China: Time To Worry

 


Worry

image source: Officia do Palácio do Planalto, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons



China, under Xi, is clearly aiming at world hegemony, if not outright world domination. It is spending huge sums on new weapons, building up its military, promoting a cult of hyper-nationalism at home, and building up its “soft power” (usually in the form of money) abroad. And everyone should be concerned about that.


But, everything is not going China’s (and Xi’s) way. There was a very interesting article in the publication Quartz the other day. In “China is getting worried about Africa’s indebtedness to it,” Fatimata Racine Wane looks at how Beijing is beginning to be just a little concerned about how much money it is spending in pursuit of influence abroad, particularly in Africa.* China has loaned African governments and institutions billions upon billions of dollars for all manner of infrastructure and other projects.


However, Beijing is starting to wake up to the fact that African governments and institutions might actually default on those loans. And while China still has lots of money in the bank, having all those debts canceled would sting, to say the least.


There is, of course, just a bit of schadenfreude to be savored here. Back in the bad old days of the Cold War, the United States and the USSR learned the hard way that you can throw money about to win friends and influence people, but purchased allies may not stay bought, and they may even quietly vanish with your money, leaving you nothing in return. It’s nice to know that China, now, is discovering the same grim realities.


~mjt




*Source: 


“China is getting worried about Africa’s indebtedness to it,” Fatimata Racine Wane, Quartz Africa,  December 3, 2021, https://qz.com/africa/2097985/chinas-focac-investment-pledges-to-africa-down-by-33-percent-to-40b/?utm_source=YPL



 Copyright©2021 Michael Jay Tucker

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