This is what happens when countries do business with authoritarian China: “A dozen poor countries are facing economic instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, much of them from the world’s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China. … Behind the scenes is China’s reluctance to forgive debt and its extreme secrecy about how much money it has loaned and on what terms, which has kept other major lenders from stepping in to help. On top of that is the recent discovery that borrowers have been required to put cash in hidden escrow accounts that push China to the front of the line of creditors to be paid,” according to Fortune.
So, China is now holding these countries hostage and injecting geo-political instability in the regions they have offered to “help” countries with its “Belt and Road Initiative.” These idiot countries thought there would be no price to pay for doing business with an authoritarian China. If it’s too good to be true — as the Belt and Road Initiative — then it probably is, so now these poor countries are paying the ultimate price: To be owned by China. Oh, well. People will never learn that democracy — for all of its faults and difficulties — is always better than any other system. You know how China will start accepting repayment of their loans? By going into the indebted countries and begin stripping the nation of national resources. “China has also pushed back on the idea, popularized in the Trump administration, that it has engaged in ‘debt trap diplomacy,’ leaving countries saddled with loans they cannot afford so that it can seize ports, mines, and other strategic assets.” This is the new era of colonization.