{"id":1391408,"date":"2022-03-21T09:05:22","date_gmt":"2022-03-21T13:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1391408"},"modified":"2022-03-21T10:10:43","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T14:10:43","slug":"china-uses-ukraine-war-to-promote-belt-and-road-in-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/china-uses-ukraine-war-to-promote-belt-and-road-in-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"China Uses Ukraine War to Promote Belt and Road in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fchina-uses-ukraine-war-to-promote-belt-and-road-in-africa%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1391408&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">Chinese Foreign Ministry Wang Yi spent much of Sunday discussing potential Chinese investments with his counterparts from Algeria, Tanzania, and Zambia, claiming that the war between Ukraine and Russia demands even more Chinese attention on the continent of Africa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe more turbulent the international situation is, the more attention should be paid to the voices of African countries,\u201d Wang reportedly said on Sunday, according to the government newspaper\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/page\/202203\/1255361.shtml\"><em>Global Times<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0\u201cand the more support and assistance should be provided to Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>The Chinese Foreign Ministry <a href=\"http:\/\/il.china-embassy.org\/eng\/zgxw\/202203\/t20220320_10653589.htm\">paraphrased<\/a> Wang as making a promise that China would \u201ccontinue to stand with Africa, firmly support Africa in maintaining peace and security, firmly support Africa in achieving economic recovery, firmly support Africa in defending its legitimate rights and interests, and make due contributions to Africa\u2019s independence and sustainable development.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In his conversation with\u00a0Tanzanian Minister for Foreign Affairs Liberata Mulamula on Sunday, Wang specifically raised the issue of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China\u2019s plan to litter the developing world with expensive infrastructure projects it can then use to increase its leverage in host countries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe two sides agreed to further align the Belt and Road Initiative with Tanzania\u2019s Development Vision 2025 and expand bilateral cooperation in agriculture, trade, investment, infrastructure and other fields,\u201d according to China\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fmprc.gov.cn\/mfa_eng\/zxxx_662805\/202203\/t20220321_10653739.html\">Foreign Ministry<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">China&#8217;s years-long expansion into Africa has left the continent particularly vulnerable to the spread of a new iteration of coronavirus. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ixcNPeprVB\">https:\/\/t.co\/ixcNPeprVB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/1221220978941931525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 25, 2020<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Times<\/em>, citing its usual stable of Chinese Communist Party-approved \u201cexperts,\u201d also asserted that Beijing would seek to expand its BRI in Africa in light of the Ukraine war.<\/p>\n<p>The BRI, previously known as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/national-security\/2017\/11\/23\/x-things-you-should-know-about-chinas-one-belt-one-road-plan\/\">One Belt, One Road<\/a>,\u201d is a global infrastructure <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/national-security\/2018\/08\/21\/china-claims-one-belt-one-road-debt-traps-come-with-no-political-strings-attached\/\">plan<\/a> in which China offered poor countries predatory loans used to pay China to buy prohibitively expensive roads, ports, and railways. The Communist Party promotes the plan as a mode of reconstructing the Ancient Silk Road connecting Beijing to Western Europe, but has greatly expanded the economic scope of the project to Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia. When the countries inevitably fail to pay back their loans in time, China seizes the assets to make up for the loss, granting China both increased economic and geopolitical influence. Outside economic observers and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cruz.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/senators-warn-against-china-and-146s-debt-trap-diplomacy-during-covid-19-crisis\">U.S. government<\/a> have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/national-security\/2021\/10\/01\/report-belt-road-projects-make-money-china-leave-third-world-partners-debt\/\">warned<\/a> developing countries repeatedly that BRI projects are \u201cdebt traps\u201d designed to undermine the sovereignty of targeted states.<\/p>\n<p>In Africa, BRI projects have resulted in an influx of Chinese businessmen <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/africa\/2018\/09\/06\/kenya-arrests-chinese-businessman-calling-kenyans-monkey-people\/\">accused<\/a> of a variety of racist <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/africa\/2019\/05\/27\/reports-chinese-rail-workers-assault-kenyan-engineer-after-rejecting-bribe\/\">behavior<\/a>, including implementing \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/nation.africa\/kenya\/oped\/opinion\/Where-is-anger-at-apartheid-claims-in-SGR\/440808-4662766-4h0rxvz\/index.html\">apartheid<\/a>\u201d policies at construction sites such as banning African workers from using the same cafeterias, site transports, and other amenities as the Chinese. Chinese workers have also reportedly only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/world\/asia_pacific\/china-labor-belt-road-covid\/2021\/04\/30\/f110e8de-9cd4-11eb-b2f5-7d2f0182750d_story.html\">issued<\/a> instructions in Chinese written text, making it impossible for Africans to take on managerial roles in the projects.