U.S. Delegation’s Pottinger Promises U.S. Firms in Belt and Road

PRESS RELEASE

U.S. Delegation’s Pottinger Promises U.S. Firms in Belt and Road

May 14, 2017 (EIRNS)—The National Security Council senior director for East Asia named by President Trump to represent the United States at the Belt and Road Forum, Matthew Pottinger, spoke at one of the forums at the summit Sunday. According to Agence France Presse, Pottinger said that American companies are ready to get involved in China’s "project of the century." This came, said AFP, "as Washington strikes an increasingly cooperative tone with its biggest trade rival."

According to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, Pottinger said U.S. companies and the U.S. Embassy to China have formed an "American Belt and Road Working Group."

Pottinger said that American companies have much to offer the project:

"U.S. firms can offer the best-value goods and services required over the life of a project. [They] have a long and successful track record in global infrastructure development, and are ready to participate in Belt and Road projects."

Chinese firms and heads of funds have, of course, said the same thing about projects of new infrastructure in the United States, and their track record on high-speed rail, port development, nuclear power, bridge-building, and other areas has set a world example in this century. China has taken the global lead in the design and funding of such projects on behalf of the growth and progress of now over 100 nations.

Pottinger did not address joint credit for infrastructure with China—the Trump Administration’s weakness so far. He said only that the Belt and Road projects will require "high-quality financing."