• About us
  • Careers
  • Brand Partnerships
TFI Official Merchandise
TFI हिन्दी
TFI Global
Sunday, January 29, 2023
Tfipost.com
  • Premium
  • Politics
    • All
    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
    Another one bites the dust: Rumour-monger Sreenivasan Jain leaves NDTV

    Another one bites the dust: Rumour-monger Sreenivasan Jain leaves NDTV

    Mandir independence movement: Constitution is both a facilitator as well as the roadblock

    Mandir independence movement: Constitution is both a facilitator as well as the roadblock

    There is no sense behind opposing Shri Banke Bihari Corridor

    There is no sense behind opposing Shri Banke Bihari Corridor

    KCR Republic Day function

    Down South, KCR is waging a ‘war’ against the Indian Constitution

    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
  • Economy
    • All
    • Business
    • Economy1
    • Finance
    Bata is not an Indian company but is more Indian than most Indian companies

    Bata is not an Indian company but is more Indian than most Indian companies

    Indian fintech sector

    The rise and rise of India’s fintech sector

    Zomato Instant

    Zomato is using every trick in the book to stay relevant

    Indian IPO market

    The Past and Future of the Indian IPO Market

    • Business
    • Finance
  • Defense
    • All
    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
    Defence budget India

    Modernization of Indian defence: Right trajectory but low velocity

    AK-203 rifles

    Amethi has started producing the dreaded AK 203 for India and the world

    HELINA and VSHROD

    Amidst build up on China and Pakistan border India gets HELINA and VSHROD

    K9-Vajra

    K9 VAJRA: The Made in India weapon that China fears

    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
  • Geopolitics
    • All
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
    Indus Water Treaty: India has set the timer on the balkanisation of Pakistan

    Indus Water Treaty: India has set the timer on the balkanisation of Pakistan

    Pakistan Army

    One of Pakistani army’s own busts its war waging tactics

    India-Egypt relations

    India-Egypt relations: A holistic approach other than tackling the Turkey-Pak Nexus

    Time to wake up against China’s new threat to the world

    Time to wake up against China’s new threat to the world

    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
  • Knowledge
    • All
    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
    The untold story of Swami Pranavananda

    The untold story of Swami Pranavananda

    Swami Ramanand Teerth

    Swami Ramanand Teerth versus the Nizam of Hyderabad, a story that deserves bigger audience

    hanging

    Black cloth and 11 Promises: How the hangman performs the hanging

    Shubhrak

    The story of shubhrak the horse who avenged his master

    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
  • Law
  • Lounge
    • All
    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Lifestyle
    • Satire
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    Dress code of Bollywood

    Rishi Kapoor’s sweater and Jitendra’s white pants, worst Bollywood fashion trends ever

    Gurdas Maan – The man who made Punjabi music a national craze and who became a ‘traitor’ for being pro-India

    Gurdas Maan – The man who made Punjabi music a national craze and who became a ‘traitor’ for being pro-India

    Pathaan box office collection

    If the trend continues, Pathaan producers will be able to buy Mars

    Australia and England are testaments to perils of minority appeasement politics

    Australia and England are testaments to perils of minority appeasement politics

    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    • Satire
No Result
View All Result
Tfipost.com
  • Premium
  • Politics
    • All
    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
    Another one bites the dust: Rumour-monger Sreenivasan Jain leaves NDTV

    Another one bites the dust: Rumour-monger Sreenivasan Jain leaves NDTV

    Mandir independence movement: Constitution is both a facilitator as well as the roadblock

    Mandir independence movement: Constitution is both a facilitator as well as the roadblock

    There is no sense behind opposing Shri Banke Bihari Corridor

    There is no sense behind opposing Shri Banke Bihari Corridor

    KCR Republic Day function

    Down South, KCR is waging a ‘war’ against the Indian Constitution

    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
  • Economy
    • All
    • Business
    • Economy1
    • Finance
    Bata is not an Indian company but is more Indian than most Indian companies

