TL;DR it's not like it was in the past.

TL;DR it's not what they promise.

But where is the news in this?

I think the interesting facts are that (a) they still manage to influence countries with their plan (and might for instance gain more influence over Afganistan than both US and Russia have achieved), (b) they still manage to increase internal growth through their projects. Both are really good things for China. That you need to tell a story of historical values with such a big plan is normal and should be expected. Sadly the article doesn't discuss that and instead just focusses on showing the obvious. Also it vastly underestimates the middle east. There's a reason why there's so much fighting in this area. And it's not just oil.