China’s Belt and Road hits problems but is still popular

It is five years since Mr Xi’s pair of speeches in Astana and Jakarta launched the BRI. Since then, much of what China does outside China has become associated with the BRI. At one stage, this was true of much within China as well, where almost every region and institution sought to associate themselves to the leader’s big initiative. Five years later, it can come as no surprise therefore that some of the projects that were brought under the broader BRI umbrella have encountered issues