China

The China economic boom of the past 30 years was spurred on by two main directives. First was that China would be the manufacturer of goods for all countries and the second would be massive infrastructure projects. China was building high speed rail, highways, dams and housing developments along with high rise office buildings. They built so many homes and apartments so quickly that supply outpaced demand. Faced with the problem of overbuilding Xi came up with his Belt and Road Initiative (BLI). China would build around the world they way they had built in China. They would go into a county and offer to build a bridge or railway and they would finance the project with the stipulation that the project money be repaid in 15 years at 7%. These countries couldn't get loans through the World Bank so they saw China as their personal bank. Once completed the project would produce enough profit to repay the Chinese and would establish good will between the two countries. China is now ten years into the BLI and most of the projects are either sitting unfinished or stopped. They are much like the many projects within China that are also unfinished. The whole idea has become a bungled mess. Many of the countries who took the Chinese loans are now unable to pay back and their countries are overburdened with debt. China is now offering debt reduction if they are allowed to build military bases at strategic places.