Rachel a Winston

Belts and Roads Under Beijing's Thumb Rachel a Winston

The free world is facing the greatest geopolitical challenge of our time. Subversively, we are facing an undercurrent of economic, cybersecurity, satellite, political and military forces. A tectonic shift is changing society. Insidiously, through social media, Internet surveillance, and financial payouts, the way we live is being transformed from liberty and freedom to one of coercion and compliance. Democracy is under attack, infused by forces thrusting our relationships and communications under the authoritarian thought control of an empire that has spread its arms into most of the countries on the planet through no-questions-asked loans with dangerously costly back-end conditions.

Debt traps define agreements wherein China offers countries the opportunity to pay back their loans with votes, geography, military bases, minerals, rights, and sole access. Money mismanagement, inefficiencies, greed, and pandemic-related problems have led to debt that cannot be repaid and China will not forgive. Companies and whole countries are under Beijing's thumb. Some states will be forced to give up their land to China and others will give up resources and infrastructure to Beijing's growing hunger for control. Belts and Roads provides a revealing primer to understand China's global hegemony with its alarming consequences.