U.S.-backed PGII initiative is old wine in new bottle

Cartoon by Tan Xiguang

At the 48th Group of Seven (G7) summit held in June this year, the U.S. and other G7 countries launched the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), and announced that G7 countries will aim to mobilize $600 billion by 2027 in global infrastructure investments while the U.S. has set a target to mobilize $200 billion for the PGII over the next five years to fund infrastructure projects in developing countries.

The seemingly generous initiative is merely an upgraded version of the so-called Build Back Better World (B3W). At the 47th G7 summit held last year, the U.S. proposed the B3W initiative and pledged to advance a global infrastructure initiative that was different from the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, the B3W was not adopted by the U.S. Congress in the end and failed to help rebuild "a better world."

The PGII initiative launched by the U.S. is just like old wine in a new bottle. It remains to be proven whether the initiative, repackaged on the basis of the failed B3W, will serve as a geopolitical tool created in the name of advancing infrastructure construction or indeed an initiative launched to improve people's well-being.

What's certain is that the international community hopes to see practical action and projects that deliver tangible benefits to people rather than empty promises.