China’s master plan for global domination
The Belt and Road Initiative
Is collapsing
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI,
is China’s 4 trillion dollar global infrastructure plan.
The BRI is a gigantic plan for a global network of ports, roads,
railways and other infrastructure to connect China to the world.
And according to the Chinese Communist Party, the Belt and Road was all about
a future full of prosperity for all the nations that joined in.
“The belt connects the land, the road moves on the sea
The promise that they hold, is joint prosperity”
“The future’s coming now. Oh oh oh oh. The Belt and Road is how. Oh oh oh oh.”
I missed that song. You know you did, too.
But the Belt and Road isn’t just about infrastructure.
That’s just a distraction from China’s true motive.
Through its Belt and Road Initiative for example, the PRC is leveraging its overseas investments
to force other nations into suboptimal security decisions.
I think the One Belt One Road posture has been a stalking horse to advance
Chinese security concerns. A number of these BRI
port projects don't seem to make much commercial sense.
China is using the BRI to gain a strategic foothold worldwide.
In some places, it’s debt-trap diplomacy.
So essentially, China’s new transportation system
is a Trojan horse.
When Sri Lanka couldn’t repay its Chinese loans,
It agreed to lease Hambantota Port to China for up to 198 years.
It’s a deepwater port that could be used as a Chinese naval base.
In other countries, the BRI earns China favors.
After China made a big investment in Greece,
the Greek government blocked an EU statement criticizing China’s human rights abuses.
Which seems way more lighthearted when presented in that romantic comedy
My Big Fat Greek Bribe To Help Cover Up Ethnic Cleansing.
China has said it only has peaceful intentions for the Belt and Road.
First, we should build the Belt and Road into a road of peace.
Hey, just like how China promised it wouldn’t
fully militarize artificial islands in the South China Sea.
And then did it anyway.
Maybe they’re just militarized artificial islands of peace.
For 10 years, the Belt and Road has given the Chinese Communist
Party a stranglehold on the world. But that grip may now be breaking.
I’ll tell you why after the break.
Welcome back.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative, or BRI, may be dying.
And Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is playing a role.
A key overland route for BRI shipping went straight through Moscow.
It was China’s easy access point to Europe.
But with war raging,
and Russia saddled with massive sanctions,
China has been forced “to detour its cargo around Russia and enter
Europe via slower land routes across Belarus, Poland, and other countries”.
Which is annoying,
because do you have any idea how hard it is to do a 3 point turn in a Trojan Horse?
China also invested a lot in Ukraine. It
considered the country one of its gateways to Europe.
That has been cut off.
This article from China’s state-run Economic Daily describes the disruption.
Basically it’s taking longer for Chinese shipments to get to Europe,
and trains returning to China are often not carrying any goods back.
I get it. Everyone these days is blaming everything on the war in Ukraine.
But besides delays, the invasion of Ukraine and sanctions on Russia are making labor costs go up,
as well as a variety of other challenges for the Belt and Road.
Before war broke out, “Russia [was] the top destination for BRI developments,
in number and value terms, with 122 projects valued at $287 billion.”
But with Russia effectively cut off from the global banking system, all of that is in jeopardy.
China’s largest state-run oil company has been forced to pause its Russia projects.
But the problems facing China’s Belt and Road aren't just limited to Europe.
There are much bigger issues at stake.
More after the break.
Welcome back.
Protests are erupting around the world tied to China’s Belt and Road.
Earlier I talked about how China caught Sri Lanka in a debt trap.
Well, Sri Lankans are protesting the worst economic situation in decades.
And it's really bad.
And I don’t just mean the protest signs they had to make on a budget.
Hard to pay for supplies at craft stores when the economy’s in the toilet.
Sri Lankan police fired live ammunition and tear gas to scatter protesters on Tuesday,
killing at least one person and injuring a dozen more in the central town of Rambukkana.
It’s the first fatality since the largely peaceful protests began weeks ago.
Protests have flared up across the country since last month, voicing anger at the government’s
mishandling of the economy, which has led to shortages of essentials and long power cuts.
Demonstrators continued to flood the streets of the capital Colombo on Tuesday. “We have
no electricity, we don’t have gas, the price of rice has skyrocketed. We can't make ends meet, so
we have no choice but to go out on the streets. We took to the streets to throw this government out.”
They’re upset the government mishandled the economy and essentially robbed them
of their futures? Pfft. Typical millennials.
A big part of Sri Lanka’s economic troubles is that the country depended on trade
with Russia and Ukraine. Sri Lanka’s tourism industry especially depended on both countries.
