oh, here we go

From the Epoch Times, this little piece of delightful news:

Cuba Signs ‘Belt and Road’ Agreement With China

[You might not be able to see the article, which is an Epoch Times Premium piece.]

Excerpt:

Cuba and China have signed a cooperation plan to push forward construction projects under Beijing’s controversial overseas infrastructure program, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has saddled many participating countries with heavy debt loads.

The Chinese Embassy in Cuba announced the agreement on its website on Dec. 26, saying that the deal was inked two days earlier by He Lifeng, head of China’s top economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, and Cuban Vice Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas.

The agreement implemented a memorandum of understanding the two nations signed in 2018, when Cuba agreed to become a BRI participating nation.

Under the agreement, the two nations aimed to work together on projects in several key sectors, including communications, education, health and biotechnology, science and technology, and tourism, according to the Agencia Cubana de Noticias news agency.

The Chinese Embassy also stated that a timetable and a roadmap had been proposed to implement the projects, without giving details.

China launched the BRI in 2013 in an effort to build Beijing-centered land and maritime trade networks by financing infrastructure projects throughout Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. In recent years, critics have denounced Beijing for using “debt-trap diplomacy” to lure countries into its initiative.

In a low point in my life, I came this close to signing on for a payday loan. For those who don't know, a payday loan is basically a deal with the Devil: the loan sharks will loan you what need, but you have to pay the entire loan back by your next payday, and the loan's APR is some batshit-crazy amount like 300%-600%. Poor, desperate countries eager for a quick cash infusion sign on with China's Belt-and-Road initiative and essentially become debt-slaves to China indefinitely, in the manner of a payday loan, but more painfully drawn out. 

You thought Greece had problems when it took loans from German banks instead of breaking away from the EU in a Grexit? As predatory as those German banks might be, they're nothing compared to what China is like. I almost feel sorry for Cuba, but the development really ought to send alarm bells clanging throughout the US: what's going to happen is that China will help itself to some of Cuba's major ports and essentially take them over. This will put Chinese power right on America's doorstep, and suddenly it's the Cuban Missile Crisis all over again, except this time with a much healthier adversary. 

Cuba, meanwhile, will have its soul sucked out from the inside as Chinese "soft power" takes the country over like a cancer. And just like Agent Smith assimilating his next victim, Cuba will ultimately become another copy of, another tentacle of, China. To all Cubans who remain in Cuba, I say: leave now. Don't wait for Biden to be out of office. Get the hell out while you can because your country is now fucked if it wasn't already fucked before.

Many countries have surrendered pieces of their sovereignty after failing to pay off Chinese debts. For example, China Merchants Port Holdings is now running Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port on a 99-year lease, after the South Asian country converted its owed loans of $1.4 billion into equity in 2017. Seizing the port has allowed Beijing to gain a key foothold in the Indian Ocean.

The Chinese regime has also sought to partner with countries rich in natural resources—such as African BRI participants Ghana and Zambia—in order to gain access to these raw materials to drive the Chinese economy.

It appears that China has its eyes set on Cuba’s natural resources, as a Chinese researcher told China’s state-run media outlet Global Times on Dec. 26 that the BRI agreement was good because China and Cuba “have strong economic complementarity.”