China eyes global economic leadership as U.S. turns inward
his year, a 300-mile railway will begin slicing through Kenya, cutting travel time between the capital, Nairobi, and one of East Africa’s largest ports, Mombasa, from 12 to four hours and breeding hopes of an economic and tourism revival in the region.
The country’s most significant transportation project since its independence in 1963 is being built courtesy of China. China Road and Bridge, a state-owned enterprise, leads construction of the $13.8 billion project, which is financed nearly 100% by the Export-Import Bank of China.
The railroad is one of a host of infrastructure projects China spearheads around the world in an ambitious quest to reinforce its emergence as the world’s next economic superpower while President Trump turns his back on globalization.
Trump’s pivot to economic nationalism and hostility toward multilateral trade deals create an opportunity for China — second only to the USA in economic output — to shine even brighter on the world stage, said Louis Kuijs, head of Asia Economics at Oxford Economics.
“As the U.S. becomes more insular in economic philosophy, I think it gives China one more reason to … say, ‘We are still interested, and we want to continue globalization,’ ” Kuijs said.
One of the clearest examples of the two countries’ divergent paths is Trump’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade deal that excludes China, and the Asian powerhouse’s role as a dominant foreign investor in Africa, Central Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
