China pledges $124 billion for new Silk Road as champion of globalization

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday pledged $124B for his new Silk Road plan to forge a path of peace, inclusiveness and free trade, and called for the abandonment of old models based on rivalry and diplomatic power games.

Xi hosted delegates attending his “One Belt One Road” forum with a dinner and gala performance on Sunday.

Guests including Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan were greeted by Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, and posed for a group photo before dinner and a gala performance.

Xi used the summit on the initiative, attended by leaders and top officials from around the world, to bolster China’s global leadership ambitions as U.S. President Donald Trump promotes “America First” and questions existing global free trade deals.

“The project“a belt road” is the reflection of our quest for a common development. It will exceed the brakes to slow the development, and to reduce inequalities in order to enable our communities to enjoy the fruits of this development when it arrives,” Xi said.

China has touted what it formally calls the belt and Road initiative as a new way to boost global development since Xi unveiled the plan in 2013.

The project aim to expand links between Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond.

Xi said the world must create conditions that promote open development and encourage the building of systems of “fair, reasonable and transparent global trade and investment rules”.

The two-day Belt and Road Forum will see leaders from 29 nations gather in Beijing for the initiative that aims to develop economic links between Asia, Africa and Europe.

Xi first proposed the Belt and Road initiative in 2013. Since then, he has used it to help portray China as an open economy, distinct from a rising wave of global protectionism.