Vision or mirage? Cashed up and keen, China faces long haul along new Silk Road

The red carpets have been rolled up, the visiting leaders have left and cash has been committed.

On the face of it, Beijing’s diplomatic extravaganza to galvanise support for its global trade and infrastructure outreach programme went off without a major hitch.

By the end of the two-day forum for the “Belt and Road Initiative”, nearly 30 nations in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America were all board Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plan to breathe new life into ancient trade routes linking China to Asia, the Middle East, Africa and beyond.

Along the road, Xi had cast China as a defender of free trade in contrast to a more inward-looking United States and a fractured Europe.

But China also failed to dispel unease about its strategic intentions among most industrialised nations and some major emerging economies, leaving Beijing with a long way to go to realise Xi’s ambitions to fill the world leadership gap on globalisation, analysts said.

As China’s signature foreign policy event of the year, the summit appeared largely to be a diplomatic success thanks to meticulous preparation and more importantly, China’s benevolence and generosity, according to Yun Sun, from the Stimson Centre in Washington.