Belt and Road Initiative

The One Belt, One Road Initiative (OBOR) or Belt and Road is an umbrella term used to cover a range of Chinese funded, and usually Chinese built, infrastructure projects around the globe. Usually it's a condition of funding that the host country use Chinese companies, and often Chinese workers, to build the project. Often the relevant facilities are then run by Chinese personnel. For economically vulnerable countries with ambitious leaders, a big advantage of Belt and Road money is that it rarely involves the accountability and transparency requirements of a regular loan, and is often accompanied by massive political donations. If the host country can't make the payments, China than repossesses the project.

Chinese officials are quite open that Belt and Road is aimed at creating a Eurasia wide Chinese led bloc to counter the United States.

The basic is idea is rebuilding the ancient Silk Route between Europe and China through the Islamic world, however China is also building a modern navy and ports to access raw materials from Africa for its manufacturing base.

The most notorious Belt and Road project is the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka that is now Chinese owned after the Sri Lankan government couldn't meet repayments and now hosts Chinese submarines. There are many other projects in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. For instance,

• a hydro dam in Ecuador;
• a Chinese run satellite control station in Argentina;
• a railway upgrade in Hungary;
• a facial recognition project in Zimbabwe;
• port construction and operation projects in Israel;
• coal-fired power stations in Pakistan;
• gas pipelines in Tajikistan;
• a new port in Burma with rail access to China
• a high-speed rail line in [[Java}} and
• a wharf big enough for an aircraft carrier in Vanuatu