Chinese workers have built bridges in Serbia, a huge railroad tunnel in Uzbekistan and a gas and oil pipeline across Myanmar. These are just a few of the dozens of massive foreign infrastructure projects China has financed across the world as part of President Xi Jinping's 'Belt and Road Initiative.'
In the six years since President Xi first floated the project, at least 124 countries have signed on to what is one of the largest international construction projects in history. Over the next decade, investment bank Morgan Stanley forecasts China will have plowed more than $1 trillion into the project.
But in spite of some notable successes, the project continues to be met with skepticism in the U.S. and other countries over concerns that China's deals with developing countries are not transparent and can land heavily-indebted governments in a 'debt trap.'
On this edition of Global Journalist, a look at China's Belt and Road Initiative as dozens of foreign leaders prepare to travel to Beijing for a summit on the project.
Joining the program:
- Joshua Eisenman, assistant professor of public affairs, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas
- Jacob Mardell, a researcher and journalist in the midst of a 47,000 mile trip to visit 'Belt and Road' projects across Europe, Asia and Africa
- Nyshka Chandran, Singapore based journalist who previously covered the project for CNBC
- Taiya Smith, a former Treasury Department China specialist in the Bush State Department, director of the China program at the Climate Leadership Council