But Sri Lanka’s economic problems predate the invasion of Ukraine.
“According to World Bank data, Sri Lanka has $35 billion in total debt
of which $6 billion is owed to China for loans to fund BRI projects managed by Chinese companies.”
This year, Sri Lanka was obligated to repay $6.9 billion of their total foreign debt.
But that’s now not going to happen.
Earlier this year Sri Lanka’s president begged China to restructure its debt.
China has yet to respond.
As if the Chinese Communist Party wasn’t responsible for enough abominations,
now they’re also leaving people on read. Diabolical.
At the beginning of April,
all of Sri Lanka’s cabinet members resigned, except the Prime Minister.
Protesters have not been deterred.
And influential Buddhist leaders in the country are calling the government a failed state.
And you know the government’s rotten when they’re getting trash talked by Buddhist monks.
Ultimately, this could blow up all of China’s investments in Sri Lanka.
And it’s not just Sri Lanka.
Indonesia has been another focal point for BRI investments.
People there are getting suspicious, too. I assume that means they’ve been watching China Uncensored.
This recent survey by Australia’s Lowy Institute found that “[Indonesiasns]
are increasingly skeptical about China, and particularly of Chinese investment.”
A lot of that has to do with a high-speed rail project.
It was supposed to cost $5.5 billion dollars and break even in 26 years.
It’s now going to cost about $8 billion and break even in 40 years.
In case you’re wondering, yes,
this was literally the plot to an episode of The Simpsons.
Not only is the Chinese regime corrupt, they’re also plagiarists.
Indonesia is now asking China “to finance 75 percent of the
nearly U.S. $2 billion cost overrun”.
China has already pumped billions of dollars into the railway.
If Indonesia decides to cancel the project, China could lose more money than Indonesia.
Then there’s Kazakhstan.
Are we about to find out that the CCP stole something from the movie
Borat, too? Ugh… this might be their worst abomination yet.
All three of China’s Central Asian gas pipelines run through Kazakhstan.
“In Kazakhstan, China has invested tens of billions of dollars, primarily into its
lucrative energy sector, and used the country as a launching-pad for the Belt and Road Initiative.”
And this was Kazakhstan back in January.
Tonight, Kazakhstan's violent protests spiral even further out of control,
as thousands take to the streets furious over rising fuel prices and government corruption.
Chinese companies have been accused of playing a role in that corruption.
Because even corruption in other countries is made in China.
Incidentally, Hunter Biden had tried to pen a $120 million
oil deal with a Chinese energy firm and the former Kazakh Prime Minister.
Wait, Hunter Biden… Chinese energy firm… foreign leader. Hey, I got corruption bingo!
But with the international order thrown into disarray thanks to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,
and protests erupting globally
China’s dream of uniting the world under its control with the Belt and Road initiative
seems to be collapsing.
Which, to be fair, eventually collapsing is kinda what Chinese infrastructure is known for.
And we cannot make this show without your support. So as a thank you to everyone who contributes
on either the crowdfunding platform Patreon or our exclusive social media community on Locals,
we’ll answer one of your questions at the ends of our episodes.
Today’s question comes from crystal dragon 402 on Locals.
“The property market in China seems to have been recently ignored. Does the CCP still
have funds available for anything other than a Blitzkrieg against Taiwan? The largest port in
the world is closed and the longer it goes on, the less stable the Chinese economy becomes.”
Well that’s a very interesting question, crystal dragon. As we’ve talked about on several recent
episodes, China’s Zero Covid policy is wreaking havoc on the Chinese economy, and on the global
economy. And it’s not just slowdowns in shipping and manufacturing that’s causing problems.
The slow collapse of the Belt and Road Initiative could also be a major challenge
for the Chinese economy. Plus there’s the real estate crisis led by Evergrande.
What will the Chinese Communist Party do if there is a real economic catastrophe?
That could be motivation for an invasion of Taiwan—
From one of their militarized artificial islands of peace, I’m sure.
Nothing like a crisis to distract people from another crisis.
But this is a scary thing. How will the Chinese Communist Party react to a major catastrophe?
What will a regime that doesn’t put any value on human life do when they’re desperate?
Probably something that normal people like you and me could never even imagine.
Thanks for your question and your support, crystal dragon.
And if you want to help us continue to fight the Chinese Communist Party,
all it takes is a dollar an episode. Visit pateron.com/Chinauncensored.
Or chinauncensored.locals.com for more.
Once again I’m Chris Chappell. See you next time.