Yesterday, President Xi Jinping hosted dozens of world leaders and senior officials to talk about the creation of the new Silk Road in what is dubbed as the country’s biggest diplomatic showcase of the year, China’s Belt and Road conference aims to consolidate support for a project aimed at opening trade routes across the globe. Pledging billions to the plan, Xi called for countries to move beyond rivalry and diplomatic power games.

However, India struck a dissenting note by not attending the conference while criticising the plan as imposing an "unsustainable debt burden" for countries involved, but also affecting its own sovereignty. China’s uphill climb in propelling itself to become the global influencer seems exciting, but is this too good to be true?

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Tags:  China,  Silk Road,  One Belt One Road,  international trade,  India,  geopolitics,  OBOR initiative,  infrastructure investment,  West Africa,  maritime,  South China Sea