Sarah Saber 8E

To what extent is China helping to create an interdependent world?

An interdependent world connects countries through sharing of resources. For example,

developing countries rely on developed countries for manufacturing goods and AID.
Developed countries rely on other developed countries for essential materials such as steel
or iron and income from tourism.

One of the ways China is contributing to an interdependent world is through the “one belt,
one road” initiative which sees China investing in infrastructure projects across the world -
spanning over 68 countries and connecting nearly 4.5 billion people. This is one of the ways
in which China is helping to create an interdependent world, through funding infrastructure
which contributes to trade and other economic links across the globe. The over $210 billion
investment in the “one belt, one road” initiative will stimulate economic growth not only for
China but also for the countries which are part of the initiative, thus helping to create a
more interconnected and interdependent world.

However, this can also be seen as a negative. This is because some of the countries involved
in the “one belt, one road” initiative such as Maldives, Pakistan and Montenegro to name a
few, are at risk of not being able to pay their loans back to China through the investment.
Through this initiative, some of these countries will owe more than half of all their foreign
debt to China. This suggests that China’s “one belt, one road” initiative is not entirely
beneficial as it carries the risk of countries undertaking huge amounts of debt which cannot
be paid.

Another way in which China is helping to create an interdependent world is through the
creation of the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) in 2016. Its purpose is to improve
social and economic outcomes in Asia and beyond, contributing further to creating an
interdependent world. It has over 103 country members across the globe and funds projects
linking countries in the region and cross border infrastructure projects for roads, rails, ports,
energy pipelines and telecoms across Asia and the Middle East. An example of AIIB project is
a rural road initiative that will benefit approximately 1.5 million rural in Madhya Pradesh in
India. It’s expected to improve the livelihoods, education and mobility of 5,640 villages.

However, since China controls 26.5% of the voting power of AIIB (the largest share), most of
the projects funded are likely to be in China’s interests. Some people believe that AIIB
projects is really just a politically correct way for developing countries to accept Chinese
money for infrastructure projects even if they are against the “one belt, one road” project.
This could mean that China is not really contributing to creating an interdependent world,
but instead creating different and more “acceptable” ways to benefit their own economy.

In my opinion, I don’t think China is attempting to create an interdependent world. I think

this because China’s investments in developing countries could create further financial
difficulties for these countries through getting them into more debt that they cannot pay
off. Furthermore, as part of the AIIB, partnering up with well developed countries with big
economies could boost China’s social and economic growth, which could be the motivation
and not to create an interdependent world.