I've been following the "Chinese Debt Trap Diplomacy" story for some years now, although I didn't know it went back as far as 2017.
Thinking about it carefully has given me some useful tools to de-cypher a lot of other nonsense narratives.
For one thing, those who believed, or at least said that the Chinese Debt Traps were real could never explain exactly how they were supposed to work.
Was it that the debtor countries would pledge more in collateral than the debt was worth? Was it that they would pledge, and then lose strategic assets that Beijing could never acquire in any other way? Was it that Beijing could make a greater profit on financing a bad project and then seizing the assets once it failed, then it could by just having a good project that succeed from the start?
All of these possibilities seemed to be based on the idea that Ministers of Finance from dozens of countries around the world were all total morons who just didn't understand how finance worked, and it was only the Mandarins of Beijing who were the Machiavellian Masters of Money, no due diligence or outside opinions were possible, certainly not from Wall Street or The City of London.
Which brings up another point worth considering.
If any of this Debt Trapping actually worked why was it that Beijing alone that could do it? What have New York, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Rome and Zurich been doing for the last several hundred years ? Are they all too moral to use this one weird trick and get billions of dollars in cash and assets?
Debt trap diplomacy has been around since far before 2017. John Perkins' "Confessions of an economic hitman" 2004 describes the ways US entities used these practices in the 70s. It provides a lot of color as to how and why it is done and how it mixes (typically secretively) with power and influence.
Seemingly antagonistic principles and/or motives may at times be simultaneously true of serially true. And it does not surprise me that a libertarian analysis would excuse this. The idea that China is not desiring to fill a political vacuum with its influence no matter how incompetently they may do it is absurd. The underdeveloped world which will always be somewhat comparatively underdeveloped nurses a lot of grudges and mystiques about the ground source of their anger and about the nature of their frenemies Their motives are often actually a confused mishmash as a result. So in conclusion this column says a lot while telling us nothing.
China doesn’t make a profit on a lot of things; it’s called Marxisim.
And who knows what is going on behind the scenes with these deals. The way the author writes that “the other guy wanted the money” is childishly naive in regards to the way the world works.
Anyone who has read archives related to historical events can attest the actions behind the scenes are totally different than what is presented.
That's not much of an explanation is it? In fact that's no explanation at all.
I have seen many people attempt similar pseudo-explanations of China, Beijing and the CCP. I have come to call it "The Chi-Com Magic Hypothesis".
It's a half-articulated belief that the laws of the universe, the nature of reality and the human condition don't apply to the Peoples Republic of China. That there's some sort of sorcery being performed by Xi Jinping that can make Up into Down, time run backwards and 2+2 = 5.
You feel that China doesn't make a profit on a lot of things because of Marxism, but isn't the cause of this whole situation the very solid fact that China IS making a lot of profit on a great many things?
China is making billions of dollars in profit every day from trade, hundreds of billions of dollars per year, and this is where that Magical Hypothesis comes in, are we to accept that after working hard for that money that the bosses are just going to burn it all?
You feel that there are actions behind the scenes which are totally different than what is presented.
I agree, but the story the Western media has presented to the world for years is that there IS a thing called Chinese Debt Trap Diplomacy. You're being presented with a weird story that doesn't match known facts of mathematics, economics and human motivations. You're choosing to believe that story and deny reality. You're not seeing a bizarre and illogical reality through a crystal clear lens, what you're seeing is a very normal and solid reality through a warped and cracked lens.
The lens is called self-serving Western propaganda.
Belt and Road projects are largely a response to economic problems inside China. As Chinese growth has slowed, the government has looked for ways to keep its companies busy???
Far from slowing, China's growth is accelerating: GDP will grow by $1.9 trillion this year. That's more than all but three years during the country's go-go growth burst.
I've been following the "Chinese Debt Trap Diplomacy" story for some years now, although I didn't know it went back as far as 2017.
Thinking about it carefully has given me some useful tools to de-cypher a lot of other nonsense narratives.
For one thing, those who believed, or at least said that the Chinese Debt Traps were real could never explain exactly how they were supposed to work.
