All overseas U.S. embassies would be required to designate at least one employee for tracking activities associated with communist China’s predatory $1.2 trillion Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in their local countries under legislation introduced in Congress by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.).
“Communist China is using debt-trap diplomacy to erode the sovereignty of debtor nations and challenge American leadership in critical regions around the world. The United States cannot ignore how China destabilizes developing countries to advance the Chinese Communist Party’s [CCP] military ambitions and malign agenda. The U.S. should counter China’s predatory lending and promote freedom to people living under China’s exploitation,” Mr. Lankford told The Epoch Times.
A fact sheet describing Mr. Lankford’s legislation and made available to journalists by his office said the bill “will strengthen U.S. capacity to track, counter, and compete with the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China] predatory economic tactics in localized diplomatic contexts. ... The United States must lead the way in countering China’s predations and ensure our diplomats are equipped to address this issue at all of our diplomatic posts in each unique country context.”
Under the Lankford bill, the dedicated embassy official would “prepare a report identifying and assessing all BRI-related projects in their respective country contexts, along with a comprehensive report from the Department of State with all relevant information compiled.”
In addition, the dedicated U.S. embassy official would be tasked with developing “a strategy to counter PRC influence in their respective country contexts, and directs all Chiefs of Mission to implement and train all in-country personnel in the key tenets of the local strategy.”
The bill further requires “an assessment of projects that have caused the country to incur significant debt that has the potential to harm its economic prosperity and national sovereignty” and “a list of the known or speculated collateral listed by the respective country for the debts incurred by Belt and Road Initiative projects.”
Another component of the official’s job description requires that he or she “encourages the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to prioritize alternative financing opportunities for countries who are targets of the Belt & Road Initiative,” thus creating, in effect, a competitive lending scenario.
The State Department was consulted as the Lankford proposal was developed. The proposal requires that an existing employee be designated for BRI monitoring rather than creating a new position for that purpose in the U.S. Foreign Service.
Belt and Road Initiative
The BRI was announced in 2013 by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who described it then as a new “Silk Road Economic Belt,” recalling the fabled “Silk Road” that connected China to Central Asia and parts of the Middle East from the second century A.D. through the Middle Ages.But whereas the old Silk Road represented a trade route that saw goods and ideas going back and forth, Mr. Xi’s new BRI is a tool of the CCP to expand that nation’s economic, military, and political influence and control far beyond its borders and in competition with the United States.
Chinese officials offer substantial loans, often for costly infrastructure construction projects in less prosperous Central Asian, Middle Eastern, and African nations. However, once the BRI gets established in the recipient nation, the loans become a leverage point for the subsequent expansion of CCP influence.
On Sept. 2, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said: “The Italian message is very clear: We want to work with China, we want to be present in China’s market, we are ready for Chinese investment, but as I said, it is important [to have a] level playing field. We want to continue to work closely with China, but we must also analyze exports: The BRI has not produced the results we were hoping for.”
