April 27, 2019

Xi Jinping's Second Belt and Road Forum: Three Key Takeaways

Source: Bloomberg

Journalist: Bloomberg News

Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted some 5,000 delegates from across the globe at the Belt and Road forum in Beijing last week to discuss his signature infrastructure project, which began in 2013 to rebuild ancient trading routes across Eurasia. This year’s gathering eschewed the pageantry of the inaugural summit in 2017, as Beijing tried to address international criticism by toning down its rhetoric and tightening oversight.

Here are three takeaways from the summit, and how Xi fared in the international spotlight.

A Chastened Xi

Compared with his keynote speech two years ago, Xi was more muted on the Belt and Road initiative’s growing presence in other countries. The president stuck to discussing steps China is taking to clean up the project, and vowed “zero tolerance” on corruption.

Read the full article and more in Bloomberg.

Author

  • Daniel Kliman

    Former Program Director and Senior Fellow, Indo-Pacific Security Program

    Daniel M. Kliman is the former Program Director and Senior Fellow for the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). He is an expert in As...