Oct. 21, 2018: Piers for the Luang Prabang railway bridge, a section of the China-Laos Railway built by the China Railway Group under the Belt and Road. Taylor Weidman/Bloomberg /Getty Images

Delays and cancellations

Since April 2018, several BRI projects have encountered delays, suspension, or outright cancellations "due to skepticism and pushback against the project," according to an August report by The Economist Intelligence Unit. News emerged this week that Islamabad had requested Beijing in December to shelve a joint $2 billion coal power project. That comes after Pakistan's Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad said in October that his country would be reducing Chinese loans for rail projects from $8.2 billion to $6.2 billion. Myanmar's government also cut down the price for a Chinese-backed deepwater port in the conflict-ridden state of Rakhine from $7.3 billion to $1.3 billion, Reuters reported last year, citing concerns the initial cost would leave the Southeast Asian nation in a lot of debt. Sierra Leone, one of Africa's poorest countries, also scrapped plans to build a $318-million airport with a Chinese company last year while Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed has suspended $22 billion worth of Chinese-backed projects. Early last year, Bangladesh canceled an expansion of a major highway that was meant to be built by China Harbour Engineering Company after the Chinese firm allegedly offered a government official a bribe, AFP quoted the South Asian state's finance minister as saying. And Tanzania reopened negotiations with Beijing last year over a planned $11 billion port. Many of these countries want to avoid the same fate as Sri Lanka. Shock waves rippled throughout the developing world when Colombo handed over a strategic port to Beijing in 2017, after it couldn't pay off its debt to Chinese companies. It was seen as an example of how countries that owe money to Beijing could be forced to sign over national territory or make steep economic concessions if they can't meet liabilities. The phenomenon has been dubbed debt-trap diplomacy, which Chinese President Xi Jinping's government has denied engaging in.

Pushback may be a good sign