BEIJING: China President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, under which Beijing doled out billions of dollars of investments, will for the first time come under the scanner of the country’s anti-graft body amid allegations of corruption and the projects turning into debt traps for small and medium countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Fighting BRI-related graft will be among the priorities for the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), the ruling Communist Party of China’s powerful anti-graft body, in 2024, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported. A CCDI report released Sunday stressed the need to eradicate the breeding grounds for corruption, deepen system reforms and strengthen the institutions for discipline, inspection and supervision.
The report, which was released after it was submitted two months ago by CCDI chief Li Xi, said the organisation would this year coordinate crackdowns both at home and overseas, according to the Post.
The report said the graftbuster would deepen a campaign targeting “unhealthy practices and corruption” in rural revitalisation, and seek better integrity in belt and road projects. The trillion-dollar trade and infrastructure BRI and the rural revitalisation strategy are both signature policies of Xi, launched in 2013 to expand China’s influence.
It is still not clear how China proposes to launch anti-corruption investigations into the BRI projects abroad. Leaders in many countries faced allegations of siphoning off millions of dollars allocated to unsustainable projects leading their nations to huge debt owed to China. Significantly, all cases of BRI disputes will be conducted by judicial organs set up in China.