China held a summit recently to mark the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, its $1 trillion vision to leave a vast infrastructure footprint across the world. But United States officials say their government cannot compete with Beijing dollar for dollar — nor do they want to or need to.
“When we look at the number that China is putting into Belt and Road, and then we look at the USAID budget, or we look at the State Department budget and say, ‘Well, you guys are not keeping up,’ I just think that's the wrong measurement,” said Richard Verma, deputy secretary for management and resources at the State Department.
“Because when I look at what our private sector can deploy, what our NGOs deploy, what our universities, our know-how, and innovation bring to the table, it surpasses Belt and Road by a dramatic factor” — both in capabilities and money, he said.