Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative has been criticized for saddling poor countries with enormous debt and causing environmental harm, while proponents hail it for bringing resources and economic growth to the Global South.

As representatives of 130 countries gather for a summit in Beijing to mark a decade of the project, AFP looks at some of the key issues surrounding the massive infrastructure project:

Debt, opaque costs

The Belt and Road is a landmark project in President Xi Jinping's bid to expand China's clout overseas, with Beijing saying it has now inked over two trillion dollars in contracts around the world.

Its most high-profile projects have laid down high-speed rail tracks crisscrossing Southeast Asia and massive transport, energy, and infrastructure works through Central Asia.

But the flip side of the massive infrastructure spending is the huge debts incurred by participating countries.

China said this month that BRI participants owe more than $300 billion to the Export-Import Bank of China.

BRI nations were hit especially hard during the COVID-19 pandemic as soaring inflation and interest rates hurt their ability to repay debts.

Critics have also pointed to opaque pricing for the projects built by Chinese companies, with countries including Malaysia and Myanmar renegotiating BRI deals to bring down costs.

Residents of BRI nations have also complained that the majority of jobs at infrastructure projects are being done by Chinese workers who send their wages home rather than spend them in local businesses.

China has been forced to hand out billions of dollars in bailout loans to BRI countries in recent years to allow the countries to extend their loans and remain solvent, according to a joint report this year by the World Bank and other institutions.

Chinese influence