Australia wisely saw the very bad precedents in other countries who joined this Belt and Road Initiative.
The concept of debt-trap diplomacy has caused concern as many of the BRI projects financed through Chinese state-controlled lenders have left borrowing nations distressed by massive debt burdens.
For example, in December 2017, the Sri Lanka government agreed to hand over their entire Hambantota Port to Beijing on a 99-year lease, after Sri Lanka agreed to convert its debt of $1.4 billion into equity.
The Hambantota Port in southern Sri Lanka was financed and built by China as part of the BRI initiative. It is also a key strategic point for control over the Indian Ocean.
Likewise, in 2018, concerns about sovereignty led Sierra Leone to terminate a $400 million construction project of its airport that would have been entirely built, managed, and maintained by China.
There’s often money loaned at concessional rates, or conditions placed in the debt documents, or government concessions that have to be made to the Chinese Communist Party.
The USA warned Australia that the United States would “simply disconnect” with Australia if Victorian’s BRI partnership with Beijing presented any risk to telecommunications infrastructure.
Andrews should take a Qantas flight to Beijing and be ‘evacuated’ at 35K feet, parachute optional.
Good for the Australian federal government for ending what would have become a disaster for all of Australia.