XPost: alt.politics.trump, sac.politics, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: alt.politics.republicans, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   From: leroysoetoro@americans-first.com   
      
   https://amac.us/newsline/politics/trumps-trade-deals-offer-alternative-to-   
   chinas-debt-trap-diplomacy/   
      
   As the United States and China work to hammer out a new trade deal,   
   Beijing is plowing ahead with its so-called “Belt and Road Initiative”   
   (BRI), a debt-trap diplomacy scheme dressed up as an international   
   infrastructure program. But as President Donald Trump forges new   
   agreements with other nations and reorients the global economy toward the   
   United States, it may undermine Chinese President Xi Jinping’s grand   
   ambitions – and create more leverage for Trump and his team as they   
   negotiate with the Chinese.   
      
   Launched in 2013, the BRI is often described as a “modern Silk Road,”   
   aimed at connecting China to Africa, the Middle East, and Europe through   
   massive infrastructure projects. But unlike the ancient Silk Road that   
   facilitated free-flowing trade, the BRI is about control, not commerce.   
   Through opaque contracts and predatory lending, China has used the BRI to   
   ensnare vulnerable nations in unsustainable debt, then leverage that debt   
   for political and strategic gain.   
      
   Despite being branded as a development initiative, the BRI is primarily a   
   tool for exporting China’s industrial overcapacity, especially in steel,   
   cement, and construction materials, while simultaneously   
   internationalizing the Yuan and expanding China’s military footprint.   
   Nearly every project carries a dual-use character, combining civilian   
   infrastructure with strategic or military applications.   
      
   As Dr. Gaoxiang Wong, a retired political economy professor who defected   
   from China, put it, “Deng Xiaoping envisioned a new venture capital system   
   for developing economies, but Xi Jinping has distorted this vision by   
   rejecting competition in favor of socialist planning.” He described the   
   BRI as “a fat chimera with little chance of success,” warning that it   
   could lead developing countries to financial ruin.   
      
   Dr. Derek Scissors, chief economist at China Beige Book, similarly noted   
   that while BRI figures appear impressive, much of the activity is simply   
   promises of investment. “Building takes longer than investing,” he said.   
   In other words, BRI may look like global expansion, but in reality, it’s   
   often just a slow-moving transfer of Chinese overproduction to weaker   
   economies.   
      
   Nonetheless, a new report from the Green Finance & Development Center in   
   Beijing and Griffith University in Australia revealed that BRI contracts   
   totaled $124 billion in the first half of 2025 alone – already exceeding   
   the $122 billion total for all of 2024. Several of the deals were   
   “megadeals” exceeding $10 billion in value, signaling that Beijing is   
   ramping up the initiative with renewed intensity.   
      
   One particularly worrisome project is a quantum communication line more   
   than 6,000 miles long between China and South Africa. Last year, a PLA   
   publication described the line as “an alternative to undersea cables,” for   
   which “the West has no alternative.”   
      
   Some in the media claim that Trump’s aggressive trade agenda has created   
   space for China’s BRI expansion. But that narrative falls apart when you   
   look at the facts. In just the past few days, Trump announced a sweeping   
   new trade deal with the European Union, which will boost investment,   
   balance trade, and strengthen transatlantic economic ties. That   
   announcement came on the heels of a major U.S.–Japan agreement, and more   
   negotiations are underway with other allies.   
      
   These aren’t symbolic gestures. They’re massive financial commitments.   
   Since returning to office, President Trump has helped secure more than   
   $5.2 trillion in foreign investment into the United States. That capital   
   reflects growing confidence in America’s future and an understanding that   
   fairness in trade leads to lasting prosperity for all partners.   
      
   Meanwhile, China is facing a crisis of confidence. In 2024 alone, a record   
   $168 billion in capital fled the country – the largest outflow since 1990.   
   Foreign direct investment fell to just $4.5 billion, down from $163   
   billion in 2020. Far from projecting strength, China is struggling to   
   retain global interest.   
      
   The contrast could not be clearer. While China uses its money to trap poor   
   countries in a cycle of dependency, Trump is using trade as a tool to   
   empower American workers and build reciprocal partnerships around the   
   globe. As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats.   
      
   BRI’s problems are only becoming more obvious. China has lent more than $1   
   trillion to over 150 countries – many of them among the poorest in the   
   world. In 2024 alone, those nations were expected to repay two-thirds of   
   $35 billion owed to Beijing. China is now the largest official creditor to   
   53 countries and among the top five for two-thirds of the world’s most   
   vulnerable economies.   
      
   A recent report from the Lowy Institute found that China has shifted from   
   being a lender of new capital to the world’s largest destination for debt   
   service payments from developing nations. These payments often come at the   
   expense of essential services like health care, education, and poverty   
   alleviation. Restructuring requests and pleas for relief have gone   
   unanswered. As the Lowy report put it, “The high debt burden facing   
   developing countries will hamper poverty reduction and slow development   
   progress while stoking economic and political instability risks.”   
      
   That’s exactly the point. The BRI isn’t about development; it’s about   
   control. As Dr. Shufen Yóulan, a former CCP lecturer and defector,   
   remarked, “This idea benefits the Party, not the people. Each year, under   
   the CCP means people are worse off.”   
      
   Inside China, the economic picture is just as grim. Xi Jinping’s latest   
   Five-Year Plan promised prosperity and rejuvenation. Instead, China is   
   dealing with plummeting birth rates, soaring youth unemployment, and a   
   collapsing investment climate. In 2024, the birth rate had declined by   
   over two million in a single year – the sharpest drop since the Great   
   Famine of 1961.   
      
   Youth unemployment also hit 21.3 percent in 2023 before the government   
   stopped publishing the data. As of August 2024, the reported figure was   
   still a staggering 17.1 percent. This is not the profile of a rising power   
   – it’s a warning sign of deep internal dysfunction.   
      
   That dysfunction is undermining the very foundation of BRI. Chinese   
   citizens do not benefit from trade imbalances or from financing ghost   
   ports in Africa and Asia. BRI projects may enrich CCP elites and extend   
   Beijing’s reach, but they do nothing to lift the average Chinese citizen   
   out of poverty.   
      
   Trump’s trade policy, by contrast, is the precise antidote to China’s   
   ambitions. It restores fairness to the global economic system, builds real   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)