China’s Belt and Road Forum begins in Beijing
Xi Jinping has so far met the leaders of Ethiopia, Serbia, Chile, and Kazakhstan, among others, in what Chinese state media has described as “the most important diplomatic event hosted by China this year.” But all eyes are on the arrival of a Taliban minister and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation kicked off in Beijing today to mark the 10th anniversary of the launch of Beijing’s $1 trillion global infrastructure initiative.
Xí Jìnpíng 习近平, whom Chinese state media today called the “chief architect” of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is expected to attend the opening ceremony and deliver a keynote speech tomorrow. He will also host a welcome banquet and other events for the guests attending the forum.
It is “the most important diplomatic event hosted by China this year,” as described yesterday by Chinese state media, with more than 140 countries and over 30 international organizations confirmed to attend. Decorations have been erected all over the Chinese capital in honor of the event, and the country’s broader mass media machine has been busy churning out articles and editorials about the slew of nations that have “voted with their feet for the reputation and achievements of the BRI over the past decade.”
China’s championing of the BRI comes at a time when the initiative has been under greater scrutiny, amid criticisms over China’s lending practices to indebted nations like Sri Lanka, and recent reports that Italy, the only Group of Seven (G7) country to have signed up to the project, intends to exit the BRI. Last week, China released a white paper (full PDF here) on Belt and Road cooperation to “give the international community a better understanding” of the initiative’s value. And the week before, China’s Supreme Court also issued new legal guidelines for BRI cases to “efficiently resolve disputes involving foreign parties.”
Some of the men Xi met with today
Xi met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, where they elevated their nations’ ties to an “all-weather strategic partnership,” a label reserved for a select few of its diplomatic partners such as Venezuela and Pakistan, the latter of which China has invested $25.4 billion in over the past decade. China has recently extended debt relief to Ethiopia to deal with its more than $28.2 billion in external debt, and the upgrade of relations with the Horn of Africa nation “is not only of crucial importance for Ethiopia, but also of great significance for South-South solidarity,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said today.
Xi met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, on the same day that China’s CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles signed a high-speed train procurement deal with the Serbian transportation authorities for the Hungary-Serbia railway project, according to the train manufacturer. The project, slated to begin operations in 2025, is expected to cut travel time from eight hours to three between Belgrade and Budapest in a key link between China and Central and Eastern European countries. (Chinese Premier Lǐ Qiáng 李强 also held talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban yesterday, where the two sides signed a number of bilateral cooperation documents, including Belt and Road projects, education, supply chains, development policies, digital economy, and green development.)
Xi called Chile “a pioneer in the Belt and Road cooperation between China and Latin America” during his meeting with Chilean President Gabriel Boric. Just yesterday, Boric announced that Chinese stainless steel and nickel giant Tsingshan agreed to invest $233.2 million to set up a plant in Chile to produce lithium iron phosphate (LFP), which is used in the batteries that power most of China’s electric vehicles.
Xi pledged to strengthen cooperation with his “old friend” Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokaye, reiterating China’s commitment to “continuously facilitate trade and investment,” including agricultural products from Kazakhstan, as well as digital technology such as cross-border ecommerce, artificial intelligence, big data, and blockchain.
Other dignitaries who have met with Xi as of this morning include Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary, and President Shavkat Mirziyoyev of Uzbekistan.
The big kahunas: Putin and the Taliban
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing this morning, the most closely watched foreign dignitary to attend the forum. Putin descended onto the tarmac at Beijing Capital International Airport and was immediately greeted by Chinese Commerce Minister Wáng Wéntāo 王文涛 and other officials, according to footage from Chinese state broadcaster CGTN.
Putin’s arrival in China marks his second known trip abroad since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for his arrest in March for illegally deporting children from Ukraine. The warrant requires the court’s 123 member states to arrest and transfer him to The Hague to stand trial if he enters their territory. But neither Kyrgyzstan, the location of Putin’s first visit since the warrant and a former Soviet republic, nor China are members of the ICC.
It is also Putin’s first visit to China since he agreed to a “no limits” partnership with Xi on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics in February 2022 — just 20 days before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, the Taliban’s acting minister for commerce and industry, Haji Nooruddin Azizi, will also make a rare appearance at the forum, a spokesperson announced per Reuters on October 14.
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal in 2021, China’s cautious economic support under the BRI has been a lifeline to the Middle Eastern nation. The Taliban’s participation in the forum is the latest signal of China’s growing ties with Afghanistan’s ruling regime, which has found itself in a vulnerable and isolated position under Western sanctions, despite the fact that no country has formally recognized the Taliban’s government.
