The hysteria over the Belt and Road is so absurd. Like, no shit investment in infrastructure is going to look good when the Western alternative is some means tested loan designed to trap your economy in endless neo-liberal exploitation. But rather than question why we aren't teeing up such easy soft-power wins, it's just "China bad".

(Ditto the early days of crowing about "VACCINE DIPLOMACY!!" - which has politely disappeared from the headlines now that it's obviously such an evil take.)