This is a good point, and a legitimate reason to temper optimism about China. At worst, though, I think of China as a system where it's possible for a committed Marxist to come to power (and it seems Xi is that). That's already miles ahead of any capitalist government, which regularly drum out even halfway decent capitalist reformers.
My optimism ends at China being good for China. For the rest of us third worlders, they're just the newest foreign exploiter (that might maybe turn good at some point).
For example the Export–Import Bank of China loves giving out loans with minimum spending oversight, at higher interest rates than the competition. Our politicians (organized criminals) take out a loan, and hire a Chinese company to build a highway. The Chinese company imports prisoners as free labor, and builds the highway for extravagant prices. Since they're spending practically no money on the labor, as they don't even have access to hot water for showering, I'm guessing the profits are split between the parties. All of those deals smell worse than Chinese prison camps in winter, and you can smell those long before you see them.
In the last 10 years the debt of my country to China has multiplied 12 times, and is now 2x the debt to the European Investment Bank. Xi and other high party officials are always happy with our deepening friendship and cooperation, and he even came to check stuff out before it really ramped up.
Meanwhile, literally every factory and project they're involved in is an ecological disaster, surrounded by armed guards to prevent any journalist or NGO from peeking in. And when they for example manage to prove that a factory is releasing toxic sewage directly into a river that feeds a national reserve with endangered endemic species, our minister of ecology responds by essentially telling the assembled journalists to fuck off and mind their own business. The same factory was initially built by a couple hundred Vietnamese workers living in inhumane conditions, whose passports were taken away as soon as they entered the country. (more China fun times in the Balkans)
Balkan Trust for Democracy (abbreviation: BTD) is a foundation based in Belgrade, Serbia. It was founded in March 2003 by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
Though better known for administering humanitarian aid around the world, USAID has a long history of engaging in intelligence work and meddling in the domestic politics of aid recipients. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the agency often partnered with the CIA’s now-shuttered Office of Public Safety, a department beset by allegations that it trained foreign police in "terror and torture techniques" and encouraged official brutality, according to a 1976 Government Accountability Office report.
Color me skeptical.
That first article you linked also includes a photo it claims is "part of the agreement between one of the Chinese companies registered in Serbia and Vietnamese worker[s]," yet the agreement is for some reason written in English. I'm calling bullshit.
Literally all media in the region is funded by the government and/or EU/USA. So, can you guess who is going to expose corruption in the government, and who is prohibited from doing that?
yet the agreement is for some reason written in English. I'm calling bullshit.
This is some funny looking English. Besides that, why wouldn't a fake company, that takes away passports from it's workers on arrival, also have parts of the contract in a foreign language? It's not like it stands out from the whole human trafficker vibe... Funny how they're now being accused of the same thing by Indian workers.
It's interesting you skipped the part about imported prison labour building the most expensive highways. Or did I misinterpret the situation when I saw Asian dudes dressed in rags milling about in a fenced camp surrounded by armed guards? Maybe it's just how Chinese workers feel at home, same as not washing from fall to spring.
I was on the fence about whether you were totally full of shit, but this seals it. No other reason you'd be so comically dishonest as to pretend there is no English language contract in your U.S.-funded propaganda article, despite me indicating where I was looking by quoting the caption.
This is a good point, and a legitimate reason to temper optimism about China. At worst, though, I think of China as a system where it's possible for a committed Marxist to come to power (and it seems Xi is that). That's already miles ahead of any capitalist government, which regularly drum out even halfway decent capitalist reformers.
My optimism ends at China being good for China. For the rest of us third worlders, they're just the newest foreign exploiter (that might maybe turn good at some point).
For example the Export–Import Bank of China loves giving out loans with minimum spending oversight, at higher interest rates than the competition. Our politicians (organized criminals) take out a loan, and hire a Chinese company to build a highway. The Chinese company imports prisoners as free labor, and builds the highway for extravagant prices. Since they're spending practically no money on the labor, as they don't even have access to hot water for showering, I'm guessing the profits are split between the parties. All of those deals smell worse than Chinese prison camps in winter, and you can smell those long before you see them.
In the last 10 years the debt of my country to China has multiplied 12 times, and is now 2x the debt to the European Investment Bank. Xi and other high party officials are always happy with our deepening friendship and cooperation, and he even came to check stuff out before it really ramped up.
Meanwhile, literally every factory and project they're involved in is an ecological disaster, surrounded by armed guards to prevent any journalist or NGO from peeking in. And when they for example manage to prove that a factory is releasing toxic sewage directly into a river that feeds a national reserve with endangered endemic species, our minister of ecology responds by essentially telling the assembled journalists to fuck off and mind their own business. The same factory was initially built by a couple hundred Vietnamese workers living in inhumane conditions, whose passports were taken away as soon as they entered the country. (more China fun times in the Balkans)
https://balkaninsight.com/donors/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balkan_Trust_for_Democracy
https://foreignpolicy.com/2014/04/03/cuban-twitter-and-other-times-usaid-pretended-to-be-an-intelligence-agency/
Color me skeptical.
That first article you linked also includes a photo it claims is "part of the agreement between one of the Chinese companies registered in Serbia and Vietnamese worker[s]," yet the agreement is for some reason written in English. I'm calling bullshit.
Literally all media in the region is funded by the government and/or EU/USA. So, can you guess who is going to expose corruption in the government, and who is prohibited from doing that?
This is some funny looking English. Besides that, why wouldn't a fake company, that takes away passports from it's workers on arrival, also have parts of the contract in a foreign language? It's not like it stands out from the whole human trafficker vibe... Funny how they're now being accused of the same thing by Indian workers.
It's interesting you skipped the part about imported prison labour building the most expensive highways. Or did I misinterpret the situation when I saw Asian dudes dressed in rags milling about in a fenced camp surrounded by armed guards? Maybe it's just how Chinese workers feel at home, same as not washing from fall to spring.
I was on the fence about whether you were totally full of shit, but this seals it. No other reason you'd be so comically dishonest as to pretend there is no English language contract in your U.S.-funded propaganda article, despite me indicating where I was looking by quoting the caption.
Ok buddy...
Find a source you like
Lmao the first two results are Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, two even more overt U.S. propaganda outlets.