World

As U.S. retreats in Asia-Pacific, China fills the void with an ambitious global plan

BEIJING — When President Trump withdrew from the ­Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal in January, critics said he was leaving a vacuum at the heart of the Asia-Pacific region, ceding the United States’ role as regional economic leader.

On Sunday, China plans to show how it is filling that vacuum.

At a major set-piece event in Beijing, President Xi Jinping will pro­ject himself as the leader of a new economic order, and extol an ambitious global trade and infrastructure development plan known as the Belt and Road Initiative.

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BEIJING — When President Trump withdrew from the ­Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal in January, critics said he was leaving a vacuum at the heart of the Asia-Pacific region, ceding the United States’ role as regional economic leader.

On Sunday, China plans to show how it is filling that vacuum.

At a major set-piece event in Beijing, President Xi Jinping will pro­ject himself as the leader of a new economic order, and extol an ambitious global trade and infrastructure development plan known as the Belt and Road Initiative.

Some 28 leaders from Asia, ­Europe, Africa and Latin America — including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte — are scheduled to attend the two-day summit.

They will be hoping to land a share of hundreds of billions of dollars in promised Chinese lending and investment dedicated to the building of ports and railways, power plants and pipelines across the globe.

Banners are displayed along a Bejing street ahead of the forum, a two-day event that will be attended by some 28 world leaders. (Wang Zhao/AFP/Getty Images)

Read the whole story from The Washington Post.

Featured image courtesy of Reuters

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