    Bata is not an Indian company but is more Indian than most Indian companies

    Indian fintech sector

    The rise and rise of India’s fintech sector

    Zomato Instant

    Zomato is using every trick in the book to stay relevant

    Indian IPO market

    The Past and Future of the Indian IPO Market

    • Business
    • Finance
  • Defense
    • All
    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
    Defence budget India

    Modernization of Indian defence: Right trajectory but low velocity

    AK-203 rifles

    Amethi has started producing the dreaded AK 203 for India and the world

    HELINA and VSHROD

    Amidst build up on China and Pakistan border India gets HELINA and VSHROD

    K9-Vajra

    K9 VAJRA: The Made in India weapon that China fears

    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
  • Geopolitics
    • All
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
    Indus Water Treaty: India has set the timer on the balkanisation of Pakistan

    Indus Water Treaty: India has set the timer on the balkanisation of Pakistan

    Pakistan Army

    One of Pakistani army’s own busts its war waging tactics

    India-Egypt relations

    India-Egypt relations: A holistic approach other than tackling the Turkey-Pak Nexus

    Time to wake up against China’s new threat to the world

    Time to wake up against China’s new threat to the world

    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
  • Knowledge
    • All
    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
    The untold story of Swami Pranavananda

    The untold story of Swami Pranavananda

    Swami Ramanand Teerth

    Swami Ramanand Teerth versus the Nizam of Hyderabad, a story that deserves bigger audience

    hanging

    Black cloth and 11 Promises: How the hangman performs the hanging

    Shubhrak

    The story of shubhrak the horse who avenged his master

    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
  • Law
  • Lounge
    • All
    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Lifestyle
    • Satire
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    Dress code of Bollywood

    Rishi Kapoor’s sweater and Jitendra’s white pants, worst Bollywood fashion trends ever

    Gurdas Maan – The man who made Punjabi music a national craze and who became a ‘traitor’ for being pro-India

    Gurdas Maan – The man who made Punjabi music a national craze and who became a ‘traitor’ for being pro-India

    Pathaan box office collection

    If the trend continues, Pathaan producers will be able to buy Mars

    Australia and England are testaments to perils of minority appeasement politics

    Australia and England are testaments to perils of minority appeasement politics

    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    • Satire
No Result
View All Result
Tfipost.com
No Result
View All Result

HOME » Geopolitics » China has weaponized lending practices to prey on weaker regimes.

China has weaponized lending practices to prey on weaker regimes.

Abhishek Mishra
by Abhishek Mishra
5 July 2018
in Geopolitics
0
china, obor, debt

PC: foreignbrief.com

1.7k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative or OBOR, is one single country’s initiative to create trade routes that span 3 continents and touch 60% of the world population. What country is that? It’s China. Recently, the Sri Lankan port which was leased to China’s state owned company for 99 years was in the news again. The reason is The OBOR, the most ambitious infrastructure project in human history. This is how China aims at becoming the super power, by rerouting trade to one source—itself.

The estimated cost of the entire initiative is around 4-8 trillion US dollars. On land, it is being called the Economic Belt, which includes road and rail infrastructure that aims to connect China to almost every country in Eurasia. For example, the proposed railroad from London to China, passing through smaller countries like Serbia, or the crude oil pipelines from the Middle East. On sea, it is being called the Maritime Silk Road that covers almost all countries in the Indian Ocean to South China Sea, including Maldives, Indonesia, Singapore, Laos, UAE and Sri Lanka.

But that’s not it. The OBOR also includes fibre optics networks, mines, communication infrastructure, refineries and power plants, with one aim in mind—making trades with China as the only or the easiest trade option for most countries. How this strategy will go on to define world politics over the course of next few decades is alarming not just for India, but the entire world.

How is China able to do it? How was it able to negotiate so many deals in less than a decade? The answer is easy loans. In simpler words, China offers smaller, dwindling economies of the world quicker, easier debt with far fewer terms than the West, which the leaders of those economies were willing to take. Most of these investments could be termed high risk, and a large number of them cannot be recovered. Then, why does China keep on lending and investing?

