China wins Belt and Road fans but criticism persists

President Xi Jinping will lead a hard sales push at a Beijing summit this week, to corral more countries into a global infrastructure project at the core of China's superpower ambitions and win over those who see a strategic threat.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) envisages massive investments in maritime, road and rail projects across 65 countries from Asia to Europe and Africa that collectively account for 30 per cent of global GDP.

If fully realised, it could shape the world economic and geopolitical landscape for decades to come.

But its scope and ambition have divided Europe, while US officials have called it a "vanity project", and detractors have warned that it is laden with debt risks and opaque deals favouring Chinese firms and labour.

Despite the criticism, momentum appears to be on Xi's side, with leaders from 37 countries flocking to Beijing for the three-day summit beginning Thursday.

It's the second such event, with an inaugural 2017 summit bringing 29 leaders together.

China added a key nation to its Belt and Road roster when Italy became the first G7 member to sign on to the project last month.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will participate in the summit and Switzerland appears set to sign on with President Ueli Maurer flying to Beijing.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and other leaders from Europe, Asia and Africa will also attend, but major EU nations are sending ministers and the United States said it would not have a high-level delegation.

Since Xi launched Belt and Road in 2013, China has invested USD 90 billion in projects while banks have provided between USD 200 billion and USD 300 billion in loans, according to Xiao Weiming, a Chinese government official overseeing Belt and Road.

Sri Lanka turned over a deep-sea port to China for 99-years after it was unable to repay loans. Pakistan needs an international bailout. And Montenegro has had to make difficult choices after taking on crushing Chinese debt to pay a Chinese company to build a new highway.

It has also become an election issue in some countries.

Chinese officials say the projects foster development in poor countries and Xiao dismissed "debt trap" warnings as repeating "the same old tune".

Foreign Minister Wang Yi denied last week that the project was a "geopolitical tool", though he admitted that "jointly building the Belt and Road is a developing process, it won't happen overnight, and there will inevitably be some troubles."