The United States says it will be a lead partner in a new global, climate-friendly infrastructure program with its Group of 7 partners, part of President Joe Biden's larger efforts at the G7 summit to better position the US and its allies to compete with China in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.
Confronting China's authoritarianism, however, emerged as a source of contention between the leaders.
Here are key things to know about the initiative:
- The White House said the program, presented as an alternative to China's own global infrastructure initiative, will "help narrow the $40+ trillion infrastructure need in the developing world, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic."
- A senior administration official described the plan, called the "Build Back Better World" initiative, as a "bold, new global infrastructure initiative with our G7 partners that will be values-driven, transparent and sustainable" and will compete with China's Belt and Road Initiative.
- The G7 will announce "a positive alternative that reflects our values, our standards and our way of doing business," a second senior official said.
- As part of the new infrastructure announcement, the US said the Group of 7 will be joining partners and the private sector in "collectively catalyzing hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment for low and middle-income countries that need it."
China's Belt and Road Initiative, first announced in 2013 under Chinese President Xi Jinping, aims to build ports, roads and railways to create new trade corridors linking China to Africa and the rest of Eurasia. The Chinese-funded, cross-continental infrastructure initiative has been seen as an extension of the country's sharp ascent to global power.
Officials described the global infrastructure pitch not as a confrontation with China, but as an alternative path.
"This is not about making countries choose between us and China. This is about offering an affirmative, alternative vision and approach that they would want to choose," the first administration official said.