of the Institute of African Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, admitted the fate of Xi\u2019s global ambition would largely rest on how well Beijing was able to win the hearts and minds of the historically, culturally and politically disparate countries along the routes. \u201cFrankly, working along with other nations at the government level is the easy part and we still have a long way to go to reach out to the grass-roots of society and seek their understanding and support, \u201d Xu said. Analysts also said there were logical inconsistencies in Xi\u2019s high-minded pledges to not\u201cexport our own social system and model of development, or impose our own will on others\u201d. \u201cChina claims that the initiative would be all about connectivity, co-development beyond the traditional geostrategic competition. That is against the nature of international politics today. I think the biggest issue for China is that China has not yet convinced the world that this geoeconomic campaign does not have a geostrategic implication, \u201d Sun said. \u201cGiven that China\u2019s foreign policy has been soaked in geopolitical a instinct, it is very hard for China to convince the world that now it has become so glorious, lofty and altruistic. \u201cChina has a long way to go to prove that the initiative will turn out to be exactly what they claimed.\u201d<\/p>\n