This was a few days ago. China has been recognized as the richest country in the world, leaving America behind. China's economic progress in the last two years since the start of the corona virus attack around the world. Envious. China's GDP growth seems to be skyrocketing where other countries' GDP trends are flat. But the government's death trap diplomacy has played an almost equal role in the scope of China's business behind this rise. For the last two decades, the way China has made the way to become not only the economic superpower but also the most powerful country in the world is called death trap diplomacy. Belt and Road Initiative, China's dream project to expand regional dominance, is now a reality. And while implementing that BRI, China has walked on the path of bringing various countries under their control with loans. If the ghee does not rise on the straight fingers, the fingers have to be bent. That is what China is doing. For those who find the terms a bit tight, it's a simple excuse to find this debt trap business in China. The Sri Lankan government decided to establish a deep sea port at Bandana city in Sri Lanka. But Sri Lanka, plagued by economic problems, did not have the money to set up a port at that time. China came forward to help the country in that difficult time. A construction company of that country took responsibility for the construction of this port. Hambantoda port was built with a large loan from Exim Bank of China. But after a few days of construction, Exim Bank pressured Sri Lanka to repay the loan. The Sri Lankan government was forced to lease the Hambantota port to a Chinese company for ninety-nine years after several reschedulings and failure to repay the loan.
That company will keep the maintenance cost and deposit the rest of the income from the port to China's Exim Bank, ie China now owns the Sri Lankan port. Sri Lankans have to use the ports of their own country in exchange for money. Do you understand the game? Many more such samples can be shown. How can enterprises half-funded by China's loans become a thorn in the neck of a country. A major example of this is the railway project between China and its neighbor Laos. This railway passing through the hilly areas has already had to be laid at a very high altitude, and the construction of underground tunnels and tunnels has also cost a lot of money. All in all, the budget of this project has increased and stopped in the sky. Laos lower middle mother country projects like this are nothing but a sky yellow fantasy for them. But as soon as the Chinese bankers turned their noses at this project, everything changed like a feast. A consortium of several Chinese state-owned companies and state lenders supported the project.
Laos government officials also responded to take loans in the hope of collecting their own sugarcane. But the Laos government had no idea how to shoulder the burden of this railway project built at a cost of five hundred and ninety million dollars. Laos is now handing precious metals from its state-owned potash mines to China to help offload that debt. Sometimes for free and sometimes at a low price, some parts of their energy gate have been taken over by China from Laos. However, Laus did not have the ambition to do this railway project. They have been forced to undertake this project due to China's instigation. But most of those railway lines are owned by the Chinese controlled railway group.
Nigeria has also fallen under this debt trap. Here too, the name of the killer is Exim Bank of China. According to the agreement signed in 2018, if Nigeria is not able to repay China's four hundred million dollar loan on time. But the country's sovereignty will be at risk. China is currently Nigeria's largest foreign trade partner and largest lender. According to the West Africa Nations Management Office, eighty percent of the bilateral and loans have been taken by Nigeria from China. China has now given loans to Africa's largest oil producer. For construction of railways, power plants and airports. China has already given a loan of about five billion dollars to Nigeria. There is no way to repay them, on the contrary, China is ready to give a bigger loan for various projects. Similar incidents like Hambantoda may also occur in Kenya. The country's government is trapped in China's debt. If China's debt is not paid on time, there is a risk of losing control of the country's main sea port, Bambasa Port.
Yes, here too the name of the villain is China Exim Bank. New version of East India Company. According to the agreement, Kenya has to repay the entire debt within fifteen years. But why fifteen years for an economic country like career? It is not possible to repay this huge amount of debt even in fifty years. So tell me what will happen? A Chinese company will also take responsibility for Mombasa port for 100 years based on mutual agreement. They have to use their own port with money. Like another screenplay will be written there very soon. Not only in Nigeria or Kenya, China has such presence in about forty-nine African countries and is also the largest trading partner of the African continent. These African countries, which are in extreme financial crisis, have easily accepted China's billions of dollars of investment and loans. Although China has put various chains on the neck of these countries through this loan. China has invested in copper mines in Zambia, supplying China with manpower and machinery. Chinese workers have taken the place of Zambian workers. That is why unemployment has increased in Zambia. Apart from that, Chinese companies do not protect the minimum basic rights of workers to reduce production cost. To keep their aluminum factories running, China is buying bauxite from Guinea, another African country. A large part of the world's bauxite reserves is located in Guinea. A number of Chinese companies have been granted permission to mine and extract bauxite in the bauxite reserves by promising to lend them twice the total GDP of Guinea. Apart from these, countries like Jibuti, Maldives, Madagascar, Pakistan, South Africa are burdened with Chinese debt. Apart from this, European countries such as Greece or Moti Nigraha, whose economies are relatively strong, are also stuck in this net of Chinese debt. The question may arise in your mind, the World Bank gives loans to various countries in institutions like Asian Development Bank or JICA. Friendly countries help each other with money for various projects. So where is the problem with taking Chinese loans? The problem is China's intentions.
