The Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, and the Chief of European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. (Image via The Japan Times)

Going against the 'New Silk Road', EU and Japan sign a new deal

Japan signed an accord with the European Union (EU) to tackle China’s plan to establish the “New Silk Road”. During his attendance in the EU - Asia Connectivity conference at the Charlemagne building in Brussels, Friday (27/9), the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, with the Chief of European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, agreed to cooperate in projects to connect EU and Asia in various sectors.

The world is concerned about the “New Silk Road” plan which forces construction using Chinese loans piling up to billions of dollars, and it has been ongoing since 2013. Through the “Belt and Road Initiative”, China’s trade sector had seen US$5 trillion growth.

One of the examples of these countries caught up in the “mountain of debt” was Montenegro. Due to building bridges to connect Adriatic Coast to Serbia, the country had to bear a heavy load of burden, so great that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that Montenegro could not finish the project.

Therefore, to differentiate the accord with the scheme, the EU and Japan emphasized that the projects have to be environmentally and fiscally friendly and it does not have to rely on a nation as what Juncker had stated during his speech before signing the accord with Japan.

The plan was backed by 60 billion euro ($65.48 billion) joint funding from various sectors, from EU Guarantee Funds to private. The EU and Japan will also monitor factors such as fiscal capacity and debt sustainability before establishing projects in those regions.

Source: https://japantoday.com/category/politics/eu-and-japan-ink-plan-to-bypass-china's-new-silk-road