TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday sought to allay growing concerns that his trillion-dollar Belt and Road project was pushing poor countries in a “debt trap” and pledged to make the connectivity scheme transparent.
At the opening ceremony of the second edition of the three-day Belt and Road Forum, Xi sounded defensive in his speech about his pet project that has come under growing criticism for the lack of transparency and indebting nations.
India for the second time skipped the event in protest against the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a key component of the Belt and Road that passes through the disputed Kashmir held by Pakistan and claimed by it. The corridor connects the Chinese city of Kashgar with Pakistan’s Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea.
At the gathering of nearly 40 heads of states and representatives of over 100 international organisations, Xi said: “In pursuing Belt and Road cooperation everything should be done in a transparent way and we should have zero tolerance for corruption.”