China is lending money to these countries in other ways. Here the projects are not being financed through grants or loans from one country to another. Instead, almost all of China's lending comes as state bank loans. The documents do not mention these loans from China in detail. Because these contracts with China's state-owned banks often do not have the name of any central government institution. As a result, these agreements remain outside the government documents. Moreover, the government cannot know because of the confidentiality clauses it contains. What exactly was compromised in the closed door practice when taking loans? Moreover, in contrast to China's state development loans, which often require unusual collateral, there has been a recent trend of giving Chinese borrowers cash from the sale of natural resources. For example louse, guinea or hambantoda can be mentioned. Recently, China has an agreement with Venezuela in which it is said that the foreign currency that the borrower will get from the sale of oil should be deposited directly into a bank account controlled by China. If the loan installments fail, the Chinese lender can immediately withdraw the money from the account, while the World Bank, Asian Development Bank or elsewhere will never do this. China is essentially lending money to countries as part of its imperialist agenda.
China is doing so much to implement the big plan called Belt and Road. If it is imposed properly, there will not be a single country in the whole world to look up to China. Not even America. China has a plan to bring sixty percent of the people of the whole world under this project. For this, the country is sitting on the neck of the low-income countries by burdening them with a debt trap. China will dominate the entire region by including South Asia, Central Asia, Middle East and Europe in the same road through the Belt and Road. Two thousand six hundred mega projects will be implemented for that. The biggest thing about the demand or growth of Chinese products is that economically, about one hundred countries will be completely dependent on China. They will not be able to go beyond China's decision. This is what China wants. This is devoted loyalty. So billions of dollars are flying in the name of debt. To China it is not a loan but an investment. Now the biggest question is that Bangladesh is going to fall into this debt trap of China? Or we are already trapped in this death trap diplomacy. Before answering this question, a little picture of Chinese investment in Bangladesh can be presented. About two thousand and ten years. The construction work of Padma Bridge is going to start soon. The World Bank suddenly accused the whole project of corruption. They stopped sending aid. The Asian Development Bank also moved. The government of Bangladesh then fell on a bad hill. China came forward to help them. They offered to build the Padma Bridge with their own funds.
Bangladesh government however did not agree to their proposal. However, technical support has been taken from China. The Padma bridge was built with the direct help of China, although not with Chinese money. If you notice, you will see that China is involved in almost all the big projects of Bangladesh except Metrorail and Ruppur power project. With the help of China, roads, bridges, flyovers, ports or coal-based power plants are being built in this country. So is Bangladesh also going to fall into the trap of the Chinese loan trap mentioned in the Herbert Business Dive. China has invested a large amount of money in the construction of Payra port in Bangladesh. The country's first three-and-a-half-kilometer tunnel is being built under the Karnaphuli river with a budget of ten thousand crore taka. China is also working on it. Their money is also there to help. The Chinese company is working on the railway connection at Padma Bridge. China Railway Engineering Corporation CIC. Interestingly, China's Exim Bank has invested 21,36 crore rupees in this project. Yes, the infamous exit bank that you have heard several times in the video, China has also invested more than sixteen thousand crore rupees in the 1320 megawatt coal-based thermal power plant built at Payra in Patuakhali. China has invested in the modernization of electricity in the capital Dhaka. Especially in the projects under the jurisdiction of Dhaka Power Distribution Company Limited, China has invested about twelve thousand crore taka. In addition, China has financed the construction of Dhaka Ashuria Elevated Expressway with 11 thousand crore rupees. It is natural to raise questions. Will we have the same fate as Sri Lanka, Laos or Kenya? Geographically, the location of Bangladesh is very important for China.
China's position in the Bay of Bengal will be consolidated if whoever sits in Payra or Chittagong port. At the same time, India and America can be beaten in this region. This opportunity will leave China. For the last few years, China has been trying hard to get Bangladesh out of the Indian circle. Examples of that effort have been seen in the proposal to help finance the construction of the Padma Bridge or in the investment of thousands of crores of rupees in small and large projects. So what happens next? According to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, if a country's total GDP is forty percent or more, then that country is in an economically endangered state. The amount of debt in Bangladesh is forty to fifteen percent of the country's total GDP. Of which the amount of debt taken from China is only six percent of the total debt. Among the countries or organizations that Bangladesh still owes, thirty-eight percent of the loans are from the World Bank, twenty-four and five percent from the Agricultural Development Bank, seventeen from JICA, six and eight percent from China, six and eight percent from Russia and India. The percentage of the loan is one decimal three percent. So we are quite a bit away from the danger limit. Not yet. Moreover, Bangladesh is regularly repaying the loan installments. Bangladesh has never defaulted in payment of installments.
Bangladesh is managing the debt well planned and efficiently so far. More than that, Bangladesh is able to overcome its dependence on Western donors by gradually implementing mega projects with the help of China. For other countries China's debt is leaking like it is working like oxygen for Bangladesh. At least that's the picture so far. I am going to end. After today, Bangladesh has to be careful in the coming days to call China's dirty game to spread its influence, but it will not be wrong at all. If you want to avoid that mud and keep your position. If you want to keep sovereignty, the amount of debt cannot be allowed to increase. Britain and America asserted their superiority in the world for weapons and technology. There, China is slowly capturing the entire world with only money and intelligence without spending a single bullet. Bangladesh has to deal with this neo-colonial aggression wisely and it has to do it while maintaining friendly relations with China, but there is no doubt that Bangladesh is still on the right track in that mission.
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