G7 members will spend ‘hundreds of billions’ on infrastructure to rival China’s Belt and Road initiative, according to a US official. China says G7 proposals are doomed to fail.

G7 members will spend ‘hundreds of billions’ on infrastructure to rival China’s Belt and Road initiative, according to a US official. China says G7 proposals are doomed to fail.

President Joe Biden and the G7 member states on Saturday planned to announce a multibillion-dollar initiative to build infrastructure overseas, a direct challenge to China's Belt and Road Initiative. "There is, by some estimates, a $40 trillion infrastructure gap in parts of the world that this would be intended to help other countries fill," said a senior US administration official, who spoke about the plans on the condition of anonymity. Biden and his G7 counterparts planned to announce the initiative during a working session focused on China on Saturday, the second day of the summit in Carbis Bay, England. The Biden administration and international allies planned to "soon be collectively catalyzing hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment for low- and middle-income countries that need it," the official said. The plan would place the wealthy G7 nations “” US, UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the EU “” in competition with Beijing's spending on international infrastructure. Under President Xi Jinping, China spearheaded a new "Silk Road" initiative to build or improve transportation networks throughout Asia and reaching into Europe. The trillions of dollars spent so far by Beijing have increased the country's ability to ship goods, while also