Biden’s ‘B3W’ strategy too late to challenge BRI, CPEC

Zubair Qureshi

Speaking at a webinar, the experts said the US is making its utmost efforts to ignite a new cold war in the region and this time against China.

The Build Back Better World (B3W) is apparently a copycat project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that has engaged 140 countries by now.

They said the B3W partnership of G-7 countries would take longtime to mature any outline of actual interventions.

The big question is where the huge money would come from whereas the G-7 nations and the private sector will not compromise their trade and economic ties with China.

The other big issue with the US is credibility. Now even the long-time allies don’t trust the US anymore blindly.

Over the decades, the world has seen the US as a war monger looking for an enemy all the time. In the circumstances, the B3W seems to be merely a political propaganda against China.

Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) and DTN organized the webinar on Saturday on the subject, “Biden’s G-7 Build Back Better World (B3W) and emerging situation in the region”.

The panelists included chairman Senate Standing Committee on Defence Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, former chief ISI and geopolitical analyst Lt. General (R) Muhammad Asad Durani, political activist and geopolitical commentator Reham Khan (London), geopolitical researcher Soumya Awasthi (Delhi) and chairman Centre for Diplomatic and Political Affairs Tolga Sakman (Istanbul).

General Asad Durrani said the US did not learn from its mistakes in the previous wars and armed conflicts.

Another cold war in the region will be another big mistake while all the big countries in the region are against the US hegemonic interventions in the region, and somehow are part of the BRI and CPEC.

As many as five countries Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, China and Russia are on the same page and against the US except India.

They all are opposing the US and at any time they may come together to collaborate with each other for the US aggressive designs.

The Turkish expert Tolga Sakman said the B3W as a G7 partnership is not attractive to Turkey and it has many geopolitical flaws. Turkey will not be against China in any case, rather will support by all means for regional connectivity and economic prosperity.

Reham Khan said the G7 countries have their own strategic and economic interests with China. Even if they were able to launch B3W most of the stakeholders and partners within the G7 and the US will not go against China. Biden’s B3W is not being supported by its Congress and what to expect from others.

Geopolitical commentator and Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed hosted and moderated the webinar. While introducing the subject, Munir Ahmed said, “B3W is an apparent tool to challenge the deep-rooted BRI for obvious reasons.

Through B3W, the G7 and other like-minded partners will coordinate in mobilizing private-sector capital in four areas of focus—climate, health and health security, digital technology, and gender equity and equality—with catalytic investments from the respective development finance institutions, said Munir Ahmed.

Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said the US had lost its credibility over the years. No one is willing to trust whatever plans the US offers in partnership with other developed countries.

At the moment, the US is withdrawing from Afghanistan as a defeated country, and without any settled accord among stakeholders.