China vows Belt and Road ramp up despite debt-trap criticism

Pledge comes as Xi Jinping's globe-spanning infrastructure blitz turns decade old

20231010 Construction site Belt and Road Initiative

Workers at a construction site for the East Coast Rail Link, a Chinese-invested railway project in Malaysia. © Reuters

CK TAN, Nikkei staff writer

SHANGHAI -- China on Tuesday said it will ramp up the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as it turns a decade old, snubbing criticism that the globe-spanning investment blitz is a debt trap for developing nations.

In a policy paper, the State Council said more than 150 countries and 30 international organizations had signed on to cooperation agreements by June this year, with hundreds of billions of dollars in loans, mostly for roads, ports and other infrastructure projects.

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