a long time ago a number of routes were etched on this planet spanning 8 000 kilometers on land and sea they became a vibrant pathway for trade for sharing goods people ideas and cultures it was called the silk road in 2013 one man decided to revive it he called it the belton road initiative he saw it as his road to riches and legacy he robbed in several countries together they account for 40 percent of the global gdp 65 of the world's population and 75 of the known energy reserves they launched multiple projects a highway in pakistan a new seaport in sri lanka forest city in malaysia hydropower plant in uganda a motorway in serbia and these are just a few of the examples as we speak roads railway lines shipping routes ports oil refineries industrial parks and power plants are being built in at least 72 countries it's a massive initiative and yet the belt and road is fast turning into belt and road blocks xi jinping's super highway to world power is riddled with potholes hello and welcome to gravitas plus i'm palki sharma padhyay it's time we discuss the belt and road initiative and why it's failing the bri is the brain child of the chinese president in china it is called yi de lu for the sake of comprehension we'll stick to the bri it's the most ambitious extensive and expensive project in the world the estimated cost is said to be between one and eight trillion dollars for perspective only 16 countries in the world have a gdp above that figure so how did the bri begin which countries are a part of it is it just a plan for economic integration or is it a tool to secure strategic goals and most importantly is it sustainable the questions are complex we'll keep the answers simple in october 2013 xi jinping was giving a speech in kazakhstan he mentioned the ancient silk road and floated the idea of unifying global markets one month later he went to indonesia and spoke about a maritime silk road this is how he floated the idea of belton road the belt refers to the land routes to this network of multiple economic pathways the road refers to a maritime network to these shipping lanes running from china through southeast asia africa and all the way to europe the belt is made up of six corridors they serve as routes to get things in and out of china one of them runs from jilin to saint petersburg in russia the second from shandong to denmark the third from kazakhstan to turkey the fourth from hainan to malaysia the fifth from guangdong to bangladesh and the sixth corridor runs from xinjiang straight through the buccal of this economic belt pakistan the flagship project of bri this is the cpec the china pakistan economic corridor it's where the economic belt meets the maritime road it's a win-win deal for beijing this corridor means a strategic outlet to the arabian sea a new alternative route for oil and gas through west asia for islamabad it means money and development pakistan as you know is not a popular choice for investments china is exploiting this it is building a vast network of highways railways and hydro power stations in pakistan the total cost of these projects is estimated to be 62 billion dollars that's nearly one-fourth of pakistan's total gdp but who is funding these projects they're being financed by heavily subsidized loans who gives these loans chinese banks who gets these loans the government of pakistan last we checked these loans were worth 5. 8 billion dollars they accounted for 5. 3 percent of pakistan's total foreign debt had an interest rate of 2 percent and a repayment period of 20 to 25 years what happens if pakistan fails to pay these loans on time it will have to lease out the projects or ports to china meaning china will control the projects and this is where things get murky you see the bri is not a gift it is a debt trap a means to lure developing nations into borrowing more than they can afford once they are buried under this debt you enslave them by seizing strategic assets as collateral it's already happening around the world the guadalupe in pakistan has been leased to china for 40 years the obok military base in djibouti has been leaves for 10 years tajikistan had to cede more than 1 000 square kilometers of land for a petty loan laos had to let go of its entire national electric grid to a chinese company the hambantota port in sri lanka has been leased to china for a period of 99 years same with the malacca gateway in malaysia in chinese control for 99 years that's the same amount of time by the way that the british leased hong kong for in 1898.
almost every bri member nation is saddled with predatory chinese loans i have a report with me it is by the center for global development it says 23 bri member nations are at risk of significant debt distress and out of them eight countries are at heavy risk they can end up owing half of their foreign debt to china now look very carefully in these countries this map tells you how the bri has been a hit where democracy is weak or has seen challenges what's their excuse for sinking in chinese debt the promise of sparkling new infrastructure but at what cost these countries are caught in a vicious cycle of debt they take loans to repay interest on previous loans they're compromising on their sovereignty and making china richer the biggest construction companies in the world are chinese they have been awarded 340 billion dollars worth of contracts the richest banks in the world are chinese the china development bank is involved in 400 projects in 37 countries worth 110 billion dollars the industrial and commercial bank of china is involved in 212 projects worth 67 billion dollars there are new jobs for chinese workers globally how is this helping china's economy well here's the twist the bri is expected to grow china's economy china's gdp by only 0. 1 over the next five years what does this tell you that economy is just one piece of this puzzle the second one is strategy through the bri china is also building at least nine strategic ports this is the string of pearl strategy china is establishing naval bases or as it likes to call them sea pearls in the indian ocean and beyond these bases would allow china to maintain contingents far from home station warships control shipping routes dictate trade rules it's not just an economic plan it's a plan to dominate the world the completion date of each project is 2049.
