In an attempt to provide an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the Chinese government, the US has announced its Blue Dot Network . The Blue Dot Network is a joint project of the US, Australia, and Japan. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross notes that “each blue dot on the map will be a safe place for companies to operate if they are interested in sustainable infrastructure projects.” The initiative takes its name after the astronomer Carl Sagan’s observation that the Earth looks like a “pale blue dot” on the photo taken from space by Voyager 1 in 1990. The new project is officially launched by three organizations: the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). Notably, OPIC’s executive vice president David Bohigian called the Blue Dot Network an alternative project to the Chinese initiative. He also added that “the Marshall Plan showed what a good development can be”, but “the Belt and Road Initiative follows a path different from the Marshall Plan.”
