China will hold its third Belt and Road Forum on Oct. 17 and 18, even as doubts grow over the future of President Xi Jinping’s flagship initiative amid a sluggish domestic economy and an increasingly skeptical international community.
The dates for the event in Beijing were announced by the official Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday.
The event will attract dignitaries from around the world including Russian President Vladimir Putin, in what would be his first foreign trip since a warrant for his arrest on alleged war crimes was issued by the International Criminal Court.
The gathering is Beijing’s latest attempt to shore up support for Xi’s controversial project that was launched in 2013 and has since financed some $900 billion in infrastructure and other projects in a bid to bolster China’s global influence.
Coronavirus-related disruptions have slowed down China’s pace of BRI investments, while member countries including Sri Lanka and Pakistan are struggling to pay back the money they borrowed. Criticism from the US, which has sought to brand China’s efforts as a debt trap, has also fueled skepticism of the initiative.
BRI suffered another blow last month after Italy, which in 2019 became the only Group of Seven signatory, told China that it intended to quit.
Earlier: Meloni Told China Italy Plans to Exit Investment Pact
There are already signs this year’s BRI forum might see a more muted attendance than the previous event in 2019, when 37 foreign state leaders turned up, including those from Austria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland. France, Germany and the UK also sent representatives to the summit four years ago.
The friendlier climate in Europe toward China has since then dissipated, as tensions escalate between Washington and Beijing over issues including technology access and Taiwan, with further complications from China’s support for Russia since it invaded Ukraine. European leaders including those of France, Germany, Greece and the Czech Republic are planning to skip the forum this year, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier.
On Tuesday, China said one of its financial institutions has reached a preliminary agreement with Sri Lanka on resolving China-related debt, handing it a possible victory before the Belt and Road Forum.
The government also released a white paper Tuesday touting the BRI’s achievements in the past decade. “The BRI will find itself confronted by new difficulties,” the paper said. “But as long as all parties involved combine their forces, work together and persevere, we will be able to overcome these problems.”
(Updates with more details.)
