Xi pledges Belt and Road reboot amid rising 'debt trap' concerns

Speech addresses trade in apparent message to Washington

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Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at the opening ceremony for the second Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on April 26. © Reuters

NIKKI SUN, Nikkei staff writer

BEIJING -- Standing before 37 world leaders and thousands of delegates in a cavernous Beijing hall, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to reboot his country's flagship Belt and Road Initiative.

In a bid to assuage concerns that the massive infrastructure plan was sinking participants into debt, Xi called for "zero tolerance" of corruption in the initiative. He said China would ensure more transparency for "high-quality development for shared benefit."

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