Category: Belt and Road

Montenegro in ‘Final Phase’ of Talks With Europe to Cut Indebtedness to China

BELGRADE—A European state financial institution is ready to refinance $809 million of Montenegro’s debt to China, allowing the tiny Adriatic republic to make savings and cut interest rates, the country’s finance minister said on Thursday. China sees the Western Balkans, which includes Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, and Serbia, as well as Montengro, as part…


The Strategy Behind the CCP’s Global Spending Influence Operations

Commentary On May 28, President Joe Biden made a shocking note in his remarks to American service members at a Virginia military base, “We’re in a battle between democracies and autocracies.” He also said that Chinese leader Xi Jinping once told him that he “firmly believes that China, before the year [20]30, ’35, is going…


G-7 Leaders to Take on Beijing’s Debt Trap Diplomacy

Leaders of the world’s seven richest nations on June 13 agreed to counter Beijing’s growing influence in developing countries through its controversial development program, the “Belt and Road” Initiative, which has left many poor nations with heavy debt loads. Advanced economies pledged to provide a “democratic alternative” to China’s ambitious program to address the infrastructure…


China Fails to Threaten Iron Ore Market as Prices Soar

Iron ore prices have flourished again despite a downward dive following Beijing’s promise to curb the mineral’s unabated market growth. Spot prices launched to an unprecedented, all-time high of US$230 per tonne earlier in May, followed by a sharp decline by 20 percent to US$183 two weeks later. However, values once again surpassed US$200 at…


Bangladesh Hits Back at China’s Threat Against Joining US-led QUAD

On May 10, the Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh warned against Bangladesh’s possible participation in the US-led Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD), threatening that it would cause “substantial damage” to the bilateral relations; the Bangladeshi foreign minister responded by sharply rejecting Beijing’s interference with Bangladesh’s affairs. The QUAD is a four-nation Indo-Pacific summit led by the United…


Bangladesh Rebuffs China’s Threat Against Joining US-Led Quad

Bangladesh’s foreign minister on May 11 rejected remarks by the Chinese ambassador warning the South Asian nation not to participate in the U.S.-led Quadrilateral Security Dialogue because it would damage bilateral relations. The Quad is a four-nation Indo-Pacific alliance led by the United States, along with India, Japan, and Australia. Beijing considers the Quad a “small…


Underpaid, Overworked, Abused: Chinese Migrants Working on the Regime’s Belt and Road Initiative

Chinese migrants signed on to work for the CCP’s (Chinese Communist Party’s) Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with hopes of earning a good wage and sending support to their families back in China. Instead, they got stranded in several countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have been subjected to a number of human rights…


China Emits More Greenhouse Gas Than Developed Countries Combined: Report

China emitted more greenhouse gases (GHG) than the United States and all other developed countries combined in 2019, according to a report published on May 6 by New York-based research firm Rhodium Group. The report found that China alone was responsible for over 27 percent of total global emissions, with the United States being a…


Rep. Fitzgerald Unveils BRIDGE Act to Counter CCP’s Belt and Road Initiative

Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) on Tuesday introduced legislation that seeks to counter the Chinese regime’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)—one of the world’s most ambitious and controversial development programs—citing immediate and long-term risks to national and economic security. The bill (pdf), named the Build Responsible Infrastructure Development for the Global Economy (BRIDGE) Act, directs the…


Port of Darwin Lease to Chinese Company ‘Unfathomable’: Sen. Abetz

Liberal senator Eric Abetz has welcomed a review into the Port of Darwin’s 99-year lease to a company with strong ties to Beijing and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), saying it was a “serious mistake that must be rectified.” This comes amid tense relations between Canberra and Beijing, which sharply declined after Australia called for an…