If B3W is Supposed to Rally “Like-Minded Democracies” to Confront China in the Global South, Then the U.S. Has a Big Problem

U.S. President Joe Biden tours the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Arvada, Colorado, on September 14, 2021, before delivering a speech on the infrastructure deal and the Build Back Better agenda. Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP

Building a coalition of “like-minded democracies” to challenge China’s Belt and Road Initiative in developing countries was a founding principle of U.S. President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better World initiative when he unveiled the plan over the summer at the G7 summit in Cornwall, England. 

But implicit in that statement is that “like-minded democracies,” predominantly in Europe and Asia, would rally behind the U.S. in its traditional role as the world’s preeminent democracy.

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by Eric Olander

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