China’s Belt and Road Initiative faces new US pushback

Washington: Two Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation aimed at countering China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), arguing that Beijing is using infrastructure financing and investment deals to expand its economic and strategic influence around the world.

Congressman Scott Fitzgerald of Wisconsin and Congressman Zach Nunn of Iowa on Tuesday unveiled the Thwarting Regional Adversary Investments Now (TRAIN) Act and the Build Responsible Infrastructure Development for the Global Economy (BRIDGE) Act.

The measures seek to strengthen the US response to what the lawmakers described as China’s growing use of economic leverage through overseas investments, loans and infrastructure projects.

“China has turned the Belt and Road Initiative into a weapon of economic coercion, building leverage through debt, controlling critical infrastructure, and pulling countries deeper into Beijing’s orbit,” Fitzgerald said.

“The TRAIN Act helps countries avoid walking into those traps in the first place, and the BRIDGE Act ensures the United States is better positioned to address this challenge,” he added.

According to Fitzgerald’s office, the TRAIN Act would direct the State Department to assist partner governments that are not considered adversarial in analysing and mitigating legal and financial risks before accepting investment or lending from China or other foreign adversaries.

The lawmakers said the effort is intended to help countries better evaluate the long-term implications of infrastructure financing and investment arrangements.

The BRIDGE Act would establish it as US policy to counter efforts by the People’s Republic of China and the Chinese Communist Party to create what the legislation describes as an integrated economic and political order under Beijing’s leadership that could threaten US national security, foreign policy and economic interests.

Under the proposal, the Secretary of State, working with the Secretary of Commerce, the chief executive officer of the US International Development Finance Corporation and other agencies, would be required to submit a report to Congress within 180 days assessing China’s use of BRI to advance its global objectives.

The legislation comes amid continuing debate in Washington over how to respond to China’s expanding economic footprint in developing countries.

Fitzgerald’s office noted that more than 150 countries and 32 international organisations have signed cooperation documents linked to the Belt and Road Initiative since its launch. The programme spans regions including sub-Saharan Africa, Europe and Central Asia, and East Asia and the Pacific.

According to the lawmakers, BRI engagement in 2025 reached an estimated $213.5 billion in construction contracts and investments, while cumulative engagement since 2013 is approaching $1.4 trillion.

Nunn argued that the issue carries direct economic consequences for American workers and exporters.

“China has spent decades buying up the ports, power grids, and trade routes of developing nations, trapping them in debt and rigging the global market in their favor,” he said.

“That hits Iowa directly: our farmers and manufacturers compete to feed and supply the world, and they can’t win on a field Beijing is tilting in their own favor.”

He said the legislation would provide “a coordinated, whole-of-government strategy to counter China’s invest-to-control strategy of economic coercion, help partner nations walk away from a bad deal with Beijing, and keep the playing field fair for Iowa.”

The lawmakers said the bills form part of a broader legislative effort to address China’s growing economic and strategic influence, with additional measures expected in the coming days.

China launched the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013 as a global infrastructure and connectivity programme linking Asia, Africa, Europe and other regions through ports, railways, highways, energy projects and industrial investments. Beijing has described the initiative as a platform for development and economic cooperation.

The Belt and Road Initiative has also become a major point of strategic competition between the United States and China. Washington and its allies have increasingly promoted alternative infrastructure financing mechanisms, including the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment and projects supported by the US International Development Finance Corporation, as they seek to offer developing countries financing options beyond Chinese-backed investments.

IANS