Was it that the debtor countries would pledge more in collateral than the debt was worth? Was it that they would pledge, and then lose strategic assets that Beijing could never acquire in any other way? Was it that Beijing could make a greater profit on financing a bad project and then seizing the assets once it failed, then it could by just having a good project that succeed from the start?
All of these possibilities seemed to be based on the idea that Ministers of Finance from dozens of countries around the world were all total morons who just didn't understand how finance worked, and it was only the Mandarins of Beijing who were the Machiavellian Masters of Money, no due diligence or outside opinions were possible, certainly not from Wall Street or The City of London.
Which brings up another point worth considering.
If any of this Debt Trapping actually worked why was it that Beijing alone that could do it? What have New York, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Rome and Zurich been doing for the last several hundred years ? Are they all too moral to use this one weird trick and get billions of dollars in cash and assets?
Debt trap diplomacy has been around since far before 2017. John Perkins' "Confessions of an economic hitman" 2004 describes the ways US entities used these practices in the 70s. It provides a lot of color as to how and why it is done and how it mixes (typically secretively) with power and influence.
The picture of the boats is beautiful. Where is it from?
AI, I'm afraid.
—NC
Well done.
Seemingly antagonistic principles and/or motives may at times be simultaneously true of serially true. And it does not surprise me that a libertarian analysis would excuse this. The idea that China is not desiring to fill a political vacuum with its influence no matter how incompetently they may do it is absurd. The underdeveloped world which will always be somewhat comparatively underdeveloped nurses a lot of grudges and mystiques about the ground source of their anger and about the nature of their frenemies Their motives are often actually a confused mishmash as a result. So in conclusion this column says a lot while telling us nothing.
It's a narrative concocted by those who hate China.
This is an incredibly naive article.
Alright then, tell me how "debt trap diplomacy" actually works.
How do you make a profit from financing projects that fail?
China doesn’t make a profit on a lot of things; it’s called Marxisim.
And who knows what is going on behind the scenes with these deals. The way the author writes that “the other guy wanted the money” is childishly naive in regards to the way the world works.
Anyone who has read archives related to historical events can attest the actions behind the scenes are totally different than what is presented.
That's not much of an explanation is it? In fact that's no explanation at all.
I have seen many people attempt similar pseudo-explanations of China, Beijing and the CCP. I have come to call it "The Chi-Com Magic Hypothesis".
It's a half-articulated belief that the laws of the universe, the nature of reality and the human condition don't apply to the Peoples Republic of China. That there's some sort of sorcery being performed by Xi Jinping that can make Up into Down, time run backwards and 2+2 = 5.
You feel that China doesn't make a profit on a lot of things because of Marxism, but isn't the cause of this whole situation the very solid fact that China IS making a lot of profit on a great many things?
China is making billions of dollars in profit every day from trade, hundreds of billions of dollars per year, and this is where that Magical Hypothesis comes in, are we to accept that after working hard for that money that the bosses are just going to burn it all?
You feel that there are actions behind the scenes which are totally different than what is presented.
I agree, but the story the Western media has presented to the world for years is that there IS a thing called Chinese Debt Trap Diplomacy. You're being presented with a weird story that doesn't match known facts of mathematics, economics and human motivations. You're choosing to believe that story and deny reality. You're not seeing a bizarre and illogical reality through a crystal clear lens, what you're seeing is a very normal and solid reality through a warped and cracked lens.
The lens is called self-serving Western propaganda.
"And who knows what is going on behind the scenes with these deals."
So, you admit you know nothing of which you speak. So you are speculating.
Saying you don't know isn't speculating. The works of government thugs is not so cute and simple as the author imagines. It's childish to think so.
Who knows what the story is but somehow people end up with things and other people end up rich giving things away.
"Saying you don't know isn't speculating. "
Saying 'And who knows what is going on behind the scenes with these deals.' implies something nefarious is going on. A synonym of speculate is assume.
Belt and Road projects are largely a response to economic problems inside China. As Chinese growth has slowed, the government has looked for ways to keep its companies busy???
Far from slowing, China's growth is accelerating: GDP will grow by $1.9 trillion this year. That's more than all but three years during the country's go-go growth burst.