China lends so that it can pressurize the country to cough up a naval base, or untaxed free trade route, or anything similar to sweeten the already lucrative deal which would not only strengthen China’s economy beyond all, but also act as a strategic asset in case of a conflict.

The majority of the countries in which China has invested are not democratic in nature. These are either authoritarian, like Belarus, Azerbaijan or the Saudi Arabia or Military Regimes like Thailand. The remaining are counties with major ongoing conflicts, like Iraq, Turkmenistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan etc. These are all unreliable countries. Corruption and conflict make payback highly unlikely. Recent reports on OBOR suggest that eight to ten countries are high risk, including Pakistan, Mongolia, Laos, Sri Lanka (couldn’t pay), Egypt, Kenya, Yemen, Ethiopia, Ukraine and Belarus.

What happens when these countries are not able to pay back their debt? Well, let’s look at Sri Lanka as a case study. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa wanted to build a port where the feasibility studies had already showed it wouldn’t work well. But Rajapaksa was adamant and turned to India for loans, which she refused missing a vital opportunity, China was all too willing to grab. This was during UPA 2. The Hambantota port was built using Chinese investment. It failed, even though being a deep sea port right in the middle of one of the busiest trade routes. The reason? It appears that China wanted it to fail and rerouted as many ships as it was possible to make sure that Hambantota did not receive ships. In 2012, the port drew only 34 ships. It was clear that Sri Lanka had taken a debt which it won’t be able to pay back, for a port that showed little use. The Sri Lankan government had to hand over the port and 15000 acres of land surrounding it to Chinese state owned company for 99 years. However, recently Sri Lanka showed its spine by making sure that China cannot use the port for military purposes, unless allowed by Sri Lanka. Thus, China expanded its territory in the Indian Ocean, by trapping Sri Lanka in debt.

Quite similarly, the OBOR’s flagship project is CPEC, or the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. Pakistan has a dwindling economy with little foreign investment. China comes into the picture in 2001 and offers to build a port in Gwadar. To connect the port to China, the economic corridor is being built stretching from the Himalayas in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south. It consists of modern highways, tunnels and railroads that offer faster and smoother transportation of goods. It also includes a highway route through Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

On the other hand, Gwadar becomes the port which joins the Maritime Silk Road to the Economic Built, the two halves of the OBOR Initiative. This provides not just an alternative route for China to ship oil from the Middle East but also new working grounds for its construction companies which don’t have that many opportunities in China itself. This entire investment in Pakistan amounts to a surplus of 62 billion US dollars. The Gwadar port has been leased to China for 40 years.

Although Pakistan sees growth in its GDP, it appears highly unlikely that Pakistan will ever be able to pay off the entirety of the project on its own. Thus, China might impose conditions or restrictions sooner or later. Recently, the Pakistani senate had passed a resolution to include Mandarin as a language to be taught for “better communication”. In any case, the corridor will be a huge win-win for China, and a smaller win for Pakistan.

Eventually, China will have a bigger hand to play in many of the counties it has lent to and we are already seeing the trickling future. First in Pakistan, then in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is in more debt from China than ever before. China just opened a strategic naval base in Djibouti, East Africa. It’s pushing a similar deal in Myanmar. 7 out of 10 biggest construction firms in the world are now Chinese. China has helped finance at least 35 ports around the world in the past decade alone, with several more ready on the papers. With ports in Maldives, Cambodia and Sudan, it appears that China is going to have the largest stake in the sea trade routes with its String of Pearls, which will also give an edge in military strategies.

With isolation trending in the US and India focusing primarily on improving the quality of life of its citizens, China has got a free pass with zero resistance from the major powers of the world. For Xi Jinping’s dream of the Silk Road, the Communist state has turned a blind eye to the kind of government the smaller country has, ranging from dictatorial regimes to war torn powerless governments, as long as it is able to add to its list of economic conquests. In this economic conquest through OBOR,  China seem to have weaponized the debt. 

