EU challenges China’s Belt and Road with €300bn Global Gateway

(Business News East, Berlin, 2 December 2021) The European Commission on December 1 revealed details of the EU’s €300bn ($340bn) Global Gateway Strategy, a global investment plan hailed as a "true alternative" to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, or B&R). China has funded railways, roads and ports as BRI projects but it has come under fire from critics who say Beijing leaves some countries weighed down with loans they cannot hope to pay off. A centre-piece of Chinese foreign policy, BRI is accused of spreading “debt-trap diplomacy”. Critics of Global Gateway say in many ways it amounts to a repackaging of cash. As China pushes back against claims of "debt-trap diplomacy", the European Commission thinks it can sell Global Gateway as a "trusted brand".