The West and its allies have re-launched their own version of the China Belt and Road

A new submarine fiber-optic data cable over southern Europe and the Latin American ocean is set to be networked this month – and the schedule is unlikely to be.

The EllaLink 150 million euro project is backed by public loans, including from the European Investment Bank. The China Belt and Road Initiative will be launched when the EU and its allies renew their impetus for cooperation in international infrastructure projects, according to which Beijing has spread its influence around the world.

The aim is to foster cooperation between the EU and its partners – including Japan, the US and India – and to support high-quality projects in low- and middle-income countries. The issue is expected to be on the agenda at EU and G7 summits in May and June. The EU and its partners will try to give it the boost it has lacked so far, and Biden has called for it to add to the agenda at the G7 summit in the UK this summer.

“So far we are trying to contrast Belt and Road mostly with big words and big political papers,” said a senior EU diplomat. “But unfortunately there is no real and consistent geopolitical strategy or plan. There is a real need to work together on infrastructure projects and prevent countries from becoming dependent on China.”

Lindsay Gorman, the advocacy group for the Alliance for Security Democracy, said the effort could be successful as long as it is more focused and imaginative than “trying to deal with all the ways China is building.” Instead, the EU and its allies should focus on critical sectors such as digital in China’s authoritarian power in Africa, Central Asia and Latin America, as well as in Europe.

Not only infrastructure. . . the ability to set standards. [Whoever] writes rules in the world

“They are less than physical roads than the digital highways that fuel repression systems,” he said, adding, “It will be really about putting significant capital behind us, and identifying the strategic areas we can do best.”

BRI has become strategic tool Since its launch in Beijing in 2013, dozens of countries have signed China-sponsored projects, such as railways, bridges and ports. It has been approved by more than 150 states and international organizations – including more than half of the 27 EU countries. Beijing has spread the idea with the Digital Silk Road, Polar Silk Road and Green Silk Road initiatives.

It is a response from the international powers an infrastructure alliance is expected to be agreed between the EU and India This month. Europe also had a “clear openness” to working more closely with the US under the Biden administration, said Jonathan Hillman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The final impetus for the BRI alternative occurs after few concrete results have been given in previous efforts. Although the EU launched a connectivity plan in 2018 and signed a partnership with Japan in 2019, it has not produced major projects in third countries. The U.S. has little to show for the Build Act passed in 2018 to boost private sector investment in poorer countries and the Blue Dot Network initiative launched next year with Japan and Australia to ensure standard infrastructure.

Critics say the EU and its partners are too late. Beijing has been in charge of BRI for more than seven years and prioritized international infrastructure, especially in Africa.

They are in favor of a stronger Western drive, as the growing reaction to Chinese projects offers a second chance because some recipient countries have complained that BRI’s debt conditions are harsh and construction and environmental standards are poor.

But barriers remain, including internal divisions between potential partners. While most EU member states, including France and Germany, are generally in favor of expanding blockchain partnerships, some officials argue that the initiatives should not only build new “hardware” against the BRI, but also create partnerships based on shared standards and norms.

“We now understand that it is not just about infrastructure, but also about the possibility of setting standards,” said an EU diplomat. “[Whoever] the world writes the rules “.

Meanwhile, international powers have different positions around China, jeopardizing certain economic ties or burning Asian security tensions. While the US has called for international cooperation with Beijing, others like the EU and India do not agree with an explicit alliance against China.

Other potential problems include funding. Public institutions such as the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg may provide some funding, but officials say a lot would have to come from the private sector.

Even analysts don’t know how the US and the EU can convince countries not to sign on to China’s protection projects that Western nations don’t support, Hillman said: it seems “.

All this means that it is unlikely that there will be a single global infrastructure initiative as an alternative to BRI. Officials say it is likely that a separate but coordinated bilateral and multilateral initiative will be involved.

Reinhard Bütikofer, head of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with China, said the latest push is more serious than previous iterations.

“The Chinese made their way because they had something to offer us,” said Bütikofer, one of several EU officials who imposed sanctions on Beijing in March as revenge for measures imposed by the bloc on Chinese officials.

“We learned a lesson from that. We have a great opportunity for some of these countries to be better partners than the Chinese. ”