China's Belt and Road: Will Xi's Economic Centerpiece Last Another Decade?

Lower-income BRI partnered countries' struggles to make payments, as well as Beijing's aggressive deleveraging efforts in the wake of China's ongoing property crisis. have made China's banks more risk averse. And "with China's economic stagnation, there is also less room for Chinese policy banks to squander Chinese people's savings," Emily Jin, research associate at the Center for a New American Security, told Newsweek.

Yet the drop in overall Chinese investment infrastucture may not be as precipitous as it appears.

"It's worth noting that while development finance may be declining from two out of the three policy banks in China, China's foreign direct investment into the developing world remains robust," Jin said.

She cited the American Enterprise Institute's statistics showing more than 80 percent of Chinese investment funded projects developing countries, especially in the energy, transportation, metals, real estate and agriculture sectors.

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