G7 to counter China’s BRI with big infrastructure project: US official

The Group of Seven will seek to rival China’s multi-trillion-dollar Belt and Road initiative on Saturday by announcing a global infrastructure plan to help developing nations, a senior official in U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration said.

The G7 is trying to find a coherent response to the growing assertiveness of President Xi Jinping after China’s spectacular economic and military rise over the past 40 years.

The U.S. official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said the United States would also push the other G7 leaders for “concrete action on forced labour” in China, and to include criticism of Beijing in their final communique from a three-day summit in southwest England.