HOW CHINA IS CAPTURING THE WORLD IN 21ST CENTURY..

Debt Trap Diplomacy:-

              

                  In the second half of the 20th century, the World never saw any big wars like the World Wars. So apart from some bilateral wars, the World was entering the new on paper peace era. But after the cold war, Making strong allies and holding key Geo-strategic locations became very important. The only drawback of making strong allies is you are having 50-50 percent in every agreement. So to totally overpower the economically weaker nations and gaining key locations, China introduced Debt Trap Diplomacy.

                  In which China gives a huge amount of loans to smaller nations and if unable to repay, China will take some part of the nation like 'Ports'. Most of the investment done was in Infrastructure like Roads, Rails routes, etc. In the first decade of the 21st century, loans were given to African and Asian nations like Kenya and Sri Lanka. In later stages, many other countries were added like Ecuador in Latin America. China's Foreign Direct Investment (F.D.I.) in these nations is increasing exponentially in the last decade. There are various initiatives of China like the Belt and Road Initiative (B.R.I.) and the collective name given to them is Debt Trap Diplomacy. 

                      List of countries where China has invested heavily:-

AFRICA:-                                                                                       

1. Angola                        6. Nigeria                                  

2. Ethiopia                      7. South Africa                        

3. Zambia                        8. Kenya                                 

4. Republic of Congo      9. Djibouti                              

5. North Sudan               10. Egypt                                 

ASIA:- 

1. Sri Lanka  

2. Pakistan

3. Malaysia

4. Indonesia

5. Laos

SOUTH AMERICA:-                                                        

1. Ecuador                                                                           

2. Argentina                                                                                          

3. Venezuela                                                                         

4. Brazil                                                                               

5. Caribbean Region                                                            

INVESTMENT DONE UNDER B.R.I.:-                      

1. Kazakhstan 

2. Mongolia   

3. Montenegro 

4. Maldives

5. Kyrgyzstan

6. Tajikistan

         

                     After reading the above list, If you feel that Europe has been spared from this plan. Then let me correct you, Piraeus port of Greece has been taken by China to transform it into the biggest port in Europe. Haifa port in Israel, Various ports, and projects in North-Western Europe are funded by China. A total of 138 Countries have signed Memorandum Of Understanding (M.O.U.) of B.R.I. out of which 38 are European Countries (Constituting 18 EU Countries too). Though major countries like France have opposed the B.R.I. but Countries like Italy are interested to join hands with China.    

                      Till the dawn of the 21st century, the USA and Russia were the major players but China entered the game with a bang in the past 2 decades. Recently, Hambantota port, Sri Lanka, and Port of Doraleh, Djibouti has been taken by China due inability of the respective government to repay the loans. Though the failure of repaying the loans by these countries affects the Chinese economy. China has refused to disclose the amount of loan given and the terms and conditions of the agreement. Still, the estimated cost is multi-Billion USD and the estimated cost of B.R.I. is multi-Trillion USD. To counter it the USA is seeing India as a potential countermeasure ally. There should be stronger allies and a firm plan to counter these fast-spreading effects of a dragon.

 

Signing off for the day, See you guys in the next blog...

Regards,

Bhargav Deshpande