It is not stated explicitly, but everyone understands it as follows: the project outlined by Ursula von der Leyen directly competes with the colossal Chinese investment plan launched in 2013 and called “the New Silk Roads”. Except that the European program takes the exact opposite of the policy implemented by China. From the outset, the President of the European Commission demands, Wednesday 1 December, a high level of transparency, good governance and quality to which the projects of the “Global Gateway”, which aims to be a model of respect for human rights, will have to respond.
These remarks obviously point to the practices of the Chinese global investment plan, often denounced for its opacity and its consequences. China has already devoted to this plan 124 billion euros for eight years. In reality it is about a policy of influence on poor countries – often corrupt – which are over-indebted to build roads, airports or railway lines. Contracts frequently awarded without calls for tenders, sometimes terrible working conditions and no one bothered with social or environmental considerations.
The program is moving like a steamroller with spectacular results, like the railway line inaugurated these days between China and Laos, which cost 5.3 billion euros. As a result, Beijing’s growing political influence over debtor countries which generally struggle to repay.
The European investment plan is presented just as an Africa-China summit has just been held in Dakar. Beijing has promised a billion doses of vaccines and massive investments. The Chinese have sworn not to interfere in African politics by demanding the reciprocal.
The European project is clearly intended as an alternative, with much higher standards of governance and taking care not to sink the beneficiary countries into a form of political dependence. The European “Global Gateway” is intended for all continents. It will promote green energies and digital technology.
During her State of the Union address on September 15, Ursula von der Leyen spoke about the philosophy of this project: “We are very good at financing roads, she said, 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 need to be smarter about these types of investments. “