China's OBOR initiative seems aligned with its military interests, says US

US lawmakers on Monday expressed concern over the ambitious 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR) initiative of China and sought recommendations for improving development finance efforts.

While infrastructure investment is desperately needed across the region, there's more to the 'Belt and Road' initiative than meets the eye, said Congressman Ted Yoho, Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.

Though China has promoted the program as generous win-win assistance to its fellow developing nations, the OBOR seems motivated primarily by self-interest, he said during a Congressional hearing on development finance in Asia.

The Belt and Road projects are financed by Chinese institution at high rates not typically found in the development context conducted by Chinese corporations that are often state-owned enterprise and utilise Chinese labour and material and seem to add little to local economies and can bring unsustainable debt burdens, he said.

The program also seems to be closely aligned with China's strategic and military interests to be more than a mere coincidence, he added.

READ MORE

China rejects US criticism of OBOR, doesn't waver on Kashmir issue

Claiming UN support for its controversial One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative, China on Friday rejected US criticism saying the project has not changed its stand that the Kashmir issue should be resolved by India and Pakistan bilaterally.

"We have repeatedly reiterated that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is an economic cooperation initiative that is not directed against third parties and has nothing to do with territorial sovereignty disputes and does not affect China's principled stance on the Kashmir issue," the Chinese Foreign Ministry told PTI here.

The ministry was responding to comments by US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis that the Belt and Road Initiative "also goes through disputed territory, and I think, that in itself shows the vulnerability of trying to establish that sort of a dictate".

In a globalised world, there are many belts and many roads, and no one nation should put itself into a position of dictating 'One Belt, One Road', Mattis told a Senate Armed Services Committee during a Congressional hearing on October 4.

Mattis' comments were widely interpreted as the US backing India's stand on OBOR especially related to the $50 billion CPEC which is being built through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). India has protested to China in this regard.
READ MORE