As the saying goes, "Borrow from the mob, and they own you." So it is with China's Belt & Road project.
As did the "Silk Road" followed by Marco Polo in the thirteenth century, the Belt & Road will connect China over land to Europe and the Middle East, as well as to Africa.
The Belt & Road will constitute what Beijing describes as "Economic corridors" through which goods will move but also in which China and cooperating countries will acquire complementary economic specializations.
China identifies a need, say a road in Pakistan or a port in Malaysia or in Africa.
Since all is done with Chinese firms and management, the target country is hardly likely to earn enough from the project to repay the loan, at which time, according to most Belt & Road arrangements, China takes outright ownership.
No doubt Beijing would like to extend that control to Australia and India, but because those two places are less in need of development assistance than other targets, China has met more resistance with them.
Presently, China mostly uses its own labor to construct and run projects in the Belt & Road, but in time it could, much the way the British Empire did, use native labor, reserving management for its own citizens.
It's becoming increasingly difficult to discern fact from fiction, and unfortunately the media has a strong bias. They spin stories to make conservatives look bad and will go to great lengths to avoid reporting on the good that comes from conservative policies. There are a few shining lights in the media landscape-brave conservative outlets that report the truth and offer a different perspective. We must support conservative outlets like this one and ensure that our voices are heard.
Saturday, April 24, 2021
China's Belt & Road: Britain's Empire Meets Brooklyn's Mob
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