On Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a online speech at the Bo’ao Forum, touted as Asia’s version of the World Economic Forum at Davos. In it, he once again talked up his signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—a $1 trillion transcontinental trade and infrastructure network—hailing it as a “public road open to all” that will help “create a future of shared benefits.” A fiery riposte came a day later in the Pakistani city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province near the Afghan border, where a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the luxurious Serena Hotel around 10:30pm local time, killing at least 4 and wounding 12. The Chinese ambassador to Pakistan, Nong Rong, had checked-in to the hotel and was the presumed target, although he was not in the building at the time of the explosion.