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While America’s infrastructure keeps rotting and Washington remains unwilling to rebuild it as it instead directs trillions of dollars into the military/industrial/intelligence complex each year, China’s infrastructure development keeps speeding ahead.
It was reported last week that China-Europe freight trains, as of May 2021, transported 3.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units to 22 European cities, which is seen as a direct result of the success of China’s 2013 Belt and Road Initiative. The numbers are seen as about a 15 percent jump from last year.
Biden met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in March to discuss a rival to the Belt and Road Initiative, which is sometimes referred to as the New Silk Road. (A Refinitiv database showed that more than 100 countries signed on with Chinese projects, which focus on infrastructure like railways and highways. As of mid-2020, more than 2,600 projects at a cost of $3.7 trillion were linked to the initiative, Reuters reported.)
The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, reported on Wednesday that additional Chinese cities are beginning train shipments to Europe. The paper, citing an article in The Financial Times, reported that manufacturers in China see a greater appeal to ship their goods on trains instead of freighters due to the soaring price of shipping.
The paper reported that these freight trains connecting China to Europe are less likely to be affected by the environmental changes; they’re considered environmentally-friendly, and more convenient.
The G-7 met in the Cornish resort of Carbis Bay last weekend and a senior official from the Biden administration told Reuters that there will be an announcement on an infrastructure plan to help developing nations.
“So tomorrow we’ll be announcing ‘build back better for the world,’ an ambitious new global infrastructure initiative with our G7 partners that won’t just be an alternative to the BRI,” the official said, according to Reuters.
TRENDPOST: As we continue to forecast, and as evidenced by the hard data, the 20th century was the American century and the 21st century will be China’s. Also, on 30 March 2021, we published an article, “BIDEN VS. CHINA’S BELT & ROAD INITIATIVE: U.S. LOSES,” which pointed out the weakness of President Biden initiatives as he claims his program will make up some ground lost to China by expanding U.S. global influence.