Tags: ChinaMaldivesOBORPakistanSri Lanka
Share262TweetSend
Previous Post

An Open Letter to Team Udta Punjab

Next Post

Kumaraswamy and family evaded taxes according to Republic TV report

Abhishek Mishra

Abhishek Mishra

"Writer | Studies CS Engineering | Love Coding | Atheist | Nationalist | Coffee Addict | Wants to See Humanity Progress through Science"

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms of use and Privacy Policy.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

  • Most Read
  • Comments
  • Latest
Xi Jinping, coronavirus, Shinzo Abe, china, Japan, coornavirus, COVID-19, Wuhan Virus

‘Pack up and get out of there,’ Japan to spend $2.2 billion to get Japanese companies to exit China

9 April 2020
ajay devgn karan johar

The man who bullied the Bully – How Ajay Devgn made Karan Johar’s monopoly a joke and forced him to apologize

22 June 2020
Huawei, China, Trump, USA, Xi Jinping

‘Our survival is at stake now,’ Chinese Telecom giant Huawei crumbles after US ban on Semiconductor exports

19 May 2020
T-Series Sonu Nigam Divya Khosla Kumar Bhushan Kumar

T-Series forced to take down Atif Aslam’s video, Divya Khosla trolled. T-Series has a bad day in office

25 June 2020
Meat Ban

A Jain responds to Meat Ban in Mumbai

Public Sector Bank, Government, Bill

Dear bank employees, continue your stride but PSBs will be privatized

anti-Hindi

Anti-Hindi Forever?- In search of a National Language!

Dear Liberals – your Beef Parties are not protests, they just intend to displease the Majority

Dear Liberals – your Beef Parties are not protests, they just intend to displease the Majority

Another one bites the dust: Rumour-monger Sreenivasan Jain leaves NDTV

Another one bites the dust: Rumour-monger Sreenivasan Jain leaves NDTV

29 January 2023
Dress code of Bollywood

Rishi Kapoor’s sweater and Jitendra’s white pants, worst Bollywood fashion trends ever

29 January 2023
The untold story of Swami Pranavananda

The untold story of Swami Pranavananda

29 January 2023
Mandir independence movement: Constitution is both a facilitator as well as the roadblock

Mandir independence movement: Constitution is both a facilitator as well as the roadblock

29 January 2023

Popular This Week

Jacinda Ardern ccp chinese donations
Asia Pacific

Jacinda Ardern is under probe for alleged links with CCP. That makes Kiwi politics completely Sinophilic

by Abhinav Singh
20 July 2020
Guru Dutt
Cinema

Guru Dutt – The epitome of human goodness onscreen, destroyed his wife’s career, life and everything else

by Paurush Gupta
17 November 2022
China, PLA, China, Jianli Yang, PLA, Xi Jinping, Galwan, Jianli Yang
Opinions

After the wimps of PLA got their necks snapped by Indians, China sends Martial Arts fighters to Ladakh border

by Sanbeer Singh Ranhotra
28 June 2020
Reality of Bageshwar Dham
Analysis

The Bageshwar Dham: The Reality of Dhirendra Krishna Shastri

by Tejasvi Malhotra
31 October 2022
India: The Modi Question
Premium

Exposing BBC’s new series “India: The Modi Question”

by Paurush Gupta
18 January 2023

©2023 TFI Media Private Limited

  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
No Result
View All Result
  • Premium
  • Politics
    • Analysis
    • Opinions
    • Trending
  • Economy
    • Business
    • Finance
  • Defense
    • Defence
    • Strategy
    • Weaponry
  • Geopolitics
    • Africa
    • Americas
    • Asia Pacific
    • Europe
    • South Asia
    • West Asia
  • Knowledge
    • Culture
    • History
    • Indology
  • Law
  • Lounge
    • Books
    • Cinema
    • Food
    • Health
    • Sports
    • technology
    • Travel
    • Satire
TFI Official Merchandise
TFI हिन्दी
TFI Global
  • About us
  • Careers
  • Brand Partnerships

©2023 TFI Media Private Limited

Follow us on Twitter

and never miss an insightful take by the TFIPOST team

Follow @tfipost