The Economics of China’s Enormous Belt & Road Initiative

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Europe: tries to colonise china China 150 years later: uno reverse card

You left out an important political aspect. China imports and exports a lot of material and products by sea but the problem with that is that those shipping lanes have to pass through or near countries that are allied with the US which makes the Chinese economy vulnerable to a naval blockade. The Belt and Road initiative can decrease the reliance of the chinese economy on those shipping lanes.

I really appreciate the non-biased approach you take when talking about China.

It was Sri Lanka that proposed handing over control of Hambantota Port to China - it wasn't China's idea. Sri Lanka, having just lived through a Civil War, had an extremely high debt to GDP ratio too.

3 general aims of the Belt and Road initiative. 1, in the short term, China can export the excess capacity in their infrastructure and construction industry. Chinese infrastructures like ports, airports, highways and highspeed rail is already the best in the world. so they need to redirect all that capacity, if not many workers in steel plants, and construction industry will have to change profession. 2, in the medium term, China will need to cultivate these countries into emerging consumer markets, Chinese telecommunication companies are already dominating Africa, so when Africans gets a little richer, they'll start to look for consumer products to buy. 3, in the long term, China will need to gradually move some of the low end manufacturing to these countries, which is already happening. and turn them into workshops for China. China can sell them technology products, machinery and capital goods. All the above will internationalize the Yuan, and shift the world economic center from the trans Pacific and tans Atlantic to Afro-Eurasia.

I love this channel because you use logic rather than emotion to judge one's action. This is 1 of the few videos from western countries don't use fear on subject related to China.

"the freedom treatment." lol, love it

Why is China spending this money? When you have giant surpluses and a lot of capital, you get to hold US debt. High yield, fairly safe but it remains immaterial and vulnerable to US fluctuations. China is using th their money to realise actual assets, like ports, roads, rails, leases and licenses. Instead of leaving their money in the bank, they are using it to buy friends. And to get neighbours countries on their side.

Without infrastructure poor countries remain in a Poverty Trap of stagnation. Infrastructure is the essential platform for countries to grow and modernize.

When someone other than poly matter talks about china

Nice Job, EE! This is quite a balanced perspective. The "debt trap" rhetoric portrays African leaders as somehow unable to see the risks involved in the loan arrangements. This underlying assumption reflects Western prejudices and stereotypes against Africans. After all, many African countries need loans to build infrastructures to prepare for the coming demographic booms. China is the only shop in town that provides low interests loans with relatively few strings attached. Whether or not the security-backed feature of the loan is worth it is up to the African countries to decide. Many finance ministers of African countries, who made such loan deals, regularly write column essays in mainstream media and have a presence on social media like LinkedIn and Twitter. Their positions are much more nuanced than the "debt trap" narrative; they are making rational decisions based on the options open to them.

As a. srilankan person i have to say this. yes.we may be unable to pay the debt. But china is always act in flexible manner in those cases. they are not like hey you unable to pay,give me the property then type. we can always keep the grip on the our property .lease method or share method is executed in that sort of scenarios.As a sri lankan person what i can see,china help to develop our country other than any one in the history. If this total project is succeeded ,sri lanka have a. good opportunity to share the success. Western world has their own issues with china.but those are not our issues.The value of china becoming a super power in the world ,they are going to the development with most of asian countries.Eventhough some asian countries have got own issues with china,they should understand it. Its the time of asia.

The Amazing original: Han China The decent sequel: Tang China The Questionable expanded universe: Mongols The crossover episode: Ming China The hEnTai spinoff: imperial Japan The reboot: Red China

>traditional chinese medicine involving endangered species >shows footage of dried scallops used in soup

BRI also helps develope markets that can eventually afford Chinese products, win-win.

"If they get out of poverty, maybe they can afford more of our products." That's a win-win.

China makes the loans with two possible outcomes: 1- country pays the debt and both win 2- country defaults and china wins win-win (for china) xD

I think China does want world domination. Now, that term sounds scary, but obviously we're not talking about holding the world to ransom with a giant laser on the moon, we're talking about having the power and influence to dominate global trade and politics, not some evil conspiracy. Back in the day, the best way you could do that was by conquest, as we saw in the days of European empires. As time moved on the world changed, and directly taking land from less developed nations was no longer acceptable, or in many cases economically the best option. So countries like the USA instead focused on trade, corporations, and cultural and political influence. I think China sees itself as Britain expanding its empire, or the USA spreading its money and culture. And it's hard to argue they are doing anything wrong when you are speaking from a country whose wealth was built on global domination. How is it fair to deny them the opportunity to become the next Britain or USA? But on the other hand, today we perceive many of the methods that Britain and the USA used to achieve world domination were by today's standards immoral or outright criminal (and some argue many current practices of these nations still are). It's a difficult balance to prevent exploitation or so-called "neo-colonialism" from new superpowers like China without looking like we're pulling up the ladder and being massive hypocrites.

The countries that hand over the control of their ports in their country to be managed by China - still has their port to export their products, refuel ships, and hire their workforce. It still stays within their borders and still belongs to them. Just that China offered a way to help pay back the loans if the port itself couldn't generate enough value. This is a much better diplomacy to help other nations than to create tension amongst nations, make them both buy weapons and kill one another.