Have no fear, China’s top political leader urged Sunday: in a world of sectarian strife, poverty and rising isolationism, Beijing has an answer that can bring new wealth by tearing down old barriers.

China’s One Belt, One Road initiative is “a project of the century,” President Xi Jinping said Sunday in a major speech at the outset of a two-day conference that gathered together presidents, cabinet ministers and investors from 130 countries. Among them was Pamela Goldsmith-Jones, Canada’s parliamentary secretary to the Minister of International Trade, who came, she said, as part of Ottawa’s new push for “deepening ties” across the Pacific.

She joined what Chinese state media declared “the most prestigious international assembly China has ever inaugurated,” a moment for the world’s second-largest economy to sketch its vision of future global growth inspired by the China model, and funded with Chinese money.

Mr. Xi on Sunday sought first to allay fears that his plans will privilege China’s economic and political interests at the expense of others, promising the creation of “a big family of harmonious co-existence.”...

He then opened wide China’s wallet, promising an additional $170-billion in funds for bank loans, foreign aid and government-run investments to support One Belt, One Road countries.

China has already spent nearly $70-billion between 2014 and 2016 in those countries – 65 of them in a constellation with China at its heart that reaches across the Middle East, Asia and Africa...

One of the questions for foreign leaders is how much sway China will gain over countries that participate.

“It’s the same challenge that all countries – including Canada – face when engaging with China: how to maximize the economic benefits without giving Beijing too much political leverage,” said Michael Kovrig, senior adviser for northeast Asia with International Crisis Group.

It’s no accident, he pointed out, that China commonly refers to One Belt, One Road as a kind of “new Silk Road,” a reference to historic times when Beijing treated neighbours as subordinates...

This was excerpted from the 15 May 2017 edition of The Globe and Mail.