EU announces gigantic plan to invest in infrastructure and counter Chinese influence

The European Union (EU) announced an ambitious plan to mobilize up to € 300 billion (about $ 340 billion) of public and private funds through 2027 on infrastructure projects to counter China’s global influence.

The project, called Global Gateway, will pool own resources of the EU, of the 27 member states, European financial institutions and entities dedicated to development, as well as funds from the private sector, the European Commission announced in a statement.

“Investments in the digital, health, climate, energy and transport sectors, as well as in education and research, will be a priority”, States the Commission’s note.

This plan – seen as an alternative to the so-called “new silk roads” driven China– was presented by the Commission as a model of respect for human rights.

“We want projects that are implemented with a high level of transparency, good governance and quality”Said the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at a press conference.

China launched its global investment strategy for the “new silk roads” in 2013, a flagship project of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

That strategy aims to develop land and sea infrastructure to better connect China with Asia, Europe and Africa. For this, the Chinese government has already committed about US $ 140,000 million (about 124,000 million euros) of investments, according to its official data.

However, Western countries consider that plan as a tool to expand China’s influence over developing countries, and accuse Beijing of inciting those countries to over-indebtedness, non-transparent tenders.

In addition, Western countries are suspicious of corrupt practices and denounce violations of human, social and environmental rights.

The European strategy presented on Wednesday hinges on a plan by the G7 countries to offer developing countries an alternative to the Chinese strategy.

In his last State of the Union address on September 15, Von der Leyen announced the launch of the global strategy called Global Gateway.

“We are very good at financing roads. But it doesn’t make sense for Europe to build a perfect road between a Chinese-owned copper mine and a Chinese-owned port. We have to be smarter with this type of investment”, He said on that occasion.