The pandemic has slowed some of China’s Belt &Road Initiative projects, as African partners struggle with the coronavirus, Jevans Nyabiage reported June 28 in the South China Morning Post.
Beijing has wanted those Belt and Road projects grounded by the coronavirus pandemic to resume — and help revive jobs and economies – but observers say it might take months before that happens, because most countries are still struggling to contain the spread of the disease.
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Last week, Beijing revealed that about a fifth of the projects under the Belt & Road Initiative umbrella – Chinese President Xi Jinping’s trillion-dollar project that aims to boost trade and investment across Asia, Africa and Europe – had been “seriously affected” by the pandemic. About 40 percent of the projects were adversely affected, and a further 30-40 percent were “somewhat affected”, according to Wang Xiaolong, Director General of the foreign ministry’s international economic affairs department.
