China’s BRI: Development or Debt?

It’s been a decade since Chinese President Xi Jinping's launched the Belt and Road Initiative, an ambitious plan to connect Asia with Africa and Europe through a series of land and sea networks via investments in local infrastructure. But ten years on has it been - as some claim - a debt trap for some developing economies, a road to nowhere? Or has the sweeping infrastructure project - which has funded trains, roads and ports in many countries - successfully expanded global trade links and helped the economic development of countries in Africa and Asia? Shaun Ley is joined by: Eyck Freymann - economic historian and China specialist, currently a Hoover Fellow at Stanford University Niva Yau - political scientist from Hong Kong and a non-resident fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub Kerry Brown - Professor of Chinese Studies and Director of the Lau China Institute at King's College, London Also featuring: Pakistan Senator Afnan Khan, Pakistan Muslim League Victor Gao of the Beijing based Centre for China and Globalisation, a think tank with links to the governing Chinese Communist Party Nicola Procaccini - Member of the European Parliament from the Fratelli d'Italia party Photo: Chinese President Xi Jinping waves to children as Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (C, back) looks on, upon arrival at Islamabad airport in Islamabad, on April 20, 2015. Beijing has lent Islamabad considerable amounts of money as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative.Credit: Pakistan Presidency Press Information Department /Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Produced by Rumella Dasgupta and Elle Otzen