China's third Belt and Road forum will inform the future geographic and industrial focus of its overseas engagements, as well as Beijing's efforts to use the program to supplement China's economic development and wage strategic competition with the West. From Oct. 17-18, China will host its third Belt and Road Forum since it launched its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) global infrastructure development strategy in 2013. Ahead of the forum, which will be held in Beijing, China's State Council published a white paper for the BRI on Oct. 10, which positioned Beijing as a defender of trade globalization, champion of Global South development, and bulwark against Western ''protectionism and hegemonism.'' That same day, China's Foreign Ministry announced that the Export-Import Bank of China (one of China's two largest BRI lenders) had reached a preliminary deal with Sri Lanka's government to restructure $4.2 billion of the country's debt, much of which...
