The China-Africa Podcast - Confused About China’s Belt & Road Agenda? You’re Not Alone
Thirty-seven foreign heads of state visit Beijing in late April to take part in the second Belt and Road summit hosted by Chinese president Xi Jinping. Some leaders like Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta came with expectations to sign huge infrastructure loan deals, while others, including Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed, asked for debt relief.
But amid all of the deals and big announcements at the summit, the underlying message about what exactly is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and what does it stand for is still not clear to a lot of people.
Nicholas Institute research associate Erik Myxter-lino, who hosts the Belt and Road Podcast, joined the China-Africa Project podcast to discuss why he thinks it’s so difficult for the Chinese to explain what BRI is really all about.