BEIJING: China opened on Sunday a summit to promote an ambitious global trade infrastructure project highlighting its growing leadership on globalisation, but a North Korean missile test threatened to overshadow the event.President Xi Jinping was preparing to host leaders from 29 nations for the two-day summit in Beijing when US and South Korean military officials confirmed that Pyongyang had launched a missile, whose characteristics were not immediately known.Delegations from North Korea and the United States were expected at the forum, though not their leaders. Few Western heads of government made the trip.The summit is showcasing Xi´s cherished One Belt, One Road initiative, a revival of the Silk Road that could cement China´s growing global clout on trade and geopolitics.”This is indeed a gathering of great minds,” Xi said, addressing leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Xi hailed the initiative as “a project of the century” in a “world fraught with challenges”.The Chinese-bankrolled project seeks to link the country with Africa, Asia and Europe through an enormous network of ports, railways, roads and industrial parks.The initiative spans some 65 countries representing 60 percent of the world population and around a third of global gross domestic product. The China Development Bank has earmarked $890 billion for some 900 projects.
Xi did not address the North Korean missile launch at the start of the summit, but Beijing has warned its communist ally in recent months to avoid any new missile or nuclear tests.North Korea relies heavily on trade with China for its economic survival, and US President Donald Trump has urged Xi to use that leverage to put pressure on Pyongyang.Sunday´s missile launch “is absolutely an embarrassment to Beijing but it also shouldn´t be overstated”, Christopher Balding, economics professor at Peking University, told AFP.”This will not overshadow (the summit) in an enormous way but it will absolutely continue to raise US frustrations with Beijing,” he said.Balding said the US was “frustrated” that North Korea was also invited to the summit.
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