"This story is part of a CBC News series exploring China's expanding influence around the world and how Canada and other countries are contending with China's growing power. Back in 2013, when the U.S. and many other countries were still recovering from the Great Recession, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced perhaps the most transparently ambitious foreign policy of the new century: the Belt and Road Initiative. The name is a nod to the Silk Road, the ancient network of trade routes that connected China with the Roman Empire and many societies in between. The modern version envisioned by Xi goes even further. China is financing hundreds of billions of dollars' worth of infrastructure projects — including ports, roads, bridges, railways, power plants, telecommunications networks and much more — in partnering countries throughout Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond. The purpose, China says, is to accelerate and enhance development and trade in order to create new markets and opportunities for China and its partners..."