Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, a former general and chairman of the opposition Gerindra Party whose brother is a wealthy businessman, plans to make an issue of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure program when he challenges incumbent Joko Widodo next year. Subianto believes some of the Chinese projects are unnecessary.
Officials in Pakistan announced on Monday that China’s massive Belt and Road railway project will see its $8.2 billion budget slashed by $2 billion as concerns over Pakistan’s debts to China mount under new Prime Minister Imran Khan.
South Korea’s Yonhap News on Monday noticed North Korea’s state-run newspaper Rodong Sinmun lavishing extraordinary praise on China’s ‘Belt and Road’ initiative, an international infrastructure program China has invested a great deal of pride and money in.
The Japanese helicopter carrier Kaga visited Sri Lanka over the weekend, calling on a port that was developed with Japanese financial assistance while the people and government of Sri Lanka are questioning the wisdom of becoming more deeply indebted to China.
China’s state-run Global Times boasted on Wednesday of a dramatically improved security situation in the province of Xinjiang, where the brutally oppressed Muslim Uighurs dwell. Apparently, the proliferation of re-education camps is making Xinjiang safe for tourism again.
The government of South Africa announced on Friday that President Cyril Ramaphosa secured another $10 billion in Chinese loans during his trip to Beijing last week, bring South Africa’s total economic stimulus and infrastructure financing from China up to $25 billion.
China’s debt colonization of Africa is well underway, as one African nation after another takes out gigantic loans from Chinese banks to build infrastructure projects that appear financially unsustainable. Kenya is one of the most heavily indebted countries, but President Uhuru Kenyatta is on his way to Beijing for a summit at which he will reaffirm his commitment to the Belt and Road initiative.
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi signed an agreement on Monday for further Greek cooperation with China’s “Belt and Road” infrastructure plan, the latest step in the debt-driven courtship between Athens and Beijing.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed announced the cancellation of two major infrastructure projects that were part of China’s international “Belt and Road” initiative, rejecting the projects as too expensive since Malaysia is already grappling with a debt crisis.
China’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Friday denying allegations that its financial assistance programs for Pacific nations are an effort to buy political influence and muscle out regional competitors, especially Taiwan. The Foreign Ministry insisted China’s $5.9 billion in pledged foreign aid comes with no strings attached.
Contents: China mocks America’s ‘Indo-Pacific’ strategy at ASEAN meeting; Concerns grow over China’s debt strategy for Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
China’s state-run Global Times did not enjoy Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s speech to the Indo-Pacific Business Forum on Monday. A Tuesday editorial by the communist paper responded by accusing the United States of playing “power games” in the Indo-Pacific region.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said on Wednesday that the incoming government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad intends to take a firmer stand against Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.
Chinese companies are hard at work on building a road through the mountains to connect Montenegro’s port city of Bar with Serbia. The project is incredibly expensive, leaving Montenegro struggling to pay off titanic debt to Chinese financiers. Critics call it another example of Chinese debt imperialism: the slow-motion conquest of smaller countries through the “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative by suckering them into taking loans from Beijing they will never be able to repay.
Soon after President Donald Trump concluded his Tuesday summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, Chinese media predicted a new golden age of prosperity for Pyongyang and urged it to join China’s massive “Belt and Road” infrastructure project.
China’s state-run Global Times expressed delight on Sunday with Japan’s growing participation in the “Belt and Road” infrastructure project, through which China hopes to extend economic and political influence from Asia through the Middle East and Europe. The editorial signaled that if the Japanese play ball with Belt and Road, Beijing might even stop referring to them as history’s greatest monsters.
GWADAR, PAKISTAN — While the United States enters a low period in its relationship with Pakistan, China is quietly but steadily building goodwill in the country — symbolized by a gleaming new port it helped build in the southern city of Gwadar.
The Australian Financial Review reported on Sunday that Australia, India, Japan, and the United States are considering an alliance to counter China’s growing influence – in particular, the huge “Belt and Road” trade project undertaken by China.
Contents: Maldives president arrests Supreme Court justices to get favorable court ruling; Maldives crisis pits India vs China in the Indian Ocean
The United States and China are in a battle for global supremacy — one that the U.S. is losing, experts said at a congressional hearing on Wednesday.
Contents: Xi Jinping says that China will now have a ‘say’ on all international issues; Xi Jinping promises to eliminate poverty by 2020; North Korea says that its nuclear arsenal protects it from attacks; Generational Dynamics World View finishes another year with a perfect record
Contents: China alarmed by consequences of its CPEC investment in Pakistan — terrorism and corruption; China halts CPEC funds over concerns about corruption in Pakistan; Pakistan alarmed about a Chinese ‘debt trap’
Contents: China forum launches the decades-long ‘One Belt One Road’ project; Laborers on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) shot dead on Saturday