<\/p>\n<p>The influx of Chinese workers, often violating local <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/national-security\/2018\/07\/16\/report-one-belt-one-road-created-major-chinese-immigration-mess-in-kenya\/\">immigration<\/a> laws, has also stripped Africans of the job opportunities China promised the BRI projects would bring.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWith stakes worth billions of dollars in businesses ranging from agriculture to oil, gas, and construction, China\u2019s Greek-gift economic assistance is increasing unemployment and worsening job creation in Nigeria,\u201d Nigeria\u2019s <em>This Day<\/em> newspaper <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/africa\/2019\/08\/05\/local-media-chinese-increasing-unemployment-nigeria\/\">lamented<\/a> in 2019. \u201cIt\u2019s such a pathetic situation that Nigerians are slaves in their country to Chinese exploiters!\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_18948154\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/media.breitbart.com\/media\/2021\/11\/virus-outbreak-china-africa-photo-released-by-xinhua-news-agency-chinese-president-xi-jinping-delivers.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>File\/ Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) via video link in Beijing on Monday, Nov. 29, 2021. (Huang Jingwen\/Xinhua via AP)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0<em>Global Times<\/em> presented only the alleged positive aspects of the BRI, which China argues is the potential for development in parts of Africa that would otherwise not have the opportunity to build state-of-the-art travel infrastructure. The state propaganda outlet also contended that the war between Russia and Ukraine would make Africa more economically vulnerable, giving China an opportunity to invest greater sums in the region.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe sanctions against Russia have significantly hit the world economy, and that has a big impact on economic recovery in less developed regions of Africa,\u201d a <em>Global Times<\/em> expert <a href=\"https:\/\/www.globaltimes.cn\/page\/202203\/1255361.shtml\">identified<\/a> as Chinese Academy of Social Sciences professor He Wenping told the outlet. \u201cRising oil and gas prices and food shortages have all had an impact on some African countries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChina will continue to help Africa fight the coronavirus epidemic and promote economic cooperation like the Belt and Road Initiative to minimize the negative impact of [Chinese coronavirus] on Africa so Africa can recover economically, He said,\u201d according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine and Russia are both major producers of wheat in the global market, prompting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2022\/03\/20\/global-famine-feared-as-russian-fleet-blocks-ukrainian-grain-ships\/\">concerns<\/a> that countries relying on either or both countries may face extreme food shortages. Ukraine and Russia are also large-scale producers of fertilizer, meaning an abrupt halt in production caused by war could result in a significant reduction of crop production all over the world. Ukraine itself, agricultural experts warned this weekend, has essentially <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2022\/03\/20\/global-famine-feared-as-russian-fleet-blocks-ukrainian-grain-ships\/\">ceased<\/a> exporting grain since the war began on February 24 and farmers are not preparing to grow crops given the current war. Adding to concerns is that much of the most intense fighting is occurring in or around major port cities like Mariupol.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHalf the world\u2019s population gets food as a result of fertilisers\u2026 and if that\u2019s removed from the field for some crops, [the yield] will drop by 50%,\u201d\u00a0Svein Tore Holsether of agriculture Yara International, recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/europe\/2022\/03\/08\/global-food-crisis-ukraine-war-will-have-catastrophic-effect-on-global-food-supply-agri-org\/\">warned<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Shanghai\u2019s Fudan University <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy\/article\/3171223\/poorest-nations-pay-china-us14-billion-service-debts-2022\">estimated<\/a> in a report published this weekend that China would receive about $14 billion in debt service payments from 68 of the world\u2019s poorest countries this year, about a fourth of what the countries would pay to the world in total.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Frances Martel on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/francesimartel\/&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1647946599108000&#038;usg=AOvVaw19U4Nmp2SjEx4vVmUN9RcO\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/twitter.com\/francesmartel&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1647946599108000&#038;usg=AOvVaw1bgTt_eC_X6d1wJdF7_oqQ\">Twitter.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chinese Foreign Ministry Wang Yi spent much of Sunday discussing potential Chinese investments with his counterparts from Algeria, Tanzania, and Zambia, claiming that the war between Ukraine and Russia demands<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1391408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1391408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1391408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1391408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1391408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}